Our Daughter Said Yes!!!

We knew this day would come. That little peanut who was born 25 years ago, who we have adored and challenged, protected and pushed, and who we have prayed for with joy and tears—we will soon transfer the primary care of that beautiful young woman to a wonderful young man.

I’m leaking tears as I write this. It’s the way it should be. But oh, our hearts.

Many of you have walked this road. Many others, like us, have had a hard time even picturing this new season. Even though Ben and Morgen have been dating for more than four years, the words “we will have a son-in-law” sound really weird to us right now—but we can’t imagine a better man to fill that role.

Morgen and Ben have walked together through college, graduation, job hunting, starting careers, and becoming certain that they were to be best friends for life. They have prayed and navigated the inevitable speedbumps with mentoring and counsel. And then when Morgen was away at a client site out of state a few weeks back, Ben snuck in a dinner meeting with us to ask for our blessing. There were lots of joyful tears that night, too. And of course, Ben started getting lots of ragging from friends about marrying the daughter of two marriage authors. (And LOL, yes, he’s got some reading to do!)

Ben arranged the proposal for what turned out to be a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Stone Mountain Park, where they first became boyfriend and girlfriend. I love their proposal picture, taken sneakily through the trees by Ben’s mom.

After Morgen said yes, they drove toward our house where we had invited about 55 people to a surprise engagement party, initially expecting maybe 25 to attend. But 50 RSVPs later, we knew we were going to have a day to remember.

And we did!

Almost immediately, of course, we started trying to find a wedding/reception venue in our budget AND that was available for the first half of 2026. (If you haven’t tried to arrange a wedding yet, you are in for a surprise when you see how far out these venues get booked!) And God provided magnificently.

Morgen and Ben remembered Koury Farms, where one of Ben’s family members had been married a few years back. On only our second day of looking at venues, I toured the absolutely beautiful property on a misty August morning, realized Glynis and Scott Callaway were also followers of Jesus, and was hooked. (In addition to their kind manner, a giveaway clue was Scott wearing a baseball cap that said “Faith not Fear,” which turned out to be a great conversation starter!)

Glynis and Scott have been true partners these last few weeks, walking side by side with us as we have jumped into this strange new world of wedding planning. If you are anywhere in north Georgia and need an event venue—for any type of event—I highly recommend you get in touch with them.

So . . . that’s our big life update. Our whole family is soon entering a brand-new season. But it is one we—like many of you—have been praying for since our kids were born. Those of you who have walked this road before us can surely give us advice for how to navigate it. And we will be learning much that I’m sure we will add into our blogs, podcasts, books and talks on marriage.

The tears will probably still leak out. But we are going to enjoy the journey.

If you are interested in having Shaunti bring research-based strategies, practical wisdom and biblical principles to your next event, please contact Nicole Owens at [email protected].

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