God laughed.

There she was, in the gym, telling her crew she took the gym too seriously to ever meet a guy there. Then one day a shoulder band flipped her hat off her head and as they caught each other’s eyes, they laughed, and so a friendship began. That friendship became a best friendship as they helped each other through the hardest moments of their lives, bonding together in a shared growth-from-hardship perspective. They encouraged each other towards their shared individual goals of growth in every aspect of their lives: spirituality, physically, professionally, mentally, emotionally. Their foundation of friendship grew in Church, in the gym, hiking mountains, watching sports, and talking about planes. That best friendship became a long distance relationship, a relationship that weathered storms and challenges in short order that most take a lifetime to see, but their faith in God knit them closer as they committed to doing the research, asking the questions, and ensuring they had a strong foundation for marriage.

Then one of those hikes ended in a very important question augmented by a gorgeous ring she surprise-Sherpa’d to the top.

So now, we are here in Pine, CO, to celebrate the union of Chris and Jelisa with all the friends and family that led to this moment.