EJ and I met on our college ministry’s beach trip in Panama City Beach, FL the summer before his freshman year at Louisiana Tech. I was playing keys in the band as an incoming sophomore, and he says he was mesmerized as he watched me on stage on the very first night. EJ tells me that a series of thoughts ran through his mind in the first five seconds of noticing me; he saw that I was passionate about Jesus, he thought I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, he figured I was probably taken, and he wondered why his heart was beating so fast! Dating was the last thing on my mind at this point in my life, but a friend showed me a picture of the freshman who had a crush on me (and I thought he was cute) so I assumed he would try to talk to me...but he didn't! The last night, I saw him playing a group game with some other students, and I suggested that the group walk down to Waffle House together. I later learned that EJ called his dad outside of that Waffle House and asked him how to know if someone was "the one" because he thought I may be it. There were so many of us, so we didn't sit together, but I found out that he paid for everyone. Our first conversation began when I asked why he paid for everyone. We walked together and talked all the way back to the hotel. EJ started following me around that night, wanting to know everything about me, so we went to the beach and talked. EJ shared his admiration for me and his desire to date me. I had never experienced someone being so forward with me! But I still didn't want to date anyone at the time. When school started, he was always at the church, and he was also enrolled in a class that I was student teaching for. So we saw each other all the time! Over the course of the next three months, I watched him serve at the church and grow in relationship with God. EJ says that he never lost interest in me throughout those few months, even though there were times he thought I would never come around. In time, I realized I was falling for him. You can imagine his excitement when I told him! Our relationship continued to evolve as God used it to grow and mature us both more than we ever could have imagined. We dated for almost a year and a half before getting engaged. EJ proposed to me at midnight on my 21st birthday in my pajamas by a lantern-filled pool in my parents' backyard. If you had told EJ and me that we would marry one another after our first talk on the beach, we would not have believed you! But God knows the plan even when we don't! Our prayer is that our story would be a testament to God’s grace and faithfulness, and we could not be more excited to begin our life ministry together through the journey of marriage!