Cassie and Danny first met at a Angelo State chi alpha mission trip in Robert Lee, TX during the summer of 2021. But they really didn’t become friends until December of 2021 during a chi alpha conference called Salt. This Salt conference is also where the friend group called the buddies was formed. It included Cassie and Danny but also the maid of honor Sydney Bishop. After this Salt the buddies would hangout on a weekly basis and sometimes on a daily basis.

Cassie and Danny met at Robert Lee on a mission trip, but didn't start hanging out until after that year's SALT conference, where the two of them and Sydney formed the all important buddies. It became incredibly apparent to Cassie that Danny had quickly developed feelings for her, and when she realized this she did her own evaluating (mostly spurred by nudging from Sydney to see if she had feelings) . When she decided she had the same feelings starting to develop she immediately went to God in prayer. And after praying and praying and praying, not completely sure what answer she actually wanted, God answered: When he asked her out, she needed to say no. Of course this answer was confusing, not because it was no, but because there was this feeling underneath like a come back and check later and the answer may change. And it was around this time that God also gave her a guideline to make things easier when saying yes and no to dates. Just three things: love for God, mutual interest, and equal or greater love/calling to Japan. Because of this she held firm to the answer given to her by God, after all Danny didn't have a calling of any kind to Japan, he only hit 2/3. But feeling that Danny's interest was growing, she prayed for the strength to say no when the time came and waited. And waited. And waited. Almost a whole year went by, and she began to think maybe he'd never even ask. The summer came and passed, and on the way to a friend's wedding, Cassie revealed her list of three things, hoping to discourage Danny subtly by mentioning the list he didn't meet all the requirements of. But lo and behold, God had a sense of humor and not long after placed Japan on his heart, and he shared this with her. Still, God had said no, so she held on and kept waiting to say no.

Throughout these hangouts Danny was starting to see the beauty in Cassie and starting to develop feelings for her. However, Cassie initially was not feeling Danny the same way and after asking her out the first time she said NO.

And then that fateful day finally came. One day, right before closing at work, Danny made his way over to the Dippin' Dots kiosk and asked Cassie if he could take her on a date. It was the moment Cassie had been dreading because of the answer she would have to give, and the awkwardness it would bring to the buddies. But she had to give her answer, so she explained she had prayed and God said no. After closing, she texted him, hoping to clarify her scrambled thoughts, and make sure their friendship would continue.

The buddies still hanged out weekly after this occurrence and that kept Danny’s and Cassie’s friendship going. Then Cassie and Danny got jobs at the local mall: Cassie as a very beautiful Dippin' Dots girl and Danny as a deliver driver for Chick fil a. And after every shift when Danny got off he would go hang out with Cassie every time she was there because he was persistent and wouldn’t take no as an answer.

It seemed life would be able to return to normal, that the feelings would fade on both sides now that they had acknowledged everything. It seemed. But that's not usually the way that plays out, is it? Cassie, despite convincing herself she'd let go of her feelings for Danny when she determined to say no, was most definitely still interested. And so, with this false release from awkwardness, she began subconsciously being more flirty than before. And she found herself desiring to spend more time with Danny. Meanwhile, with the two of them working in the mall near the same area, Danny would often help Cassie pass the boring closing shifts more quickly by standing and chatting. All sorts of mixed signals were being sent as Cassie tried desperately to stick to her answer of no that she'd already given, especially it was given to her by God. But it was also around this time that she remembered that feeling she got when she prayed originally. That feeling of the answer might change. Still, months went by and eventually poor Sydney caught in the cross fire of them talking to her about each other, called Cassie out and told her to examine her feelings and actions and talk with him. So she returned to examining and praying. And the answer changed. If he asked, she was given permission to say yes. So she decided she needed to have a talk with him to put the flirting to an end.

Then Danny knew Cassie was starting to like him because Cassie doesn’t like sports in any way but she agreed to go see Creed III with him after work. And everytime they would hangout as a big group Cassie would always want a ride from Danny. And one day after they watched a movie Danny went in for a kiss and she stopped him.

And then she chickened out on the day she decided to talk to him. Twice. So she sat in her car after work and sent him a message, told him to pray and wait until after finals if he was going to ask. And if he wasn't going to ask then they needed to back off.

