Since she was a teenager, Michelle has been praying for her future husband. On many occasions, praying for a tall dark and handsome manly gentleman who loves the Lord. In her 20's, many people prayed with her and told her unique things they felt God was saying about her future husband. "Good-looking" "the number 32" "nice teeth" "pray for him everyday" "we will both just know when we meet" (just to name a few). She continued to hold out knowing that God had someone special for her. She moved to Texas in October 2022 and felt the Lord was leading her there to meet her husband (and live near family). After finally feeling like she had community and a life in Texas, she decided to give online dating a try. Not long after joining, she spotted a profile picture of a tall dark handsome man with a great smile age 32 who had just liked her profile… Meanwhile, Tyler was living in Dallas and had decided he wanted to move back to Kansas to live near his family. He made the arrangements and transferred his job. Then days before moving, he decided to join a Christian dating app called Upward intending to look for someone in Kansas. Not realizing at first that the app was using his current location in Dallas, he ends up matching with Michelle. Tyler and Michelle quickly hit it off while messaging, though Tyler had to break the news that he was moving to Kansas. Surely not that soon Michelle thought… but in fact he was moving in only two days! Though neither had any interest in long distance dating, they both had this deep feeling that they were supposed to meet. The next night they met at a coffee shop and talked for hours. It went great, but Tyler moved to Kansas the very next day so neither had any idea where it would go. Tyler, however, continued to call and text Michelle daily though they were now states away. Michelle (feeling very unsure about this whole long distance situation) decided to create a long list of questions to ask Tyler. Each night they would spend hours on the phone talking about every subject possible and finding if they were aligned in values, goals, dreams and desires. Each conversation brought more surprise and awe to them both at how aligned they were in every way. They both soon felt like they had known each other their whole lives. They decided to meet halfway in Oklahoma for a day to see if this connection was truly as good as they thought. The whole day only proved what they had already felt and even more - that there was something rare and special about their connection that neither had ever experienced before. They continued their long distance dating (talking on the phone a minimum of five times a day!) and visiting each other in Dallas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. After seeing numerous answered prayers, deep values and visions aligned, multiple “coincidences” of confirmation, and even dreams that matched up, it didn’t take long for them to just know this was it.

After a trip to Nashville, Tyler asked Michelle’s dad for her hand in marriage. Tyler began making plans to propose, though being states away didn’t make it easy to surprise her! Michelle knew that the next time he traveled to Dallas would be to propose so Tyler coordinated with her family and friends to devise a plan. Tyler told Michelle he had to go to Kansas City for a work trip. The night he was on the phone with Michelle “driving to Kansas City” though he was in fact driving to Dallas for the big surprise. Saturday February 3, Michelle made a crockpot of soup before she left for the day to meet up with some friends who would come back to her house for dinner… so she thought. They met at her friend Liliana’s private salon building for some girl time to hang and do their makeup. Less than an hour in, Liliana interrupts the conversation because she needs “everyone to sit down right now… I have to give you something.” Michelle thinks the abruptness is a bit odd, but quickly changes her attention to the anticipation of what Liliana could be giving them. Liliana instructs Michelle and her three other friends to sit down to give them a gift. The gift was actually asking them all to be bridesmaids in Liliana’s wedding in August. Michelle is so excited about being asked to be a bridesmaid that she barely notices how the other girls are barely saying anything… Aren’t they excited too? Liliana then tells everyone to stay there while she lets her dog out the back door. She came back in and asked to get a “picture” of them all opening their gifts. But soon all the girls sitting down around Michelle got up and rushed out of the room and to Michelle’s shock, Tyler walked in with a bouquet of flowers and the ring! He got down on one knee and asked her to marry him… She of course said yes!