Katie's perspective: At first he was just a cute guy at the Mission that walks around with the sparkly eyes. Then, my first day working there, I walked in to see photos of Alex with sloth hands all over the classroom... I thought, man, this guy is cute and he must love the kiddos enough to do some type of zoo day. From this initial thought, Alex began coming into the classroom frequently to "fix the cameras" unknown to me, intentionally frequently.

Every person I talked to started saying, hey you know who you'd be great with? Alex! Mrs. Laura, especially was mentioning how she has many, many weddings under her belt and she knows there would be something special there if we were interested. Eventually we went to coffee and numerous HR violations later here we are. From the first date I went on with Alex he fascinated me, he had such a fierce love of Jesus, a sweet and kind heart, but he challenged me in a way I hadn't experienced before. He was witty and wise and to this day he continues to fascinate me, challenge me, grow me, and always gives me a safe space to land. Alex makes every person and space he walks into better, and it is so fun to see God work through him constantly, and I couldn't be more grateful and excited to begin this next chapter together and I truly feel so blessed to get to know and love such a remarkable man.

Alex's perspective:
I was wondering around the Rescue Mission when Laura De Paola stopped me and said "Alex, have you met the beautiful Miss Katie?" I thought, beautiful is right! She had the sweetest smile and was so incredibly gorgeous but I thought there would never be a chance after such a brief introduction. Fast forward a year or so to when I got an email request to make a badge for a new employee at the Mission, it was her! I think I smacked my hands on my desk and said SHUT UP!

During this time at work, there was a lot to be done with adding cameras to the classroom that Katie was working in. Between a bunch of real issues with the cameras and a few not so real issues with the cameras,I found myself in the classroom more than ever before. Hearing how Katie talked to the kids and how she handled problems made me want to talk to her more and more.

After searching all over Instagram for her I finally downloaded Facebook and sent her a message. After some back and forth we went to coffee at 602 in Huntington and my life has never been the same. With every date I learned more and more about Katie's sweet heart, brilliant mind and yearning to walk more like Jesus. She is genuinely the most kind, thoughtful and affirming person you will ever meet. It is such a blessing to get to one day call her my wife.