Jeremiah and I didn't meet in the traditional way. For that matter, nothing about our relationship has exactly been traditional. When we found each other on an online dating site in March of 2019, he was not the person I had had in mind. He lived out of state (he in Alabama and myself in Georgia), he was younger than me (by three years), and he was preparing to go into the ministry. All of these things were things I had explicitly decided I did not want. But I know now that God had other plans.


After a couple of months of talking as friends, one night, I told him jokingly that if he was serious about this that he needed to come take me on a proper date. To my surprise, he didn't even hesitate, despite my cautioning him about my home situation (being a full time care giver it was nearly impossible to make any solid plans with certainty). June of 2019, Jeremiah made his first treck from Anniston to see me. And, as this story will continue to go, nothing went as planned. Due to circumstances at home, we ended up completely nixing our original plan and just going to a small local restaurant for lunch. That first date we sat and talked for nearly three hours. We talked about our families, school, religion, politics, goals, and dreams. That afternoon, he brought me home and met my mother. When he left, I was feeling very unsure. Having been single for four years prior, I was quite guarded. In addition to that, Jeremiah wanted to spoil me right from the beginning, which I was not at all used to. After he left, I asked my mother her first impression of him, and she made note of three things: "He seems to have a really good head on his shoulders." "The animals immediately warmed up to him, that says something." "He cares about you, and I think he would be good for you." My, how right she was!


The past four and a half years have seen us through a world wide pandemic, nearly losing my mother, loss of family members and friends, career changes, school changes, therapy, family drama, distance, and in spite of it all, by the grace of God, we are stronger than ever.


November 5th of 2022, after lots of planning and maneuvering, I was finally able to drive myself to Alabama for the first time alone. Jeremiah had no clue I was coming! I had planned this trip for a month prior, and it was SO difficult to keep it a secret! When I showed up at his door that Saturday afternoon, after being apart for over 3 months, we both cried. And every obstical in my planning was worth it to see the look on his face. When I got there, I had no way of knowing what that moment would set into motion.


After we both caught our breath and stopped crying, he told me, "I hope you brought something comfortable to wear, I'm taking you out tonight. We are going axe throwing." I got ready that night for what I just thought would be a fun date. When we showed up at Prattville Axe, we were pleasantly surprised to find that, aside from the owner, we were the only two people in the place! We had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun doing something we'd both wanted to try for quite some time. About halfway through our second game, as is his way, Jeremiah decided he was going to try to one up me on the scoreboard. When he went to get the owner to judge the score, I didn't think anything of it. Nor did I think anything of it when he asked the owner to take a quick video of us throwing our axes. And then, to my surprise, when I turned around from writing down the PROPER score (I won, by the way, all three games!), he was down on one knee. I immediately burst into tears and said "yes" without an ounce of hesitation. He told me later that he had planned to propose in December, but that when I showed up, he knew he had to shift his plans. He refused to be outdone by my surprise.


And now here we are, planning the next chapter in our wonderful, if not slightly unconventional, story. And we are so happy and so blessed to have you all along for the ride! Here's to the next adventure!