Renee's Recollection:

I joined Elevation Church-UC in August of 2014 and James & I met at Elevation that same year in November (back when services were at the YMCA). James was already serving on the Campus Safety team and I had recently began serving as a host with eKidz children's ministry. I remember our initial interaction just being cordial in passing.

The one encounter that stands out to this day was him passing me in the auditorium one Sunday and saying hello and then he asked either how I was doing or how my week was. We talked briefly and then went our separate ways. The following week, we saw each other again at church and it was much of the same as before but before parting ways, he asked me, "How can I be praying for you?" I remember not knowing how to respond or what to say and I'm sure I gave some generic answer but he said that he would be praying for me and walked away. Our interactions continued in the same manner for another week or so, he even started playfully engaging with Amiya, who was 7 or 8 at the time. I thought that was super cute. But even still, I did not take that to mean that he was interested in me or anything. I just thought he was nice church man doing what church people do. So fast forward some weeks, I'm at my desk working and I get an email and it's from him. Now I'm thinking, how in the world did this man get my email because I sure did not give it to him. The email was sweet and said something to the effect of he thought about me and just wanted to see how my day was going and to say have a good day. So now, I'm like okayyyyyy!!! I can appreciate him going the extra mile to contact me but at the same time thinking, why didn't you just ask for my number!? Eventually he did and we made plans to meet up for the first time. We met at Chili's in University, where we sat at the bar and just got to know each other better. I left feeling like, ok, I like him but still not knowing where things were headed, if anywhere.

Over the next several years we "dated" while still keeping our options open but took some time to figure out who we were and what we wanted and if we really see ourselves together. After taking some time to think, some tough conversations and a LOT of prayer, on May 27, 2018 during a family/friends gathering, we officially decided to give our relationship a chance and made it public. Four years later on August 27, 2022 in front of more of our close family and friends, he asked me to be his wife and of course I said "YES!" after an extremely ugly cry.

I have never met anyone like James. No one has every challenged me, pushed me, loved on me, supported me, taught me or protected me more than he has! I am forever grateful that our paths crossed and that I get to do life with this man. I love me some him!