Our Story

We met four years ago, talked, and parted ways. For years seeming to revolve in similar circles, know a lot of the same people, go to the same events, and still miss each other. Until God made us pay attention, starting with Gabriel…

Early in the year, we both received a phone call from a dear friend that would force us to finally interact. Gabriel got a call from his friend to be his groomsman and Evelyn got a call from her friend to be a bridesmaid.

Being paired together, Evelyn knew they would be hanging out with each other, so she wanted to make the conscious effort to be friends with the groomsman. So at the bridal party dinner, Evelyn and Gabriel were joking about Gabriel’s groomsman’s suit color being purple instead of groom’s choice of gray (to the bride and groom’s chagrin). As the banter was dying down, Evelyn attempted to make a final proclamation of the joke by stating “I am ready for the purple”, but instead, very confidently said to Gabriel “I am ready for the proposal”. The directness and nature of Evelyn’s accidental and blunt statement to Gabriel caused everyone to quickly and embarrassingly look his way. After Evelyn left the party, a good friend and mutual groomsman asked Gabriel outside “what are you going to do about it?”, which is the same question Gabriel had asked him last year about the girl the friend is now engaged to.

Gabriel:

As our friend’s wedding grew closer, I kept noticing a lot of extremely attractive qualities about Evelyn. But kept writing it off as “she’s nice, but just because of the timing alone, I’m ~95% sure it won’t work out”.

But by the time our friend’s wedding finally rolled around, I couldn’t deny God leading me to pursue Evelyn. And after even more not-so-subtle signs like the MC’s comments after she caught the bouquet and her being the one to actually being the one to catch the bouquet (you can hear and see it in the video below), there was a turning point where I felt like I had to at least take the next step.

So being the ‘normal’ person I am, I decided the appropriate plan was to covertly get her father’s phone number, call him, and have breakfast. The goal was to ask for his blessing before I even approached Evelyn about going on a date.

Of course I felt some pressure going about it this way, since what if her father says yes, and then she says no. Especially with such timing on Evelyn’s behalf (she was originally planning to be out of the country in a matter of weeks!). But because of approaching it this way, it built a lot of mutual respect right off the bat, and although there were still plenty of questions for me, it was much more enjoyable than a lot of people would expect. I think this is probably one of the best parts of the whole story because it took away so many potential issues and actually allowed things to grow more solidly and safely.

Evelyn:

Thursday is my day of baking.

I was so excited to be letting the cinnamon rolls rise before leaving to Apple Hill with my sisters. I knew my dad had come home rather early that day, what I didn’t know was he was trying to catch me to talk about the unusual breakfast he had that morning.

Rather quickly, I left  having no idea what was in store for me that day. As my sisters and I were standing in line to buy doughnuts, I felt the buzzing of my phone (which, by the way, this was probably the first time in years that I had my phone off of silent) and, as I pulled it out,  I saw the name “Gabe Stein (Groomsman)” calling me. “What could he possibly need me for?” I thought, since the wedding was over and I was not very involved in his Bible study community group. My only assumption is that he might have needed my help with another wedding, because I knew he was helping in a lot of other weddings. So with the problem-solving mindset of helping in weddings, and the logistical mindset of getting my sisters doughnuts, I answered the phone.

“Hi, I just had a great breakfast with your dad, he said it’s alright to ask if you have time for coffee this week”, he said. In that moment, the very little blood I still had in my fingertips rushed out as I answered “Yeah, sure, ok. Where and when? Oh wait, you want to meet up THIS WEEK? So in the next two days?” To which Gabe answered “Yeah, what time works best for you?” Now knowing that my cinnamon rolls still needed to get done, I told him “Well, I am baking tomorrow but I guess Saturday works. Where and what time?” After a few more minutes of talking, we finally settled on a coffee shop and I was off to finish buying those doughnuts.

After what seemed like daaaaays, we finally arrived home that evening where I was finally able to talk to my dad about what had happened. My dad asked me to step outside and we sat down at the counter-top and discussed the young man that had already had a date with my dad before talking to me. 

Gabe gave me the incredible gift to get to know and see him first through the eyes of my father.

Gabriel: 

So I asked her out. She said yes. It’s all going according to plan, but now what?

By around noon the day before the first date, I was realizing the magnitude of the (albeit good) situation I had now put myself in. Not to say I’ve never dated before, and all the resulting consideration and reading over the years was nice and all. But now I had to actually put it into action in real life! So what SHOULD dating look like? Not just in theory, but like for the thing on my calendar tomorrow! What’s the main point or goal? What AM I going to do about it? As my friend had asked me weeks prior.

This is too important to get wrong, too important not to do it the right way.

I already had some thoughts, for sure. But this pushed me to spend the majority of the day writing and reviewing notes and ideas I’ve captured in the better part of a decade. And formalize it into something I felt confident expressing to her tomorrow, in terms of my intentions and views. Which also begged the scary, but right, question of “Well this is what I believe, and I SHOULD too. So if she isn’t on board with it, at least we can go back to “normal”.

After finishing up a 20 step outline for “the dating process”, listing out priority questions and “deal-breaker” issues. I felt more prepared to make sure we were continuing in a wise and sober-minded way. Even if I also thought it was going to be overwhelming and basically be over before it started. I mean after all, who does any of this for a first date?! SUPER romantic…

Evelyn: 

Hair curled. Jumper on. Green smoothie in hand. I was ready to head over to the coffee shop.

