I met Daniel about a year and a half ago at a worship night when I was out visiting my college roommate, who had recently moved to Nashville. At first we didn’t think anything of it and just happened to stay in touch, cheer one another on from afar, and run into each other whenever I would come visit friends in Franklin.

After college, I took three months to backpack around Europe, and Daniel just happened to keep sliding up on Instagram every now and then, commenting on posts and liking stories. I remember thinking, “Hmmm… he’s probably just nice and likes my mountain pictures.”

Then when I got back home to Seattle, I took another trip out to Franklin before my job started to visit friends and what do you know… Daniel was around all the time. Trivia night, line dancing (he doesn’t even like dancing), worship nights, and so on. A couple days before I left, he asked me on a date, and we realized we were way more aligned on everything than either of us expected. From talking about what we would do if an EMP strike happened to intimacy with Jesus, we somehow covered all the bases.

The more time I spent with Daniel, the more my respect grew for him. I was so drawn to the strength of his mind, body, and spirit — all deeply devoted to our Savior — and to the kind of leader he would be for me, our future family, and the people around him.

After I got home, I told my dad about him and his response was, “Well, invite him to family Christmas… that’ll weed him out real quick.” So I sent Daniel a text saying he was invited, and without really knowing whether it was a joke or not (and not inquiring to find out), he booked a flight and landed in Seattle at 10am on December 26th. We spent all 10 days before that FaceTiming for hour’s — him until 5am and me until 2am…

What was supposed to be a quick trip to see if this could actually work somehow turned into 19 days staying with my family in Seattle. Daniel happened to be in his last month of sabbatical, and I was in my last month at home before starting a new job, so somehow the timing worked out perfectly. He extended his flight four different times, stayed in Seattle getting to know my family, joined our family ski trip to Utah two days later for a week, and then I came out to Franklin for two weeks after that.

I quickly went from “date for all four seasons” to getting engaged after four months!!! Even my dad, Doug, somehow changed his mind on the whole four seasons rule because of the rarity that Daniel is… lol. Boy does God have a sense of humor.

Daniel, who is a man of excellence and intentionality, proposed to me on the beach in Laguna Beach, California. It was so perfect that I literally started to run away because I thought I was accidentally walking into someone else’s proposal… until I realized it was MINE. WOW. What a gift that day was. Thank you Jesus. Having our family and friends there to celebrate and love on us made it all even sweeter.

Now I can’t wait to start our lives together here in Franklin and officially make the leap to the Southeast. And yes… I somehow love him more than skiing and mountains!!