Ellen + Cody

"Anybody who hears me and Ellen' story probably thinks how crazy and random and unbelievable and lucky it is that were engaged…but God doesn’t think so. Proverbs 16:9 says “The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” and that’s exactly what happened. Both Ellen and I can see God’s providence all over our relationship from way before we even met. Let me explain...

When Ellen was applying to nursing school, she wanted to go to Augusta, but through God’s sovereignty she ended up going to Georgia College in Milledgeville and rooming with Ashah. Through Georgia College, Ellen did all her clinical and externships in Macon, and after graduation she got a job at the hospital and moved out here. (where Ashah was now living ).While living in Macon, Ellen and Ashah would run together now and then and keep in touch.

I’m a Texan, born and raised, and never thought I would live outside of the greatest state ever. But just like with Ellen, God had a different plan in mind. After college I decided that I wanted to be a college basketball coach. While I wanted to stay in Texas, a coach who recruited my brother was now at Mercer University and through this I was able to get a graduate assistant coaching position for Mercer basketball. In June of 2015 I packed my bags, fully focused on my “career” and nothing else in mind…Well, just one other thing in mind.

Now Ashah’s best friend Michelle and her family went to the same church I grew up in (If you want that story on how that happened ask Ashah). In March of 2015, 3 months before moving out to Macon, I was shown a picture of this girl from Michelle that I “just had to meet” when I moved. (I later learned that Ashah had also showed Ellen a picture of this stunningly handsome man moving from Texas). Being a tough guy and all, on the exterior I was like whatever, maybe I will. I don’t like to be set up, I never had been and I never wanted to, but for some reason this was different, I really wanted to meet this girl. I mean, she was really cute in the picture I was shown.

I’m really thankful Ashah didn’t waste any time in introducing us. On my 4^thday in Macon, Ellen and I met at a movie, which was supposed to be a group setting, but by the open seats in the theater it ended up pretty much being a double date with Ashah and her husband Ben. Now Ashah and Michelle had kept telling me how “cute” Ellen was, but when I saw here for the very first time I realized “cute” didn’t do her justice. The only thing I could think of was “she is drop-dead gorgeous.” We had a really good time that night, but I wanted to take it slow and not freak her out so I didn’t ask for her number yet.

The second time we hung out with Ben and Ashah, 3 days later I asked Ellen for her phone number. After a couple days and texts later, I called Ellen and asked her out, where unbeknownst to us at the time, we both went on our last, first date ever. We dated throughout the summer, and grew to love each other’s company and conversation more and more each day. We became “official” in mid August and our strong affection for each other grew into love.

I can’t pinpoint an exact time, but somewhere in the fall I knew I loved Ellen and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I started the ring shopping process in November and by February 2016 I had her ring. With basketball season in full swing I had to wait until the season was over to propose. On Sunday, March 13^th, I couldn’t wait any longer. We both really enjoy the outdoors, and Ellen loves to watch the sun set. We had been out to the spot before, so I told Ellen we should go watch the sun set and then go out to eat. We went out to Lake Tobesofkee, laid a blanket out on the ground and were watching the sunset. I pointed out something along the shoreline and told her we should go take a look at it. After helping Ellen up, I got down on one knee, and when she turned around I asked her to marry me. She said yes! Seeing how evident God’s providence was in me and Ellen meeting, we can’t wait to get married and see what God has in store for us throughout our life and marriage."

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Cody saw a leaf, grabs it off the tree & said look it's like mistletoe! Haha!!!

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