I was scrolling through a Christian dating app during my lunch break at work on September 2nd, 2022 and I found an interesting woman, I showed my friend/coworker Michael Cox (Groomsman) how it wouldn't hurt to contact her.

I said something along the lines of "How are you doing? You seem like a pretty cool person", with her response being "I would consider myself pretty cool, but I'll let you be the ultimate judge of that".

We continued to chat on the app from the 2nd to the 11th with long paragraphs of things we were interested in until I finally gave her my phone number and we met up at the Starbucks in Barnes & Nobel on the plaza.

Of course I showed up and we walked in circles around the entire store talking about all sorts of random things and trying to find out how we felt. Eventually, we took to the streets and walked for about an hour until the evening was over.

I remember heading home with the thought of how I would like to get to know her better and see what kind of person she is without being a stranger to her. We texted each other the typical "I had a good time tonight" tagline and then got to know each other more and more throughout the next 5-6 months.

On February 21st we started discussing marriage and that's when we fast forward to May 20th when I got down on 1 knee to ask the big question in Jacob L. Loose Park.

Never would I have thought that a dating app (Upward) would have helped me find the man who I would spend the rest of my life with. September 2nd, 2022 I was swiping left over and over again until I ran into Jareds profile thinking, Hmm, hes kind of cute. Let me read through this guys profile and see if he is worth swiping right for. Well, as we all can tell... he was!!!


After talking for about two weeks, I was more than ready but super nervous, to meet this man even though I was so sure in my head that it was too early in the talking stage to mention meeting up. Thankfully Jared took that leap of faith for us both and planned for us to meet at Barnes & Noble on the Plaza. The first date consisted of walking around for a couple of hours talking, asking a million questions, and several laps around the bookstore... Did I mention SEVERAL? Who would have known the number of laps you could walk around in a bookstore and not purchase a single book. The night had ended, the nerves had finally ceased and the phone calls to my sister and friends began as I drove home; the normal girl talk about how cute and sweet he was, Ill spare you the rest of the details.


As we began to see each other more I started to see how patient, kind, genuine and understanding he is. One month of talking turned into two, and two turned into three, and three somehow instantly turned into eight months later knowing without a doubt in my mind that I wanted a future with this man. About five months in, we began to have more in-depth conversations about marriage and a future family and what we would hope that would look like in years to come.


On May 20th, 2023 Jared had a whole day planned out and each location he took me holds a significant place in my heart that led up to where we are today. We ended up at Loose Park where we used to take dinner and spend evenings together when we still considered each other strangers. Not only is it a place where we spent time together building our relationship but it is also the place where Jared asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes, without a doubt in my heart, to the man who I love so deeply. I prayed for a man like Jared for a very long time and I thank God more times than I can count for allowing me to be so blessed with a future husband who shows grace, teaches me patience, and allows me to truly be myself. His relationship with Jesus and his love for Christ melts my heart and encourages me to be the future wife God would want me to be for him because he deserves nothing short of that.