Danny was confused because Cassie clearly like him but she was just satisfied being friends. Until one day when Cassie messaged him saying “Okay, so I was gonna talk to you while you were still here, but I'm a chicken, so we're having this conversation over text, my bad. We have been very flirty with each other, especially recently, and it either needs to stop and we back up like 5 steps, or you need to ask me out. If you're going to ask me out please pray about it and wait until after finals 💀 I can't get through the end of college with that on my mind. I have prayed a lot about my answer, and I'd like the opportunity to give it, so please pray about asking. That is all. Apologies, I'm a big chicken when it comes to having serious conversations with people 💀💀”.

Those almost two weeks were rough, but they continued hanging out in the meantime trying to pretend nothing had happened (as if Cassie didn't go to Sydney and tell her what she sent him). The whole time Cassie prayed for them, that if this wasn't something God wanted, the ball was in Danny's court now and He needed to tell Danny. The day right after finals, Danny asked if Cassie wanted any breakfast from Chick-fil-A. Cassie knew now was the time, and her stomach always craved sustenance, so she said yes. Cassie was correct, and he asked her out. Finally the waiting was over.

After this message Danny did as she said he prayed and ask the Lord if he could ask Cassie out. But during the 2 WEEKS in between the message and graduation Danny was losing his mind. He asked the bros what they think and they all agreed that he should ask her out. During this time that’s when Diego started calling him MLK because He was getting ready to give a speech. And after the 2 weeks was up and spending time in prayer he asked Cassie out and she said yes.

After Cassie's graduation, on May 15th they went on their first date at the Kung Fu Noodle and played Legend of Zelda. Since the first date was successful they continued dating. Danny technically met her family before they dated but he officially meet the family as the boyfriend and Cassie meet his family during a trip to Balmorhea.

But of course, then came the uncertainty of whether, despite all Cassie's praying, this relationship would lead to marriage. And so she prayed for the first date, that if they shouldn't date and this was going to go nowhere, that the date would go poorly. But if they should date and it was going to lead somewhere, it would go well. And so God answered that prayer, and the first date was amazing. But of course, taking after Gideon, Cassie asked for another sign. The same thing, but with the second date. And once again it went well. But Cassie, ever watchful and quick to double check with God, asked again for the third date. And God quickly answered "How many more times are you going to ask, was all this not enough?" And so Cassie knew, from the third date, she was going to marry Danny. And Danny made it clear quickly as well, that his intention from the beginning was marriage.

Then after having multiple conversations about getting married and a preferable timeline Danny started looking at rings. He got the input from all of chi alpha and one ring got the majority so he ordered that ring from Etsy. During Thanksgiving week Danny talked to his family about the idea of marrying Cassie and they all were supportive. Literally the day he got back from thanksgiving, the ring had arrived and at 11 pm he texted Sydney to come see the ring and she approved. When she left, he messaged Doug Debord through Facebook to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage and to set up a time and place.

So having got to know each other as friends for almost two years before dating, and quickly coming to the same conclusion they wanted marriage, they were able to move forward intentionally. They talked about the future, what they would want out of marriage, they talked about their weaknesses, their callings. They grew together learning who the other was and what it would mean to marry this person (of course all the time knowing that there would always be more to learn about each other, but they could at least do their best to cover the bases)

Danny started showing the people in his life the ring and got everyone’s approval. Then on December 1st Danny went to Albany, TX to a place called Vintage Vanilla to meet with Cassie’s father and after a good talk Danny got his approval to marry Cassie.

And then, he asked her on a date to go eat at Basil. Asian food, her favorite! Something felt special about this date, but she couldn't quite place it. And then surprise, he also suggested going and seeing the Christmas lights. Christmas lights, her favorite! So they had a delicious meal at Basil, and the reality that Danny would really be her husband one day fully set in. And on the way to the Christmas lights she prayed to God. "I think I'm ready."

Danny wasted no time and the next day on December 2nd he planned to ask Cassie to marry him. He planned on taking her to dinner and pop the question while walking the local Christmas lights. Danny picked up Cassie around 6 pm and they headed to Basil for dinner and after they ate dinner they headed towards the Christmas lights. Original they weren’t going to captured the moment through photos because the people they asked were busy so no one could do it. But there was a miscommunication from the part of Alec Counts so he and his wife Sidney Counts we able to join them at the Christmas lights.

Since it was cold and the walk was 2.5 miles, Danny saw this Christmas light that he liked so he asked Cassie and the Counts to cross the street and take a picture there. While there Sidney took a video and Danny asked Cassie to marry her and she said yes. Afterwards, they went to go hangout with friends and celebrate the night.

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