Alright I’m gonna do this like the man I am:

Met : March, I think, 2011

Dating : December 2011, around Christmas

Engaged : October, mid month, 2012

Married : *checks note on hand* Says here it was March 23, 2013

We met at church. She was so cute and the sweetest girl I had met in a long time. I liked her from first sight.

We hung out a lot before we officially dated but our first outing as a couple was a big family Christmas thing and then our first date was...
1/

...was a wedding where all of her friends from college finally got to meet me. An old boyfriend pulled her aside for a “private conversation” which I... uh... wasn’t happy about.
2/

She was upset too I think, and her friends spent a good bit of the time assuring me that all she did was talk about me and I had nothing to worry about. It ended up being a great night.
3/

I proposed in my living room on a Saturday morning. Got dressed up, surprised her, down on one knee... the whole deal. That sounds great, right? Well, it was a good save because she nearly broke up with me the week before. We refer to it as the “Denny’s Weeping Incident”
4/

I had originally planned to propose later in the month at a big birthday party for her. All her friends and family would be there, have a big celebration, etc etc. she figured it out and told her best friend who was helping me. So...
5/

Soooo... me, a world class idiot, told her I wasn’t ready to get married to “throw her off the scent”. She cried for a week. Her dad, friends, MY MOM, and half the church had to talk her out of breaking up with me. So I tried to make it as special as I could & just did it.
6/

Truth is, I was more than ready. Didn’t even feel nervous, honestly. I just wanted it to be this big romantic deal. She just wanted to get married.
7/

I took a trip to Wisconsin with her the summer before the proposal. Visited all my old friends, let them get to know her. They told me that if I didn’t marry her I was crazy. They were right.
8/

The wedding was great. We didn’t just write our own vows, we wrote the whole service! We worshiped together, pastor gave a gospel presentation, and @marianna_joshua 11 years old and sick as a dog stood as my best man.
9/

I wrote a pamphlet up about all of the people in our wedding party and why we chose them as bridesmaids or groomsmen. We each also wrote a short piece on each other in the pamphlet. It was nice, I think.
10/

We honeymooned at the Creation Museum. It was both cheap and quiet (perfect). When we got back people from church said it was the best wedding they’d ever been to.
11/

Now, almost 8 years later, 4 kids, 2 dogs, foster children come and gone we still love to pieces, a house, ups and downs, good times and bad... and she’s still that cute sweet girl I met at church who makes me feel instantly at home.
I’m so in love!
12/12