Blake and I met by chance (or an act of God) on one random Sunday night in the fall of 2017. I was a Junior in high school at the time and a member of the Mars Hill Chorus. That evening our choral group was due to perform at a local congregation in Florence. The performance started on time and ran smoothly and I was fortunate enough to have two good friends come out that evening to support me since I had been given a solo in that years ensemble. After the performance was over, I proceeded to go talk to my friends in the audience. Before the show had started, I had left some personal belongings with them so I wouldn't have to carry them around throughout the evening. I get to where they are sitting and see some random guy wearing my cardigan and talking to my friends. As I walk up behind him, I overhear him in the middle of an elaborate story telling them how he had missed the whole performance because instead of turning right to get to the church, he had turned left and driven twenty minutes down the road before he realized. I pipe into the conversation and say, "why are you wearing my sweater?" The boy in front of me freezes and turns around and just looks at me for a moment. My friends and I just laugh as he then awkwardly fumbles around trying to take it off as quickly as possible and says, "oh this is YOURS!? I am so sorry, I thought it was someone else's" I immediately took it back from him all while thinking who was this crazy (but kinda cute) guy who had stolen my sweater? My friends then introduced him as "Blake Kelly" and informed me that they went to church together. After that evening, Blake and I became good friends and saw each other at church events around the area. We then started dating several months later and have been through so many adventures since then. I am so thankful you took a wrong turn and couldn't wait to tell your friends about it. I am so thankful you put on some random girls sweater as if it was yours and I am so thankful to get the opportunity of being your wife.

Elizabeth and I met by happenstance through some friends that we had in common and while she remembers me stealing her sweater, my first impression of her was a different scenario entirely. Boone Carter and some others had invited me to go watch the Mars Hill Chorus sing at a local church since a lot of our Mars Hill friends (i.e. John Medley, the most glorious man to ever exist) were involved with the chorus, and as an added bonus, we got to eat a massive potluck spread afterward that was provided from the church to all the students. This is super important, as the food from these events was always the best home cooking you could get outside of a family gathering or holiday. So with all that being said, me, Boone, and a couple others go to the service and the singing that followed. Once the singing was over, we all ran to go get in line before all the good food had been eaten. I was first in line out of our friend group, passed through the line, and sat down at a table. Elizabeth happened to be right behind me in line and sat down across from me. I actually didn’t even see her as much as I heard the Styrofoam plate hitting the table with a loud thud. I looked over to see that her plate was completely full of food, she had all the mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, chicken, chocolate pie, etc. and had filled her plate full without a second thought (which if you know Elizabeth is no surprise at all). However at the time, I was shocked to see someone so petite with a plate that seemed insurmountable and I, having the absolute worst poker face in the world and no ability to hide my expressions, stared open-mouthed as she scooted her chair under the table and sat down. She saw me staring at her plate and asked if “I had a problem with it” with a smile. I quickly tried to tell her no, that I was just amazed but did point out that it was a ton of food and thought that it was a bit wasteful because there was no way on earth she was going to be able to eat all of it without throwing some away (of course I was wrong and underestimated how much she loves a potluck). Our friends sat down and we all started talking and eating. I got halfway through my plate when I see Elizabeth get up. I look over and she had completely cleaned her plate! This time I tried bit harder to hide my surprise, but I remember thinking to myself, “What a woman!” Elizabeth, you surprise me every day in the way that you push your own boundaries to become the best person you can be, and you inspire me to be better every day. You truly are an extraordinary woman and an even more impressive Christian example for me. You have impacted my life in more ways than you possibly could know, and I have been blessed to know you and am even more blessed to be able to call you mine.