Christina & Patrick

When I moved back to St. Charles, I had purchased my first house. After moving all of my things in, there were obviously items that didn’t fit in my new space. I sold a bunch of things on the local “buy/sell/trade” site. Well, one items caught the eye of a guy that happened to live down the street. Many email exchange had us laughing and joking around…we had obvious chemistry. I loved his humor, positive nature and all around easy-going personality…his smile and dimples didn’t hurt either. He paid for the shelf in pennies; 600 of them… Over the next year, I got to know him, his daughter and the rest of his family. I couldn’t imagine my life without them in it. After being together for about a year, my mom was diagnosed with cancer, I took a leap of faith and quit my full-time job to pursue Real Estate and also sold my house. I would have never been able to make it through such a crazy time without this man by my side. He encouraged me to find strength I didn’t even know that I had. The next several months were tough. Seeing someone you love going through the hell that is chemotherapy. Patrick stepped up to help my family, helped me laugh when I needed it and was my rock. Through all of this, I absolutely knew without a doubt in my mind, that we were meant to be together forever. He was God’s plan for me. You always hear people say “you just know” when someone is the one…I never believed it until it happened to me. I just knew. One night while taking a walk in our neighborhood, we sat down on a bench next to the lake and watched the fountains. We were talking about the future…the next thing I knew…he was proposing. In normal Patrick fashion, he had completely thrown me off…always keeping me surprised. Of course, I said yes! We are engaged! <3 I am marrying my best friend. Now I again own this shelf and he has 600 pennies!

Alyssa & Josh

St. Louis is where I had called home for the last 18 years, and I had my eyes and heart set on moving back to the south (where I was born and originally from), but after learning of my mom’s very rare brain diagnosis, I knew my time in St. Louis wasn’t over.
Josh and I had met at this country line dance roadhouse, where he was working at the time. We were friends for about a year and a half, both in relationships that ended within that time frame. He would regularly say hi and we’d chat about life and different topics, and got to know bits and pieces about each other. I had absolutely no idea that he was interested in me until one night he asked me to slow dance. I had never seen him dance with anyone, so I was taken aback when he approached me. I obliged, and that was early in December 2013. That month I had a lot of work parties, family traveling, etc. that come with the Holiday season, so I didn’t make it in for my usual Wednesday line dancing the rest of the month. Josh started messaging me on Facebook, and I was doing my best to play hard to get while I could. Once I gave him a break, we talked for 5+ hours until the wee hours of the morning. He asked me to try Indian food with him, since I love anything spicy, and after waiting a little while to respond, I said I would, and we went out the following Friday night. Josh was so nervous that he said “like” about as much a junior high girl at a sleepover, and while I laughed, I secretly loved it. After the [awful] Indian restaurant, he took me ice skating at Steinberg downtown. He hadn’t skated since he was very little, and I hadn’t for about 10 years. Somehow neither of us fell that whole time. Little did I know that would be a representation of the beginnings of our relationship.
My mom went in to have brain surgery on February 14th, just a few short weeks after Josh and I started dating. He (along with my family and I) saw her go from somewhat normal and functioning to a coma-like state all within our first month. Any normal guy would’ve been running in the opposite direction after seeing the long difficult, and very emotional journey we were going to be on with my mom. Josh clearly wasn’t scared, and held me through the tears, and prayed for comfort for me and healing for my mom when I couldn’t pray. I knew after that, we could weather any storm life threw our way with God’s strength and mercy. Josh and I have learned a lot about each other the last 3 years, learned from each other, and have both grown in our love, and as individuals. He finally popped the question at my house on Christmas Day 2016, which was also his 30th birthday, so we had three amazing reasons to celebrate! We are so ready to become one, and celebrate with friends and family!

Nathan & Megan