Our story begins in August of 2018 when we both started college at Penn State. We primarily became friends through our involvement with the Navigators, a Christian ministry, but also overlapped further as we were both engineering students living in the same housing area on campus. In the same friend group, we got to know one another well over the course of our freshman year, at group meals in the dining commons, intramural sports, shared classes, football games, and Navs events. Even at first, David appreciated how much Tori cared to know God and others, and her heart for the world. Tori was REALLY impressed by David’s spike ball skills. Okay but actually, early on Tori appreciated David’s humor and ability to make those around him feel comfortable and known.

While we’d both say we were interested in one another by the end of freshman year, David didn’t work up the courage to ask Tori out until November of sophomore year. Walking back to our dorm (shoutout Atherton Hall) from an IM soccer match, David nervously asked Tori out on a date. Tori characteristically responded, let me think about it. David assumed that was a no. But sure enough, we went on our first date not long after, sharing ice cream from several places around State College to determine the best spot. For those wondering, we would highly recommend the Berkey Creamery (like every other Penn Stater).

The first date turned into many and we had 3-4 months of dinner dates, study times, basketball games, and Navs events together before being sent home due to COVID. The next 6 months consisted of video calls, visits to one another’s homes, and battleship played in Excel. We returned to campus to begin our junior year living in nearby apartments, grateful to be so near each other once again.

But after a challenging several months of trying to figure out how to date in the midst of COVID restrictions, with uncertainty about our future, and both of us questioning the relationship, we actually broke up that winter having been together for a little over a year. We spent the summer before senior year doing different things and having time to process independently, both couldn’t deny how much we missed one another. That November, about two years after we went on our first date, we went on our second, and final(!!!), first date. We started dating again and enjoyed the last few months of college together before graduating in May of 2022. Both of us moved home; David took a job in Philadelphia while Tori stayed at Penn State pursuing her Master’s degree.

The past two years of long-distance have been spent driving back and forth between State College and Philadelphia, enjoying concentrated times together, sharing our lives with one another, and getting to know one another’s families more. It has been special watching each other grow as individuals and professionals all while beginning to talk about what a life together could look like.

We spent much of this first year of long-distance writing letters to one another, supporting the USPS, always looking forward to the day these notes would come in the mail. Little did Tori know that these letters contained a secret message. On July 14, 2023, Tori was deceived by her loved ones and was taken on an important mission, unaware that David and his family were in State College. The first clue was contained within the letters we’d been writing back and forth over the last year. The mission ended with a proposal at Spring Creek Canyon. This time, Tori didn’t have to think about it for a day. SHE SAID YES!!!

It’s been such a fun season as fiances beginning to plan our lives together. We feel so blessed as we look forward to our loved ones coming together to celebrate with us as we come before God to enter into this marriage covenant!