"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 29:11 || Where it all started: Zac's senior prom at Olathe West and my junior prom at Olathe Northwest. We went as friends because our older brothers, Bo and Drew, were best friends, which was how we met several years ago. We thought it would an easy way to have a great prom. Zac was leaving for Northwestern, so neither of us had an intention of "starting something." Little did we know, God had other plans... as usual!

"The Lord said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone.'" Genesis 2:18 || After spending more time together post-prom, we started developing feelings, and we decided we wanted to give long-distance a try. So, at Hot Country Nights in Kansas City on May 30th, Zac made it official by asking me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes!

"Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." Mark 10:9 || Long distance for the next two years was filled with many wonderful moments of growth. We both graduated high school, started college over 500 miles apart, endured the Covid-19 pandemic, all while Zac was a student athlete and I was working hard to graduate KU in three years. We had long, multi-month stretches where Facetime was our only opportunity to "see" each other. My grandparents would say we are blessed to have this connective technology because all they had to communicate were hand-written letters!

"But Ruth replied, 'Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.'" Ruth 1:16 || When January 2023 rolled around, Zac was ready to begin his Masters. We were blessed to have a semester together at KU while Zac studied Aerospace Engineering, exploring if it was the path for him. By the end of the semester, he realized God was calling him to become a football coach, so he returned to Northwestern. In the meantime, I graduated in May from KU with a degree in Poli Sci and Spanish with law school in mind. This semester together was transformational for us because we realized how amazing it was to live two minutes away :) After this, there was no going back!

"When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen." Isaiah 60:22 || After another 6 months of long distance and dating for over 4.5 years, Zac and I decided we couldn't bear to live apart any longer. God had blessed us immeasurably with wonderful, independent college experiences, and having a long-distance partner, best friend, and cheerleader, but He was finally leading us toward the next step! While we had talked of getting engaged and he knew I would say yes, the engagement itself was a total surprise, which made it all the sweeter. We were thrilled to celebrate the day with our friends and family, and we look forward to doing the same with you soon!