The Short Version: Brandon and I met at a gathering for young adults called YALA at Broadmoor Baptist on June 5th, 2023. We began dating in August 2023 and became official on August 21st, 2023.

The Long Version: Brandon and I met in June 2023, but I cant do our story justice without sharing how God was moving in our lives prior to that point(which ultimately allowed us to meet).

A year before we met, Brandon was working for Winshape Camps in Cleveland, Georgia as a squad leader and member of their Road Crew. He loved his job very much and definitely could have stayed with it and potentially been promoted. But God made it extremely clear to Brandon that he needed to come home and fulfill the call to ministry he had been given his freshman year of college. So Brandon came home to Shreveport and began to pursue a career in student ministry and was eventually offered a position to work with the student ministry at First Baptist Keithville in January 2023. At this time, I was halfway through my senior year of college and had begun praying for the Lord to lead me to the teaching position He wanted me in. I was willing to go anywhere He wanted me to, but not even two weeks after I had been praying that I was offered a job at my old elementary school, Apollo Elementary! Which meant that I was also going to be moving back home:,)

After graduating in May 2023 I moved home, went on a cruise with my family, and then was in my roommate Brooke’s wedding on Sunday June 4th. I mention this because it was at this wedding where I caught the bouquet, meaning that I was supposedly going to be the next one to be married! My friends and I all thought this was wildly funny because at the time I was extremely content in my singleness and had absolutely nobody on my radar at all😅

Fast forward to the NEXT day: June 5th, 2023. I was exhausted from the wedding weekend, but was excited to be going to YALA(a ministry for young adults in the Shreveport area at Broadmoor Baptist) for the first time since graduating. I had been going during the summers and occasionally during the school year, so I was looking forward to finally start going consistently. Before I went, my friend Elizabeth called me to tell me about a book called The Meaning of Marriage that she had been reading and how she wanted me to read it too. I was very apprehensive about it since, as mentioned above, I was very content in my singleness and wasn’t really interested in reading anything about marriage. But Elizabeth insisted that it was good for single people to read too, and then very pointedly told me that she would be bringing me a copy to YALA that night.

I did not think about this again until later that night when I was talking with two guy friends of mine from Camp Fuego and another guy that I did not know at all. (The other guy was Brandon, who saw me, thought I was cute, and then decided to walk over and join our conversation to meet me!) It was at this moment when Elizabeth comes up to me and says “Here’s your book on MARRIAGE!!!” I was horribly embarrassed, because I really didn’t know any of these guys ~that~ well. Brandon then asked “Oh are you getting married?” to which I very quickly responded “No” with what I thought was a “Heck no” kind of vibe. But apparently to Brandon my quick reply of no sounded a lot like “No! I’m available!” So yes, exactly one day after I had caught the bouquet at a wedding, I met Brandon:,) For the next two weeks at YALA, Brandon asked me if I had started reading that book yet and I responded with a no each time. I had NO idea that this was his version of flirting and was living in complete oblivion, all the while he had become interested in me!

I then left to go work at Camp Fuego for an entire month where one week I became friends with a girl named Shelby who was, unbeknownst to me, one of Brandon’s good friends and coworkers from Moor Coffee. At one point she told me that if I ever decided I wanted to try putting myself out there, she had someone in mind for me, but wouldn’t tell me who! (I’m sure you can guess who though😉)

After getting back from camp in late July, I went to go see Shelby at Moor Coffee and try it out for the first time. When I walked in, I saw Brandon working and said “Oh hey! Do you remember me? I’m the one who was given that book on marriage by my friend at YALA earlier this summer? I actually started reading it while I was at camp!” Of course he remembered me, we started talking more, and after the fact that he “loved musicals” got brought up I decided maybe I needed to stay a little longer!😊I ended up staying until they closed and the whole time Shelby was giving me weird looks. After he left, I asked Shelby “Hey, is he the guy that you told me you could see me being with?” He was:) When I got home, I had a follow request from him on Instagram😁

Over the next couple of weeks, I started visiting Moor Coffee a little more often and was especially looking forward to going to YALA each week. Each time I had a conversation with Brandon I started to like him even more, and the same was with him. Finally, on August 4th, he asked me if I wanted to get coffee with him! Of course I said yes:)

Before we got coffee on Sunday August 6th, I made some very specific prayers to the Lord. I wanted to glorify God in this, and didn’t want to go through with it if it wasn’t His will! Well, God answered all my prayers on that coffee date so well it was honestly kind of scary, I didn’t think I would ever meet a guy who lined up so well with what I had been praying for for so long. Brandon truly was everything I could have ever dreamed of and prayed for. After that, we continued to text and talk regularly, and four days later he took me on our first official date to Gibbons and Target, a dream date for me! A couple weeks later, on August 21st, Brandon asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes! And the rest is history🥰

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