Tim and Kelly met initially on the Orthodox Christian dating app “Meet and Right”. Tim was struck by Kelly’s profile emphasizing her love of seeing beauty in the world, while Kelly was charmed by how Tim described himself as “most likely to be found throwing small children in the air”. After their initial messages about how neuroscience and Orthodoxy dovetail, he scheduled a phone date for later that week. (Tim knew at this point he was going to marry her, but Kelly didn’t know it yet.)


Coming out of a busy week, Kelly had arranged to start the call just 30 minutes before the start of an evening church service in order for it to be a short and brief “get to know you” conversation. Tim, unfazed, thought to himself: “challenge accepted”. An hour later, after discussing their paths to Orthodoxy and how they both (oddly enough) had visited Iceland, Kelly realized her service was halfway over and said goodnight. Tim wasn’t content with this, though, and invited Kelly to a second phone date after her service later that night. The rest was history!


Tim and Kelly were amazed how they never ran out of things to talk about and how often they stayed up way too late talking. Two weeks after meeting, Tim flew down to Texas to meet Kelly in person. He planned a wonderful weekend of dates: they went to a dance Kelly’s church hosted, took outdoor walks in the woods, shared lovely meals together, and stargazed. During this time, as Kelly had proclaimed she “didn’t really care for the Beatles”, Tim eagerly saw this as another challenge to conquer and convince her otherwise, playing all the best Beatlemania love songs for her. (Kelly decided later on, as with many other things Tim introduced her to, that they weren’t that bad after all.)





Before returning to Pittsburgh, Tim made the relationship official. Living 1,200 miles apart, in different time zones, and with completely different work schedules made dating a challenge. But Tim made it work, and would alternate between flying Kelly to Pittsburgh or coming to see her in Texas. Despite the obstacles, the relationship itself seemed effortless - the whole year seeming like a nonstop, beautiful conversation to both of them.




Later that summer, Tim brought up to Kelly the possibility of her moving closer. After applying for some jobs and praying about it, Kelly was offered a job as a hospice chaplain (kind of her dream job) in Wheeling, West Virginia - only an hour away from Tim! After a whirlwind of planning, Tim arranged all the logistics, flew down, got his girl, and drove a U-Haul 20 hours across the country and moved Kelly to her new home.



A few months of beautiful memories and trips later, on New Year’s Eve, Tim brought Kelly to a beautiful bed and breakfast perched on top of a snowy mountain with breathtaking views near Wheeling. It was there, shortly after ringing in the new year, in a line of lit beeswax candles and amidst a gorgeous bouquet of flowers with Hildegard von Bingen playing in the background (Kelly and Tim both listened to this obscure medieval musician in their college years) that Tim began the new year with a proposal and asked Kelly to marry him.



Tim and Kelly are so excited to spend the rest of their lives together and can’t wait to celebrate their union with all of their loved ones!