Amanda and Michael have known of each other for years at Bellevue Baptist Church.


Their first real interactions began in January 2023 when they both took the same Wednesday night winter class.


Those first interactions were just friendly. Amanda didnt know Michael was seeing someone else and Amanda left the class with the thought of I don’t think I can date him. Accoring to Amanda, he was mansplaining and she wasnt sure she could talk to him everyday for the rest of her life (Misconception on her part.)


By the time of Young Adult (YA) retreat 2023, Michael and Amanda continued to interact as just friends. Noticing Amanda at retreat, Michael was single again, but he too had a similar thought, at this time, I could never date her, based solely on seeing her interacting with a friend. According to Michael, she seemed to be a busybody (Misconception on his part).


A few months later into the summer, Michael and Amanda kept bumping into one another at various YA events and friends’ game nights. Amanda really caught Michaels eye around this time while they were sharing a moment at Mission Memphis.


By September 2023, Michael was somewhat interested at this point, but he overheard Amanda talking with one of her friends about some other guy she had been out with.
He decided to just let it lie for now.


In October 2023, Amanda started showing interest in Michael again. Unfortunately, he had a planned hunting trip with his Dad and was going to be gone about 10 days on vacation. Amanda didnt know this and just could not figure out what Michael was thinking. He didnt want to ask Amanda out to only disappear for 2 weeks. It turned out he had cell reception while on the hunting trip.


Michael and his Dad had a successful hunting trip. It turned out Michael had cell reception and was able to message back and forth with Amanda during the trip each day when he returned to camp. Michael got back on Friday evening.


They both had a Bellevue Loves Memphis event Saturday morning but did not get a real chance to talk as they were serving in different areas. Fortunately, a mutual friend was having a Halloween party that evening. They both were attending.


As the party settled in, they spent the entire evening together talking and laughing. Amanda expected Michael to ask or say something that evening in regard to going out, but he left that evening without asking. What Amanda did not know was that Michael left that evening with the intent to check the calendar and make first date plans.


The next morning, they both went to church. While he saw Amanda, he didnt ask her out immediately. He was still soaking up the last of vacation and was still racking his mind on first date plans. He had one more afternoon of vacation, so he headed back out to his local hunting club to get an evening bow hunt in before returning to work.


While in the stand, Amanda messaged him basically asking what was going on with him. While watching and listening to the sounds of the Wolf River bottoms and hoping a big mature buck would show himself that evening, Michael finalized first date plans for later in the week.


As soon as he returned to his truck that night, he called Amanda to catch up and share more of his week and day with her. He asked her out and they had their first date 4 days later. They havent stopped since....