Although we both attended Grace College for our higher education, Parker was in the seminary while Jenna was in the nursing school. We ran in pretty different circles and would have likely never met if we hadn't both worked at a small cafe that was only about a minute from campus. Parker started working at Light Rail Cafe in October of 2022, where Jenna had been working since September of 2020. Although Light Rail is where we got to know each other, our very first interaction was at church the week before Parker started at the cafe.

After a month or so of getting to know each other in the work environment, Jenna invited Parker to her dog Fury's birthday party. Parker was the only one who showed up with a gift for the dog, and he even brough Jackbox games which were the highlight of the party. About halfway through the party, Parker asked Jenna if he could talk to her afterwards. It was after the dog's birthday party that Parker asked Jenna out on their first date. Our first date was at a restaurant called Cerulean on December 7th. We went for dinner and then planned on going to a Christmas light show. While driving to the light show, we noticed a building on fire with tons of fire trucks parked out front of it. We obviously decided to pull over and watch the firefighters put the fire out. We spent almost an hour there just chatting in the car and hanging out. This picture was taken the day after our first date at work!

Parker graduated the following May and moved back to Ohio to start his residency at Grace Polaris church. At this point, they started the fun journey of long distance dating!

The final coffee stop on the way out of town for Parker :(

Over the next year of long distance, Parker and Jenna alternated visiting each other! This picture was at a festival of lights where we each decorated a floating lantern that eventually got sent into a pond!

Parker obviously had to show Jenna the Ohio State University campus on one of their visits!

Many visits often included a friend's wedding! These trips gave us an opportunity to get dressed up and hang out with friends!

On Jenna's birthday, Parker drove to Winona Lake to surprise her at Cerulean with her friends. Only a few days later, Jenna was getting her wisdom teeth out and Parker stayed to take care of her.

Parker and Jenna enjoy doing tons of activities together, like hiking. On one trip, Parker and Jenna spent the day at Hocking Hills, trying many of their different trails.

Easter Sunday together!

The week before Jenna graduated from college, Parker came out to spend the weekend in Winona Lake. Parker did a great job keeping the weekend very low key so that Jenna didn't suspect a proposal. While on their way to dinner Friday night, Parker walked them past the building that caught on fire the night of their first date and proposed. After the proposal, Parker had arranged for many of Jenna's close friends to meet them at the restaurant so that they could all celebrate together.

After dinner, the whole gang headed back to our friend's house to hang out and take pictures in front of the cutest backdrop!

Parker found a news article detailing the events of the fire they watched on their first date.

A week later, Jenna graduated nursing school and moved to Ohio to finally end the long distance portion of their relationship!