Mark saw Tina first on ChristianMingle, but was a little shy about reaching out. A few days later, Tina saw that Mark had viewed her profile but that he did not communicate. Tina liked what she read about him, so she decided to message him to see if he would like to get to know each other. Quickly, the emails became short novels and Mark asked Tina if she would like to talk on the phone. That was June 25, 2014.

Immediately they knew that they had a connection and wanted to see each other in person. Mark asked Tina what she had planned for the 4th of July weekend. She did not have any solid plans, nor did he. They lived about an hour and a half apart at the time, so he asked her if he could drive down and take her to dinner. They went on their first date on July 3rd in San Antonio, Texas. Well, that was that. They knew they were not really interested in seeing anyone else, so after that first date they made it exclusive.

Throughout their dating relationship, they had 92 miles of road separating them but that distance was a little more bearable with texting, long phone calls and FaceTime. Three out of four weekends each month were spent adventuring together by swapping cities and traveling throughout the great state of Texas and a couple of trips to Tina’s hometown of Orlando, Florida.

Fast forward to Tina’s pharmacy school graduation at the end of May 2015. Tina fell ill and had to spend five days at a hospital in Austin on the heels of her ceremony. Mark spent only one of those nights away from the hospital and says that was one of the worst nights he has ever had. He knew then that he could not be without her and he immediately started working on a plan to try to take her “off the market.” Mark drove her dad to the airport and asked for her hand in marriage that weekend.

On June 12, 2015, Mark drove to San Angelo, Texas, for his mom’s birthday to hang out with her, and that is all that Tina knew. What she did not know was that Mark had written a proposal letter for her and had already started working on getting her ring. On June 13th at 4:00 am, Mark left San Angelo to hike to the highest point in Texas to leave the letter at the top of Guadalupe Peak. At 7:30 pm that evening he arrived back in San Angelo: mission accomplished.

On June 21st, Mark and Tina went to Orlando for Tina’s sister and brother-in-law’s baby shower. Mark asked the rest of the family during that visit for permission to marry Tina.

On July 6th, Mark picked up the ring.

On Thursday, August 20th, Mark arrived in San Antonio in the evening to take Tina for a 3-day weekend to finish out the summer. Tina thought they were going to spend a long weekend with his parents, but Mark said he planned it all and simply told her what to pack. They missed the turn to head towards San Angelo and alternatively, they arrived in Fort Davis late Friday afternoon, had a nice dinner and did some grocery shopping for the hike the next day. Tina was thrown off again because Mark said that she need not unpack because they would be leaving Fort Davis early the next morning because that was not their final destination. Saturday, August 22nd at 6:00 am, they left for Guadalupe Peak. After 2.5 hours of hiking, just before noon, they reached the top. Once there, Mark walked over to the place of the hidden letter and asked Tina to sit down. Fortunately, there was a young lady up there that was willing to be their photographer for a few minutes.

The point of the letter was that Mark vowed to travel any distance and face any obstacle for her and for their relationship, and as a small sign of proof, he had been there already for one purpose only. At the closest spot one can get to God in Texas, Tina agreed to spend the rest of her life with him. This was no easy hike, and the other reason for this series of events was that marriage is not easy and it takes two together to push forward. Mark was quite relieved that she said yes because that would have been a very long and awkward trip back if her answer had been different.

After the hike down, they drove to Marfa, Texas, for a nice evening and stopped in Valentine, Texas, on the way because Mark felt it the appropriate place to ask her to be his valentine for the rest of their lives. They enjoyed the evening in Marfa and then headed back to San Antonio the next day.

At 5:00 pm and 1,047 miles since that past Friday, they were back in San Antonio having completed their journey. And that’s just the beginning!

God has blessed us beyond measure and has woven the fabric of our lives together. We could not be happier and want to share the love with all our friends and family. Mark truly feels that God made Tina for him and she feels the same about him. We have the same love for God and serving to further His kingdom.

We want to thank ChristianMingle for bringing us together; we thank God for the creators and administrators of this site.

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