At just 11 years old I dreamed about marrying this freckled strawberry blonde boy, and now 9 years later its becoming a reality. Evan and I met as children, so young its hard to recall exactly how old we were. Around 7 or 8 years old most likely, in kids church at Evangel Assembly of God. While I was in 5th grade and Evan was in 7th grade I had just began homeschooling, we attended various homeschool events together each week as well as church adding another once or twice a week. It was all I thought about during the week was when I was going to see this boy again, eventually I was head over heels for him and at such a young age I was quite the romantic, daydreaming about a future with him and blushing over silly things and telling all my friends about him. This continued for at least a year. For about the next year we went our separate ways and once our paths crossed again, we have been very close friends. I always knew Evan was the most loyal friend and sweet person anyone could ever have, and I was super drawn to that. Before we were dating, I always knew there was something so special about him that I never wanted to lose. For all those years we never stopped thinking about each other. The summer of 2019 was when we really got close and got to be each other’s best friends. I loved his presence and his hugs a little too much. Just a few days a part was too much. And as a surprise to no one, we started dating after that summer… I kissed him on the first date. During our time spent dating we both grew so much, I loved seeing him grow in confidence and as a person and seeing his passion for things. We both started college while dating and made lots of hard decisions and clung to each other when times were hard. Evan watched me graduate high school and college, and we went through the entire pandemic together. Our story is so long and a bit complicated, but I’m so glad God worked it out the way it did.

After almost 2 years together on a random Sunday took me to Oklahoma for a day trip. We went to the lifechurch there, and to lunch; where we ate way too much, and then to a gorgeous botanical garden. He knows I’m a softie for botanical gardens and all things flowers and plants. So we walked around it and then found a private shady spot to sit, and he said we should go and just as we got up to leave he says “but before we go I have to do one thing… so do you wanna do this?” and then gets down and actually asks me if I will marry him. At this point I was already in tears and just hugged him and cried. So long I had waited for that moment.