David and Shelby lived in the same dorm freshman year. David doesn't remember when they first met, but it must have been through Bayard. It wasn't until second semester when they really first started interacting with each other when they sat at the same table in Dr. Walter's wellness class.

One of the first memories David has of Shelby was being in the same group on the first day of class as everyone told a story and filled out a sheet of their first impressions of everyone else. David was impressed Shelby remembered he was an MK.

He also remembers a time they were standing on opposite sides of the room on the topic "You should be able to tell your best friend anything." With one fell swoop Shelby changed his mind (not if it's told in confidence) and he crossed to the other side of the room.

What began freshman year morphed into a group of five friends who started eating lunch together. Eventually, they started doing lots of things together-- watching movies, cooking chicken and rice on Sunday nights, celebrating Easter, going to an opera down town, and so on. Abby and Shelby became roommates, and so did Bayard, Brian, and David (although in different combinations each year of college). These friendships shaped both David and Shelby's time at college and survived periods of study abroad, dating, break-ups, illnesses, distance, and even graduation.

The spring of Junior year, Abby was studying abroad and suddenly Shelby found herself doing the things she used to do with Abby and David (going on runs, weekly dinners, discussing ideas) with just David. As they spent more time together he started to wonder if maybe he liked her. And so he thought about it and talked to Bayard and he put off asking her on a date and he severly over-analyzed it.

But finally, late in the spring 2013 semester, after a long run past Glen Ellyn, where they smeared streaks of mud on each other's faces (Indian paint) he got up the courage to ask. That Monday they went on a long bike ride. A really long bike ride. Shelby had dressed up and looked really pretty. And David, well... not so dressed up. But he had good intentions. And as they rode and talked, mostly about normal, mundane things, they enjoyed each other's company. And it was really good.

When they returned to campus after summers of limited communication on different continents, Shelby was fairly confused. Thankfully, David asked her on another date. It would be too painful to tell of all the bumps that followed in the next semester. Suffice it to say that though they were not very good at communicating, they started to get better at it (Shelby awarded them "Most improved" in communication, two years running!). And the relationship gradually went from something that was sometimes intermediated by their roommates to something that belonged to the two of them. And they liked that a lot.

Senior year finished with many walks exploring the city of Wheaton, aimlessly wandering and talking and getting to know each other better.

A month after graduation, Shelby and David met up with 7 other friends for their long awaited trip to Ecuador. The highlight of the trip was rescuing Bayard from Colombia by bringing up his cédula and then getting to run around Pasto, Colombia preparing flowers and other surprises for Bayard's proposal to Emily.

That trip was also the first time David told Shelby he loved her, sitting on a trampoline in his backyard on a starry night, overlooking the city of Quito.

That fall they both moved into Chicago. David began working at RJN, an engineering group in Wheaton. And Shelby began nursing school at Rush and learned all about communication, catheterization, and Chicagoization (the process of moving to and becoming comfortable in a large city). Through navigating the messy and hard decisions of adult life the next year and a half, they continued to grow and to grow together, to feel more confident in their relationship, and to get better at talking and working things out. They had a long time to think and talk about it and they knew committing to each other for life wouldn't be easy, but David became more and more sure it was worth it, that she was the one he wanted to marry. That there was no one he'd rather spend the rest of his life with than Shelby.

Then, one afternoon, on a picnic to Morton Arboretum, David asked Shelby to marry him. And she said, "It would be my honor. Absolutely, yes!"

David and Shelby would both like to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the only reason this relationship is possible. He died for these two sinners so that they could have a right relationship with God and with each other. And they are so thankful that Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which they are able to build a marriage. For Christ and His Kingdom!