Although TJ and I didn’t start dating until 2020, our story actually begins back in 2016 at Valparaiso University. TJ remembers seeing me for the first time in the fall of our freshman year when I offered up a warm smile while walking by the Christopher Center Library. So midwestern, right? I personally remember meeting TJ for the first time in theology class and organic chemistry a year later. He was the smart, cute guy who always got every question correct!

Throughout college, we were casual friends, chatting here and there in class, and seeing each other at church and at social events. TJ laid the groundwork for our friendship by religiously catching up with me after every midweek Celebrate service at the Chapel. I noticed this, of course, and just as I started to crush on TJ in the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and we were sent home to continue school from the comfort of our homes.

Fortunately, we kept in touch, congratulating each other for achievements and awards and supporting each other through life's milestones like him finishing his first year of PA school and me graduating from Valpo in the spring of 2020.

In August of 2020, I was traveling to Valpo to help my younger brothers move into their dorm. TJ was still at Valpo and I decided to take a leap of faith and ask TJ out for drinks. He agreed, and that was our very first date! Four days after that date, (and after keeping TJ on his toes with a very nervous and delayed text reply) TJ drove to Canton to visit me for a second date, and the rest is history!

We are both grateful for the amazing things God has done in his own perfect timing and cannot wait to see how he blesses our marriage in the future!