I joined ChristianMingle in July of 2013 and Maria joined in January of 2013. At the end of August, Maria had noticed that I had viewed her profile multiple times, but had not sent her a “smile” or tried to contact her. So, she boldly sent me an email questioning why. I read the e-mail and started laughing because I knew I didn’t have a good reason, other than the fact that her profile intimidated me. I had never read about someone who seemed to have so much going for her, and I didn’t think I had anything to offer or challenge her with. We emailed back and forth a few times and realized that we probably ought to talk to each other.
On September 1, 2013, we finally talked on the phone and found that we actually did have a lot in common, with the exception of her having a heavy New York accent and I have a Texas drawl. We agreed to meet on September 3rd at a local restaurant. Maria had approximately two hours before she needed to pick up her son, and yet the two hours went by lightning fast. We found that we had so much in common, despite our geographically different upbringings. We agreed to meet again on Thursday at the same place and time, and it was even better. Within two weeks, we started dating exclusively and deactivated our profiles shortly thereafter.
The Bible talks about “iron sharpening iron” and that’s what it was and has been like. I took Maria on a trip to Arkansas on November 15th for a short vacation. What she didn’t realize was that I had completely planned out an engagement surprise, and she was so surprised when I proposed; she couldn’t even answer yes for almost five minutes. But, she did finally and with much joy and emotion. We started planning our wedding immediately, and on May 24th, 2014, we were married in front of our friends and families here in Dallas.
Neither of us can say enough about ChristianMingle and how with the grace of God, we found each other. We have constantly told others our story and share how we believe that ChristianMingle was the facilitator in helping us to find each other.