Austin and Heather have been friends since middle school, about 15 years. When Heather moved back to Tyler after graduating college in 2013, Austin was one of her closest (and only) friends in the area. They remained friends, but generally had separate friend groups - that is, until early 2017, when Austin started coming to church with Heather on Tuesday nights and quickly became an integral part of her community. Their friendship grew stronger than ever, but it wasn't until Halloween of that year that they finally had an honest conversation about what their relationship could be. Heather wasn't ready to jump into dating at that moment, so over the next five weeks, Austin pursued her with kindness and genuine care, without ever being pushy or making her feel any sort of pressure to make a decision. They spent more time together, and neither of them could deny that every moment just felt *right*. On December 8, 2017, Austin came over to Heather's house to pick her up for an event. Before they left, he said he wanted to talk about their relationship. He then told her that he had been praying about us ever since that first conversation on Halloween. He kept asking God when he was supposed to ask her to be his girlfriend, but he kept hearing 'just keep loving her,' so he did. He kept loving her patiently while praying. A couple of days before, he heard 'think back on recent conversations' instead, and so he did - and he realized that she was no longer saying that she wasn't ready to date him - she was just scared of changing such a wonderful relationship. He asked her to be his girlfriend, and of course, she said yes! Ten months later, on Oct 19, 2018, he proposed at a surprise birthday dinner he had orchestrated with family and friends, and she was beyond happy to say yes to him again. We are both so excited to start our new life together and are looking forward to celebrating with you all! Thank you for loving us both.