Anyone who knows me knows that I have really never had any interest in dating apps. I always thought I would meet my future husband the old-fashioned way being that I am a rather old-fashioned person in general. I was very adamant that I would never, EVER participate in dating apps. All I can say is wow, am I glad that I decided to sign up for one. I thought "I'll just go on some dates, nothing serious." I had no idea what blessings God had in store for me.

It was a Saturday and I was sleeping over at my best friend's house. We were getting ready for bed since we had church early in the morning when I got a notification on my phone. I promptly opened the app and before I knew it, I was staring at a picture of the most handsome man I've ever seen. He had responded to one of my prompts in a pretty cliche way, but I thought "What the heck, I'll entertain it." His profile was very promising and what did I have to lose? The worst thing that could happen is he won't respond.

His response was pretty immediate and within 24 hours, it felt like we had discussed every topic you can think of - from politics to religion, to favorite music and family life. So much for thinking that he would never even respond! Our conversation flowed so well that I didn't feel like I had to come up with a perfect answer to keep him interested. He was (and is) thoughtful, respectful, conservative, and godly; not to mention QUITE a nerd. Perfect for me in every way, almost *too* perfect. I began to wonder if I was somehow being pranked or if he was some AI bot that had searched through all of my data and catered very specific responses that it knew I would like. Spoiler alert, he was not....THANK GOD!

A few days later, I finally uttered the words that sealed the deal for Mikael and secured a first date. I had revealed my background as a competitive piano player and he asked what my favorite thing is to play. I replied with a very nerdy but beautiful song choice, to which he replied something to the effect of, "This makes me not feel so bad about nerding out over Star Wars." I replied that I love Star Wars and that John Williams knows how to write an incredible score, and Mikael replied with "Marry me" and "I've heard enough, let's go out."

The days leading up to our first date felt like an eternity. I was so nervous but also excited. The plan was for him to pick me up and for us to go to dinner and be back at a reasonable time. I went shopping the day before with Grace and picked out a new dress. As I was getting ready the next day, one of my family members walked into the room and said, "Trump was just shot." Ok yikes...this day just got a little more interesting. Then, Mikael texts me saying that he got pulled over so he's running late. More interesting. At this point, I was just hoping and praying that the guy who was about to show up at my house was the guy from the dating profile and not some rando. Thank goodness, when I opened the door he was not some random man who was catfishing me, but the same handsome guy from the dating profile.

We made the drive to our destination, talking the whole way there. When we got to the restaurant we talked for about 5 hours about anything and everything. It was just like it was over text, our conversation flowed so easily. I felt so at ease around him, I really couldn't believe what was happening. We finally ordered dessert since we were too busy talking to order dinner, and then we left the restaurant since they were closing. It was about midnight by the time he dropped me off at my house. Mikael gave me a single green flower (since he knew green was my favorite color), and said goodbye. I watched from my house as he drove off and couldn't believe what a good time I just had. I think we both walked away from that date knowing that we had met our "person."

Surprise, We're Eloping!