Ford and I both served with NET Ministries with the same discipleship team in St. Joseph, Michigan, although not during the same year; Ford was there from 2017-2018 and I was there from 2018-2019. I had heard a lot about him from the youth who he became close with the year before, as well as from Chad, the youth minister (shout out Chad!). Ford proceeded to follow my entire team on Instagram to keep taps on how things were going since his team left (haha), so I knew who he was for over 3 years before we ever talked for the first time.

Fast forward to October 2021, I posted something faith-related on Instagram ( I cannot for the life of me remember what it was) and Ford commented "Amen" with the praying hands emoji (haha). Looking back on it now, this definitely was Ford making the first move (haha). A couple of days later, Ford posted a St. Faustina quote for her feast day. She is one of my absolute favorite saints and has been a huge intercessor for me during my faith journey, so I saw this as an opportunity to initiate conversation. We began to message back and forth for about a week (Ford thinks that this is a long time haha) before he asked me out on our first date (see How He Asked Her Out below for a full account haha). He drove to New Orleans from Mobile and took me out to lunch at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in the area, Velvet Cactus. Afterwards, we went for a walk in Audubon Park. We have spent almost every weekend together since and have never looked back :)

Ford proposed on Saturday, April 1st, 2023 (not an April Fools joke haha). Of course, the morning started with Ford replacing my soap with my shampoo and disorganizing my bathroom drawers.

There were several clues leading up to proposal day that made me think that it was happening: First, my mom was running many errands the day before, all at places she doesn't go to very often (I was checking her location haha). She was also very subtly encouraging me to get my nails done the previous day. When I asked Ford what we should do that weekend, he said that we should go to Audubon Park, which is where we went on our first date. At this point, I became giddy with anticipation for the weekend's events, feeling about 90% sure that he was going to pop the question.

What really gave it away was this: On proposal day, upon leaving my neighborhood to go to Audubon Park, we saw my twin sister Cassidy and her husband Kyle driving past us on their way to my house (they live an hour away in Baton Rouge haha). At that point, I became 100% certain that Ford was going to propose.

Once we got to Audubon Park, we walked around on the track for a little while and then he started walking me in another direction that we don't normally go in when were there. He took me in front of the tree you see behind us in the picture above, which is called the Tree of Life. I wish I could remember all of the beautiful things he said ( I honestly kind of blacked out I think haha), but I just couldn't wait to say yes!

After he put the ring on my finger, one of my best friends, Paige (my maid of honor), who lives in Atlanta, popped out from behind the bushes and surprised me! I felt so loved that she was willing to drive all the way from Atlanta to celebrate our engagement. After this, we went to eat lunch at Velvet Cactus, which is where we ate lunch on our first date, but this time our families were there waiting to celebrate us! It was such a sweet and unforgettable day :)

Now counting down to April 20th, 2024! We cannot wait to start our lives together as husband and wife!