Our first year of Anthem, a discipleship/internship program, was 9 months long. We became friends, just like everyone else in our class. We worked together and ate together and laughed together and became an inseparable threesome with our friend Leslie. The three of us served in the youth department of the church for those 9 months; spending long hours cleaning out church closets and setting up chairs and going to student’s school lunches, etc.
I did not “like” Zach right off the bat. I was working through my own past and so was he for the first half the year. It wasn't until early 2009 that I started looking at him in a different way. But, on the plane ride home for Christmas break Zach swore his sister, who also was in our Anthem class, to secrecty and whispered “I think I’m going to marry Aimee.”
THEN these feelings started to arise in me and and I had no idea what to do with them. I really admired the man of God Zach was turning into right before my eyes. We had forged this amazing friendship through Anthem by getting to know eachother without being romantically involved. I was so attracted to who he was and how he lived his life.
We had watched eachother bare our pasts, talk bout our fears, talk about our futures, and most of all, watch eachother fall more in love with Jesus. People close to me asked if I liked Zach (I guess it became pretty obvious over time) and for months i denied it, 1. because we committed to not date during our 1st year and 2. I was afraid of this!
We kept our distance from each other because we wanted to honor the commitment we had made to ourselves, the Lord, and everyone else not to date.
I journaled alot about it all because I didn't want to talk about it to anyone else yet. I remember writing a prayer to the Lord that went something like "GOD, these feelings inside of me for Zach, you know about them, I don't have to tell you....if these feelings are not from you and Zach is not the one, take these feelings away. If these feelings are from you and Zach is the one, help me know what to do!"
And literally, as soon as i put an exclaimation point to that sentence my phone rang. And...it was Zach.
I freaked out. I'm not superstitious, but I looked up and said "God, I'm taking that as a sign" and laughed.
From that point on, I tried to live in complete surrender of the situation. I didn't know for sure that the feelings were mutual. And if he was not the man God had for me, I didn't want to like him. I wanted the Lord's will over my own.
At the end of the year our Anthem class went on a mission trip to CA, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. One of the Zach and Aimee highlights of the trip was me throwing up out the door of a moving vehicle and Zach having to hold onto me so I didn't fall out of the car. I don't think Zach even knew I was throwing up, he was just super excited to hold me arm. Not gunna lie, I didn't mind it :)
On the plane ride back to WA after the amazing 3 weeks away, I sat by myself in the back of the plane just reminiscing of the last 9 months and what the future would bring. Zach walked by and said “Is this seat taken.” I said "Nope!" I remember him saying "oh, I can't hear you" and scooting one seat closer to me. Sneaky sneaky.
As the plane got closer to WA, we both knew the time of finally talking about our feelings was getting closer and closer.
I was flying to Sacramento 6 hours after we landed in WA. Zach and I hung out for those 6 hours. Being the romantic that he was, he took me out to Denny’s at 3am in the morning. I still remember the moment when he spilled his whole heart out on the table over those pancakes and juice. All i could conjure up after listening to him pour out his heart for me for 15 minutes was "I like you, too!" We joke and laugh about this now adays because we basically do this same thing still.
Zach then asked my dad if he could date me when he came to CA a couple of months later in August 2009 to meet my family. I got to meet all of Zach's family that winter over the Christmas break of our 2nd year of Anthem.
We graduated from our 2nd year of Anthem in the Spring of 2010 and didn't waste any time. Zach popped the question to me in Florida in July of 2010.
We were engaged for 3 short months. Short engagments are the way to go! On October 10, 2010 we said I do to eachother in Roseville, CA. 
Last 4 photos by Megan Burns
