Gheorghe and Emily first met at a church interest meeting regarding starting a new campus in South Lakeland. Both were seeing other people, but God had other plans for them. After a year and a half of being single and going to the same campus, they started talking. Several friends of Gheorghe dropped hints about Emily who was teaching in the children’s ministry, as well as Emily’s good friends dropping hints about Gheorghe, who was doing sound and IT for the church. Gheorghe asked Emily to go to Cracker Barrel with him and his family after church. Following lunch, they went kayaking together and found it very easy to talk to each other. After several more dates, Gheorghe visited his biological family in Romania, where he was adopted from as a child; his family was ecstatic to hear the exciting news that Gheorghe had met such a wonderful girl. They officially became a couple on September 16, 2022, when he asked Emily to go on a date to Chili’s followed by a football game at his old high school, where it was pouring rain. What a great way to kick off their first official date!! They had many great adventures together, including day trips to the beach, exploring St. Augustine, relaxing at different lakes and rivers, and hiking the beautiful Georgia mountains. Nearly a year later, Gheorghe asked Emily to marry him before going on his mission trip to Mexico. While at church, Gheorghe called Emily to come outside; Emily had just finished teaching kindergarten at Lakes Academy and had no idea what was going on when Gheorghe called her. Despite the brutal Florida heat, Emily agreed to come out to the parking lot. After walking outside to meet him, Gheorghe took Emily to Lake Parker behind the church under the guise of talking about upcoming changes to the downtown campus. Gheorghe initially distracted Emily by drawing attention to the hurricane-damaged canopy behind the church so that he could pull out the ring and get down on one knee to propose to Emily. Emily turned around afterwards, surprised and shocked to see Gheorghe kneeling with that beautiful ring in his hand and asking her to marry him. Emily instinctively exclaimed, “YES!! Of course, I will marry you!!” Gheorghe felt relieved after Emily graciously accepted his proposal. Though Emily calls the place he proposed a ditch, Gheorghe calls it a runoff. Both are extremely excited about their future and what’s in store for them and their futures, as they complement each other well and adamantly desire to be best friends for life.