I was so nervous about making a bad first impression because I was going to be three minutes late, but thank God I got there before he did. So I sat down at a table outside that faced the parking lot so that I could see him come up. After what seemed like a long time to me, and only two minutes on the clock, he walked up and shook my hand. “I am glad the tables were available, I drove past here earlier this morning to make sure this place would have tables outside”, said Gabe as we started the conversation.

He then asked “Did you know or expect me to approach you? Did you know I was interested in you?”,  “No, I definitely did not see any of this coming? How could I see any of this coming?”, I stated with laughter echoing in my voice. Which Gabriel said he found very funny because of a number of the signs and statements I had made that he thought were signs of my interest in him (remember “I’m ready for the proposal”?). I was completely oblivious as to how God was uncovering his eyes towards me.

From that moment on, there seemed to be no stopping us. Within the first ten minutes, we discussed that the purpose of dating is not for entertainment or for talking about each other’s “favorite ice cream flavors”, but is instead a time of evaluation to know whether or not we should get married.

With that being said, Gabe placed his phone down on the table between us so that we could both see the outlined “20 Step Dating Process” and agenda for our date. SUPER romantic! As we progressed through the first couple of agenda items, I had to interject and say “Can I just mention how much I appreciate the thought and consideration you put into today?” I mean honestly, who doesn’t love a man with a plan?!

We both agreed that the dating process was going to be a success, either in us getting married or in parting ways. There couldn’t be any disruption of our present appreciation of being brother’s and sister’s in Christ, or jeopardy of the “unity of the body of Christ”.

After only 2 hours into the date, the coffee shop closed down, and yet we couldn’t stop talking. We continued our date in a nearby park, where Gabe even had a document for me to look at that he thought was “the best one that went through the Biblical model of a marriage, what that means for a man, and what that means for a woman”. Because I wanted a physical copy to underline / highlight, I quickly drove down the street and printed out the twenty-three page document, studied / analyzed it. Within an hour, I was back at the park, where we discussed dozens of “deal-breaker” level topics.

As we continued to talk, Gabe looked at his agenda and smiled. Apparently, because we couldn’t stop go over so many topics and how much God had prepared both of us for the consideration of very important things, we were already four weeks ahead of Gabe’s assumed “dating process schedule”. 

That day, for a total of ten hours, we still couldn’t stop talking about our beliefs, the relationship we each had with our Lord, what our values are, what we have been called to do to glorify God with our lives, and soooo much more.

There, in the park we stayed, until long after we literally see each other anymore.

We:

As you might figure, with a couple of people like us, our second date started with Evelyn attending one of Gabriel’s business meetings. Which makes sense if you’re trying to determine if you should not only eventually live with someone, but also work with them too. Thankfully this was possible because the business colleagues of Gabriel’s were some of the few people in on it from the beginning (one of them is responsible for helping get Evelyn’s father’s number covertly).

We:

Of course the natural progression is the third date being a day of errands (which Evelyn actually asked to do). It is very helpful for us to see how someone’s like in real life. And the day concluded in randomly getting caught red handed by friends while walking through a botanical garden park together (right as we took this photo!). Since we agreed to keep our relationship under-the-radar until at least 2 weeks (shout out to them for keeping it on the down low).

Our fourth date was a double date with the friends whose wedding we were in. Which was both our first double date while dating, but also each of our first double dates in general. It was an incredible time that we got to have to, not only discuss very deep topics with each other, but along-side trusted and God-fearing friends. 

The fifth date was very much in the spirit of the second date, where we attended one of Gabriel’s business luncheon’s, which was a lot of fun. And the first time Gabriel has brought a plus one to anything of that type, which raised made everyone turn heads and cheer him on. Being at the luncheon exposed Evelyn to God-focused business men who were mentors of Gabriel’s. These were also the very people who happened to be praying for God to bring someone for Gabriel for roughly five years now! Needless to say, there was both a lot of excitement and many more important questions for both of us!

We:

Throughout this time, we wanted our families to be meeting and getting to know each other. So we were blessed in having the chance to put together quite a few breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for us all. There, we were able to uncover a bit more of each other’s childhood stories, understand upbringing, and discuss how God has been leading us alongside our loved ones. 

Gabriel:

So after many, many dates, and well over 500+ hours spent together. The fact is, I had run out of important things (or “deal-breaker” discussions) and I thought necessary to discuss (which is weird if you know me), I took as a good indicator that it was time to move to the next step.

In fact, I always expected the dating process to take 6-12 months at the least (based on the amount of hard questions I knew I had to talk to her about), and had recently been telling a friend (who’s now married) that it seemed like they were moving quickly. So I was certainly eating my own words when things that I expected to take 2-4 weeks to cover, we thoroughly discussed in a couple days….max.

So I invited her dad over and made breakfast at my house, and asked some general questions whether he had concerns or questions so far. Since he said he didn’t, I asked one of the other very important questions… “can I have Evelyn’s hand in marriage?”, to which he happily said “yes!”, followed by another half hour or so of conversation.

That leads us to the present, and the next step is; I am going to propose…