Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord.
-Psalm 128:3-4
What She Said:
I first met Kevin Michael Albers when he sent me a Match request over the July 4th weekend in 2025. I had been on CatholicMatch, Hinge, and several other apps intermittently for years, waiting for “the One” to show up in my feeds. He found me instead.
I pulled up to Summer Moon Coffee next to the Dell Diamond Baseball Stadium on July 12th, 2025. I was nervous until I saw this handsome guy standing outside the cafe. He asked what kind of coffee I liked, and I had to confess that I don’t drink coffee. We kept chatting about our lives, work, families, and shared Catholic faith. On advice from a friend at St. Vincent de Paul, Kevin and I went on a dinner date the following weekend. The second date ended with us sitting under a big tree for another hour after dinner, talking about all things Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. He was charming, perfectly sweet, and talking to him felt like talking to my best friend. And isn’t that the best foundation for love?
We made it official a month after our first date, after a long night out at a Jimmy Eat Brisket show with a big group of my friends. It was a good debut, I think.
Kevin sank his chances of ever escaping me when he made pork ribs for an August BBQ dinner with his sister and her fiancé at the time, Brian. Anyone who knows me well knows I can and will absolutely destroy a rack of high-quality ribs – Kevin’s are delicious! Since then, he has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that I will be a well-fed and well-loved wife. He has impressed multiple family members with top-quality brisket, cookies, and an impressive Turkey and Sausage Gumbo served over fresh Cornbread. We share a love of cooking and look forward to evenings in our kitchen at the Albers House.
Kevin was very intentional with our time together. We played games like Not Just Sundays, with questions about our Faith and relationships, and went through conversation-starter prompts I found while doomscrolling on Instagram. At least one conversation started with a prompt of: “Which of these cats/dogs/dragons/desserts is your girlfriend?” We mixed it up by adding the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition movies while cooking dinner together at his or my home. While learning the art of a true Gumbo, we finished half of The Two Towers and the entire Return of the King film.
In January of 2026, Kevin asked me if he could ask my father for his blessing and permission to marry me. When permission was granted, we spent a week looking at rings. On March 21st, Kevin drove me out to the Shrine of Our Lady of Schoenstatt’s Rosary Trail and proposed next to the Second Luminous Mystery: The Wedding Feast at Cana, Christ’s first miracle performed at the request of his Mother. We have enjoyed every moment of this journey together, from hours spent after Mass with the OCIA Ministry at St. Vincent de Paul, visits to RangeUSA, lunch dates at First Watch on Sundays, dinner dates at various restaurants, and quiet evenings spent cooking and then talking about that week’s events and sharing stories from our workdays.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians says, “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…”
Fortunately for me, Kevin is patient, exceedingly kind, generous with his time, and, like other Eagle Scouts I know, trustworthy, brave, loyal, and reverent. More than that, he has become my best friend and the person I go to when I need stability and strength. He has provided steady, supportive love from the beginning, and I can’t wait to see him blossom in the future as a husband and father as our family grows.
What He Said:
I first messaged Claire on Catholic Match. After I was baptized earlier that year, I knew I wanted to share a faith with the person I would marry. I had planned to wait a week before reaching out to anyone, but I felt compelled to message her right away.
After a couple of messages, she suggested we continue the conversation over coffee. I prefer to meet in person early, so I jumped at it, and we set a date at Summer Moon. I arrived early so I could find a spot and open the door for her. I was surprised to learn she doesn’t actually like coffee, so I bought her tea instead. I kept the first date to about an hour, which flew by, and made sure we had a second date on the calendar before we left.
For the second date, we went to Blue Corn Harvest, which turned out to be a place she already went regularly. We hit it off and stayed talking another hour on the benches outside in the evening heat, mostly about Star Wars and whatever else came up. For the third date, I let her pick. She chose Louisiana Longhorn Café so I could try some of the food from her family’s roots. We ordered alligator because, of course, I had to. We intended to make it our go-to date-night spot, but then they closed down.
About a month in, we went to a rodeo. I was impressed by how much she knew about horses; I understood none of it. The next day I met a group of her Young Republican friends at Brisketfest, where one of them was playing in a band. That night we decided to make it official.
The next few months moved quickly. I met her parents when we dropped off okra we’d bought at the farmers market. Her dad offered me a sandwich, and I ended up staying all day. She later met my sister and her fiancé; my parents flew in from Arizona, and I smoked ribs for everyone. It was the first time I’d used the smoker for ribs, and they turned out well. Even the cats eventually accepted her, though they were a little annoyed I was spending so much time with someone who wasn’t them.
When the weather turned cold, Claire walked me through making gumbo while The Lord of the Rings played in the background. She’s an amazing cook, and cooking is something we both enjoy.
My feelings for her grew steadily. I have always felt calm and at ease around her. That winter, we had a series of serious conversations that led to talking about marriage. I had never been inside a jewelry store, so we went ring shopping together, narrowed it down, and I made the final choice so it could still be a surprise.
I wanted the proposal to be memorable. I took her to the Schoenstatt Marian Shrine, and we prayed the Rosary. Afterward, we walked down to the station for the Second Luminous Mystery, the Wedding Feast at Cana. I told her I had a rock in my boot and knelt to get it out. She didn’t realize the rock I meant was the diamond. My sister and godmother were hidden nearby to take pictures and video; they had also prepared a surprise for us at the house at the shrine.
There was not one single moment when I knew I wanted to marry her. It just became clearer the longer we were together. Claire is easy to be around. I am calmer with her than I am alone, and I did not expect that. Our stresses do not usually line up, so we can settle each other. We already talk the same way about how we want to live and how we would raise children. She lives her faith seriously. She will stand up for what is right and true even when going along would be easier. I respect that. Peace that costs the truth is not the kind of peace I want in a marriage. Truth is why I am Catholic, and it is a large part of why I chose her.
I look forward to the ordinary things we already like: cooking in the kitchen, building a home and a homestead, and, in time, a family. “A good wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.” (Proverbs 31:10, RSVCE)
I am grateful God put her in front of me, and I am ready to spend the rest of my life with her.