Once upon in time (2023), Ben and I were set up on a blind date by our family friends! We went to Laurannae Coffee Shop in Broken Arrow and clicked from the beginning. About a month later we began officially dating and a year after that we got engaged. Though our relationship started off as two strangers, God had been orchestrating our lives and our stories together for a long time.

Ben and I both grew up in Tulsa. He went to Regent and I went to Jenks! In highschool, we only lived a few minutes down the road from eachother and he lived right across from my childhood best friend Sydney. Before our first interaction, Ben did not know me but I knew who he was. Our families have a lot of mutual friends and I always heard about this guy with the funny nickname Butter. My freshman year of highschool, two friends that went to church with him insisted that we would be perfect together but we never met. Later on, when his parents were dropping him off at the Air Force Academy in 2018, my parents met their family through mutual friends while on a trip in Colorado right after they had dropped me off at OU.

Since meeting, Ben and I have found countless connections where we should have met but never did. It was all in God’s timing. I went to OU and had the most incredible community and experience and he was off in Colorado Springs fulfilling the dream God had put on his heart at a young age. It was only when I was post-grad living in Tulsa, and he was coming home often before pilot training, that we finally connected.

God could not have answered our prayers enough. I am so grateful to have found someone who loves the Lord and his family and me so well. He is more than I could ever ask for and we are so excited for our life together as the Bayless’s!! And I, Ben, could not be more blessed to be marrying such a wonderful, God-honoring young woman and joining such an amazing family - He couldn't have worked it out any better!! Thank you all for celebrating with us!!!