The story you are about to read is brief...very brief. Yet, as we reflect on our story, it reminds us how much love was given and received in this short amount of time. We both knew what we wanted, but also what we deserved. With all glory to God, we stumbled upon exactly what He had in store.

2012: Greg and Clara, being over five years apart in age, lived very different lives. Clara being from Dixon, and Greg homeschooled in Franklin Grove. Paths did cross when they met at a church youth group in 2012, but never spoke more than two sentences to one another. Although, Greg was quite the heartthrob for any girl who had him in sight.

Eleven years later- Early February 2023: Clara was single, wondering what life was going to hold. Greg was a bachelor living his "best life" without a care in the world.

February 10, 2023: Clara received a text late on a Friday night from a close friend, who re-introduced the idea of Greg to her, but nothing to immediately came of it.

February 10th - February 24th: Clara and all her close friends had become full-blown social media stalkers (might be as dramatic as that sounds), trying to gather any intel on this man we could find. The stats looked promising, but it all seemed too far-fetched, and Clara was starting to get her hopes up, unsure of what was to come. Keep in mind, Greg was just a man living his life, with no intentions to find someone soon for the future, and no idea that Clara was spending some free time digging into him.

February 24th, 2023: Clara went to the local high school's musical with her friend, Megan, to see former students perform. Mid-conversation, Megan wigged out saying, "He's here." Having no clue what she was talking about, Clara turned around and could have died at that moment, seeing the man she had been thinking about for over two weeks. The entire musical, Clara could barely focus, while she and Megan were brainstorming how they could possibly approach this man they had so feverishly investigated like the FBI. Unfortunately, Greg left without the opportunity for Clara to say hello and catch up. (Again, they had not spoken since youth group in 2012)

February 28th, 2023 @ 10:49 pm: Clara said to heck with it and got the nerve to text Greg...luckily his number was on Facebook, so... where there's a will, there's a way!

February 28th-April 6th: The two of them began getting to know one another and relearning what love is supposed to look like. Clara fell head over heels instantly, with Greg slowly following behind. Clara would often ask, "Have I made the cut?" To which Greg would respond with, "Eh, almost." She knew though, that he was falling too.

April 7th, 2023- Greg asked Clara to be his girlfriend by dying an Easter egg to say "Be mine?"

The rest is history...quite literally.

Spring led to summer, fall, then winter. The love between the two had grown so much that anything but a future together seemed impossible. On vacation together in Florida over Christmas break, Greg got down on one knee at Magic Kingdom on January 1st, asking Clara to join him on a journey of forever. It would be, at this point, the most amazing day of their lives thus far.

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That is until we say "I do" on July 27th, 2024.

Registry