Matt and Elizabeth met on August 28th, 2017 on the first day of grad school. Elizabeth vowed to learn every classmate’s name by the end of the first week and thus made the effort to introduce herself to each person in CMHC 500 (which was quite out of character for her). She assumed Matt was a slacker because he sat in the back row. Matt assumed Elizabeth was a try-hard because she asked Dr. Hinson a question about the syllabus before class began.

Matt decided to host a prayer gathering for members of the CMHC cohort. Elizabeth deliberated as to whether or not to attend, since it was her birthday and she wanted to party with her best friend's family and play games. She ultimately decided to go so as not to be a heathen and out of a genuine desire to get to know her classmates better. After driving around in circles through Matt's neighborhood and considering giving up on finding his apartment, she eventually did stumble upon the right place and was very glad that she did. After that evening, Elizabeth saw that Matt had a deep love for the Lord and really wasn't the back-row-slacker she had taken him for.

One early morning, the building Matt and Elizabeth were supposed to have class in was completely lacking power. As such, the class that day was cancelled. The group of students gathered there all decided in the spur of the moment to spend time together at a local coffeeshop. Matt and Elizabeth sat next to each other on that day and discovered a mutual love of puns and C.S. Lewis. Elizabeth later lended Matt "The Magician's Nephew." This is when they first began to truly get to know each other, and what became the spark for their future romance.

Midway through the semester, a couple of cohorts decided to organize a group horror movie night. That night, Matt and Elizabeth both attended. At this event, the group had decided to wear onesies to be comfortable and for fun. Elizabeth had brought two onesies (Batman and Olaf). Matt did not own a onesie. However, Elizabeth kindly offered one of her onesies to Matt, which he gladly accepted, thinking it would be impressive. With Elizabeth as Batman and Matt as Olaf, they sat next to one another and watched a horror movie. Matt then became uncomfortably hot, but stayed in the onesie for an entire movie before eagerly peeling it off his hot, sweaty self. At the film’s conclusion, he removed it and felt quite mortified of the condition he had returned Olaf in. Despite this, Matt and Elizabeth enjoyed good conversation, witty puns, much laughter, and had an overall wonderful time. Elizabeth thought Matt was either trying to impress her or was just a really sweaty guy. She settled on option two.

As Elizabeth and Matt started to become better friends, Elizabeth started becoming suspicious that God was up to something and didn't know whether Matt was supposed to be just a good friend or something more. She told God she didn't know what He was up to, but knew He was trying to speak to her. Elizabeth asked God for a clear indication as to whether Matt liked her or not, but told Him she would be content with His will either way.

The next day Matt and Elizabeth were studying together in their university’s library. They decided to wrap up their study session and walked outside. On this particular night however, Matt had planned to ask Elizabeth out on a date. They walked together right to the point in which they would normally part ways. However, with great excitement and nervousness, Matt, with no ambiguity, told Elizabeth he liked her, and wanted to take her out to dinner. Elizabeth said yes and reciprocated saying that she liked him too. They both walked away very happy and excited for the date ahead.

On this day, Elizabeth and Matt experienced their very first date together. Matt drove over to Elizabeth’s home to pick her up, and they went to have dinner at a local restaurant: The Neighbor’s Place. The evening itself was wonderful. Both shared pieces of their stories, lives, and hearts. Jokes and puns were traded back and forth, and they even discovered a mutual love of barbershop quartet music and the Bee Gees. With Disney barbershop music on the car ride home (Matt's got game), Matt and Elizabeth both had an excellent time. As it turned out, they were very excited for when the next date could occur.

Two weeks after the first date, Matt and Elizabeth got together to visit Givens Books and sniff the pages of books together. While unconventional, they enjoyed their time enormously, scouring the store for all manner of books and scents. Additionally, Matt brought Elizabeth a single rose, which Elizabeth was delighted with. To them, the evening flew by, and before they knew it the bookstore was closing for the night. As they left, Matt told Elizabeth what an amazing time it was to be together, and he declared his intent to make their relationship official. Elizabeth was joyous and agreed at once. Elizabeth left with her flower in hand, and both left with full, happy hearts.

It was a brisk February morning when Matt picked up Elizabeth to go on a sunrise walk. They drove down to a local greenway, Percival’s Island, and walked the beautiful trail as the first glimmers of light began to peek between the trees. While Elizabeth suspected what was about to happen, Matt had planned to propose to her at the middle of a bridge that crossed the James River, for at that spot they had kissed for the first time and had marked their one-year anniversary with a special, painted lock. They arrived at the spot, and Matt began to share how much he loved Elizabeth, how much she meant to him, and declared his intent to spend the rest of his life with her. Crying with emotion, he then got down on one knee and proposed. Elizabeth was crying as well, and she furiously nodded and exclaimed yes, multiple times. Matt put the ring on her finger, and they hugged and cried together as the sun shone around them. Later that day, Matt took Elizabeth to the Ploughcroft Tearoom to celebrate and then cooked a special candlelight dinner in the evening. He even created a romance playlist to dance to after dinner. It was the perfect and best day they had ever had.

After two and a half years of borrowing the "Chronicles of Narnia" series from Elizabeth, Matt returned "The Last Battle" to his future wife.

On May 24th, Matt and Elizabeth will gather with their parents and siblings before the Lord to join in marriage and begin their grand adventure together.

Just when Matt and Elizabeth thought they had their wedding logistics coming together, a global pandemic threw all their plans out the window, preventing them from getting married with all their friends and family. To remedy this as much as possible, they will have a second wedding day celebration to include all their loved ones once the worst has passed in July. You bet your lucky stars the reception will be a rager now. We're excited to celebrate with the people we love most and give thanks to God for His many blessings as we seek to honor Him in our marriage!