American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks Is Married — with a Baby on the Way!

To call 2017 a life-changing year for Jordin Sparks would be an understatement.

The American Idol alum, 27, secretly wed her boyfriend Dana Isaiah, 25, in mid-July — and the newlyweds are expecting their first child together late next spring, they confirm to PEOPLE exclusively.

“We’re both really excited,” says Sparks about finally opening up about their happy news. “He’s been like, ‘I want to shout it from the mountain tops!’ We’re really proud to be married to each other and to be celebrating this.”

Sparks had met her new husband’s family when she traveled to Houston during Super Bowl weekend this past February with her charity campaign I’m M.A.D., Are You?

When Isaiah — who is pursuing a modeling career — told his mom weeks later he was eyeing a move out West, Sparks’ mom and Isaiah’s mom put their children on a group text chat. “My mom was trying to get [Jordin] to talk me out of moving to L.A. because she’s experienced the industry out here,” he says. “It wasn’t like, ‘We want you guys to date.’”

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But the pair bonded quickly over their tight-knit families and shared Christian faith. After talking nearly every day for a month, Isaiah flew out to Los Angeles for an agency meeting and met his future wife for the first time over Easter weekend.

“A couple days after we had actually met, I was like in my head ‘That’s going to be my husband! That’s my husband right there,’” says Sparks, who discussed early on with Isaiah about not moving in together until they were husband and wife. “When I’m with him, I feel comfort and safety and calm and peace, and those aren’t things that I normally felt. So it was a little wake-up call for me.”

For all the details on Sparks and Isaiah’s untraditional wedding ceremony and how she found out she was pregnant, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

On July 16, the couple eloped while on vacation in Hawaii with a small group of friends. “It just more solidifies the whole team sentiment of a relationship,” says Sparks. “You know you’re still individuals, but at the same time everything is about ‘we’ and ‘us’ as opposed to ‘you’ and ‘I.’”

After surprising their loved ones with their wedding news, the couple received the biggest shock of their lives when Sparks discovered she was pregnant in late August.

“It was about five days after he moved to L.A. He comes in and I go ‘I’m pregnant.’ It was such a shock for both of us. I turned around and started bawling in the closet,” says Sparks. “It’s been really crazy because everything changes. Everything has been so crazy and fast-forward. Once we got over the initial shock of it, now again just like it is with the marriage, to be able to share that this amazing thing is happening, it’s such a great thing. We did this together!”

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RELATED:  Inside Jordin Sparks & Dana Isaiah’s Non-Traditional Hawaii Wedding

With Isaiah now settled in Los Angeles and their first child on the way, the singer — who swore off love last year after going through high-profile breakups — is counting her blessings and embracing all the changes in her life.

“I’d gone through a crazy time last year, so I was just like ‘You know what? I’m good. I’m going to stay single. I’m just not going to look,’” says Sparks. “It’s amazing that that phrase “When you don’t look for it, that’s when it comes” … he just showed up at my door.”

Adds the singer: “I’m extremely grateful because life is nuts. This is the best part so far because I have [Dana] and I have this little one and I have a new family. I’m the most content I’ve ever been in my life.”

• with additional reporting by JEFF NELSON

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