We're getting married!

Kathryn and Joel first met when he picked her up from the airport. Kathryn had flown from South Carolina to serve for two months as a camp counselor at the same camp Joel had grew up at. Joel remembers how often Kathryn would comment on how pretty the mountains were. After the summer, Joel went back to Palmer and Kathryn went back to South Carolina.

Kathryn moved to Alaska and lived with Joel's family. They became a huge part of her life. His mom and dad have always been there for her when she needed advice, prayer or a good laugh. She always saw his sisters like her own little sisters, too.

Joel moved back, and immediately his sisters wanted to include him in on their game nights they would have with Kathryn. Eventually, they even asked him to tag along on the Sunday lunch dates they would have every week. This is a tradition we have continued still.

One Sunday morning, Kathryn prayed that God would send her a husband like Joel. She didn't think that he would actually like her, but she was praying for someone like him. Little did she know that Joel was planning to tell her he liked her that same night (how amazing is God?) They had never hung out just the two of them, so they started their new friendship with lots of drives getting to know each other. Kathryn was going to be serving at Camp Baldwin that summer, and so they committed to praying and continuing to get to know each other to see what God had instore for their relationship. After the summer, the two began to talk seriously about marriage. They were encouraged by all of their friends and family who would approach them and tell them how they always thought they would make a great couple together. So much so, Joel and Kathryn began counting how many times people would say it! (Around 16 or so...) Kathryn would treasure it up in her heart. (Thank you to everyone who said this)

Joel asked Kathryn if she wanted to go to his parents house after prayer meeting one night (the set up). When he came to pick her up, he received a text message that his sweet pup Ember had run to the church property and that he needed to go call for her. So on their way to his parents house, they swung by the property. When they got there, there were beautiful Christmas lights lighting up one of the paths and a table with a red table cloth on it. Kathryn kept saying "no way... this isn't happening". There was Ember by the display, perfectly fine. Joel grabbed the ring box from her little jacket, and proposed. Joel had also created this picture frame with lyrics from each of Taylor Swifts albums (Kathryn's favorite artist) that reminded him of their relationship. So. Sweet. Ember has since passed, and we miss her every day. We are so thankful she was able to be a part of our story.