We met on Instagram. I knew who she was. I had seen her a time or two before whenever I came up to Elgin. I saw her profile on Instagram and added her, and she added me back. On her birthday (2023), I messaged her "Happy Birthday" and she replied a simple "Thank you." Then a couple months later, I found more reasons to message her. We started talking a little more and a little more.

We met "in-person" for the first time in August 2023 at a Lowe's parking lot (of all places.) We saw each other at a church service. I asked her to go on a date then that's where I told her that I liked her.

We starting asking counsel of our authorities and praying about the relationship more, then in December 2023, I made it official and asked her to be my girlfriend. In April 2024 at her birthday is when I told her that I loved her.

We dated for a year and got engaged at the same spot and the same weekend a year before that I asked her to be my girlfriend.

How I knew Susie was "the one"... When times got real hard... when my mom first had her stroke, Susie was there for me; when things got hard for Susie, she never gave up; then when my mom passed away, she was still there for me. That's how I knew. She didn't run away, she didn't abandon me when things got hard.

After a summer of messaging on Instagram, we got to meet in-person when I came down to Bourbonnais to help my friend, Erin, move down there. I was so nervous to meet him, but when we started talking in the Lowe's parking lot, all the nerves went away, and it was not awkward. On Sunday, we got our first picture together. When he asked me for our first date, I was in denial and paid for my own meal just to make it an "unofficial" date, but then he told me he liked me (it was a K-drama moment, it was great) and then I started believing that this could actually be real. Labor Day in September (2023) was what I call our "first official date." It was at Cracker Barrel. (Yes, to all the pancakes.)

Our talking ramped up. His walk with the Lord really encouraged me. I remember the first time that we prayed together over the phone, and I got choked up (and cried later on). It meant so much to me.

We became best friends and would just talk, talk, talk about all the ups and downs. We tried meeting up once a month. October - Ray was in Trevor & Isabel's wedding, I was in denial so much still; I was trying to not fall in love. November - Thanksgiving was when I met his mom.

December - Christmas Lights, he asked me to be his girlfriend. He got me "Amy Hedgehog" socks and beautiful roses. We got Hot Pot and walked around Christmas lights in Naperville. January - we did New Years.

In April, my birthday fell on "Banquet Day" at the college. Oh my goodness, and this man forgot his tie. Ruthanne said, "You are at a whole college with a boy's dorm full of ties." Jake came through with a purple tie for us... (I still have it, Jake.) That birthday, Ray told me he loved me, (my brain went blank and I said to myself, "Did he really just say that out loud to me?"), and he hasn't stopped ever since.

We continued to get to know each other in the ups and downs and how to communicate and help each other, then December 7, 2024 happened.

We had just gone through Thanksgiving, and he didn't propose! So I gave up reading into things. We were planning to have a date on the same day that he asked me to be his girlfriend a year before, and it was that night that this handsome man asked me to be his wife.

I knew he was "the one" for me when his faith was bigger than his circumstances, well, and he's super handsome. I tell people all the time, "I am so lucky that I get handsome and faithfulness!"