Our Story.

One thing that I have become fiercely assured of is the idea that God creates one specific person for another. Love, dating and marriage isn't about just choosing someone who seems to fit with you and hoping for the best. I truly believe that God all knowingly writes the love stories of every person, but it is up to us to stop and let Him tell us the ending verses trying a few alternate endings out ourselves. There is no other way to explain marriages like my own. I don't say that to brag at allllll- I can't tell you how many times a week I am utterly dumbfounded over how a little loser like me, who's failed time and time again, was given the chance and the privilege of forever holding the heart of the most amazing man ever created! In those moments of dumbfoundedness, the only answer I can come up with is that it was solely a God-given-gift. I've seen dozens of marriages where the couples contribute their whole story to the Creator of love itself and in comparison to marriages that were forced and humanly chosen into existence, they can't even hold a flicker of a flame.

As a hopeless romantic, I am always all ears to hear any couple’s love story so below, I've shared the extensive details of my own-from meeting to engagement. If you're prepared to commit to a long read, scroll to continuing reading the God-written events that spell out the greatest adventure of my life.

Falling in love is not what I thought it would be; it was about a million and twelve times better than I could have imagined. My fairytale story, the kind that every little girl dreams of, didn’t come about quite like how I would have imagined it, but then again I wasn’t the one writing it. Instead my story was written by the Author of life, of love itself. This same Author also wrote the story of my husband and who, all-knowingly, began to take both of our stories and weave them into one. This story is just one small example of how good, how loving, how glorious and how wonderful our God is. This story exists ONLY because of Him. He gets all the glory.

I’m from small town Canada, he is from Upstate New York, and we met in Pennsylvania. The years just prior to our meeting in little Grantville, PA, were filled with darkness and hurt, unbelief and discontentment. During those years I intensely fought God’s call on my life, but evidently God won and He sent me to the last place in the world that I wanted to be. In September 2013, I found myself moving into my new dorm room on the peaceful campus of Summit International School of Ministry. The saying ‘never in a million years...’ had never felt so true for me. Never in my life had I ever intended on attending Bible College, not to mention a Bible College in a new country. I had no idea how my life had taken such a drastic turn so quickly but the next thing I knew was that I had been stranded, (after having a dramatic and emotional goodbye to my parents) in an unknown land, 12 hours from home, surrounded by strangers of every ethnicity. Even apart from all the fear that tempted to overtake me, I couldn’t even really be excited for the freedom of being out on my own for the first time. This 2 year program I was stepping into required bland colored uniforms, allowed no electronics whatsoever, and had a strict no dating policy, among a plethora of other rules. It wasn’t exactly the independence I had been looking for coming right out high school. I was alone, knew no one and had zero interest in getting to know these new people. My heart was broken and I was so far from knowing what love really was.

As I was off sulking in a corner about my unwanted circumstances, little did I know that the man I would fall in love with and later marry was living literally across a parking lot from me. I don’t think we ever “officially” met, but the first time we encountered each other was during Jobs time. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we had campus cleaning times where we would meet up with our cleaning team in our designated areas and spend an hour scrubbing to our hearts content. Within the first week of doing said Jobs, I had managed to physically bump into Caleb about 6 times, each time by total accident. Of course it appeared suspicious and I feared that this random blond boy would think that I was trying to bang into him because I liked him or something. (I later found out that that was most definitely what he was thinking.) This continued for a couple weeks until one evening, just before supper time, our cleaning team finished early so we all joined together outside on the picnic tables until the dinner bell rang. I ended up sitting beside Caleb and then began our first conversation. It was casual, fun and relaxed. I clarified that I was simply a clumsy person and didn’t mean to always be bumping into him; he laughed and accepted the explanation. I thought nothing of him other than he had gorgeous blue eyes and a stunning smile. In fact because of a couple of circumstances I had labeled him a flirt and had no intentions on ever being his friend. I soon came to discover that that was not who he was at all, quite the opposite actually.

From that day forward, I watched him closely while remaining at a distance. I had an interest in him and I didn’t know how to explain it. I had no feelings or attraction to him at that point, but he simply fascinated me and I wanted to see who he really was. It wasn’t until about December that our friend groups began to merge and we actually hung around each other some. It was around that same time, unbeknownst to me, that he had begun to take an innocent interest in me. I distinctly remember the ice skating outing that we all went on the first weekend of December; he was sitting 3 seats ahead of me on the bus. The entire ride my best friend was whispering to me “Girl, I totally think Caleb likes you....” I pushed it off, laughing at the notion that she would even think that. Just to prove her idea wrong, I turned to look up at him, expecting him to be completely involved in someone else and definitely not me. I turned and he was there just looking back at me and then he smiled. I tried as hard as I could to quickly look away but I could not move my gaze. It was one of those moments where the world kinda stops but then within seconds its back to spinning around you again. It left with me momentary butterflies, but I managed to push the moment out of my mind and moved on with the day.

The weeks continued, Christmas break came and I eagerly returned home. One evening during the break, closer to the end, I was in the kitchen searching for a snack, as always, and my dad came in and began to casually carry a conversation with me during which he said something that stuck with me for the rest of that year. He somehow worked into the conversation, “You know, I really think that your husband is at Summit”. Now my father is not the type of dad to just heedlessly throw that kind of statement out there so I was slightly shocked. I thought on it for a really long time and in doing that I was reminded of what my mom had told me the day that we started out on that first drive down to the school. I had been crying for hours on end after leaving home and when I had finally settled down, she turned to the backseat and said to me, “I know this seems incredibly hard right now but I know that God is going to bless you for your obedience and He is going to give you something better than your dreams.” I couldn’t get their words out of my mind. My head swelled with thoughts of ‘Is my future husband really at Summit? Will he actually be what I’ve always dreamt of?’ The break ended and I flew back to school still throwing around ideas of what it could all possibly mean.

Second semester Caleb and I seemed to hang out more often than the first and there were several weeks that I experienced “Bubble Syndrome” towards him (that is, being stuck inside the Summit bubble and not being exposed to any other people so you start crushing on the most random people around you), but I simply considered it that - nothing more than it being caused by no exposure, but at the same time I knew there was something more. I liked him. Not as in I had affections for him yet or would catch myself daydreaming about him, but I genuinely just liked him.

One evening in March, I was down at the campus center, all my girls had either gone off to bed early or had homework to do so I was left by myself craving some sort of socialization. So I stayed and attended the monthly tea party hosted by a second year student. I wasn’t overly close to anyone in the group but I always enjoy a good cup of tea so I stayed. The table was filled to capacity with a dozen or so people all talking at once and over each other so I simply sat back and took it all in. A few minutes later Caleb came over and pulled up a seat next to me. I was relieved to have someone to talk and that’s exactly what we did - we talked. We talked about our lives, about school, about our shared pastor’s kids experiences; I couldn’t name all that we talked about, but I do know that it was wonderful. He took time for me. He was focused on me, and not in the way that some guys do, just pretending to have an interest in what you’re saying because they think you’re cute, but in the way where I knew he authentically cared about what I had to say. We talked for close to an hour then we had to bring it to a close and make it back in time for curfew; that night I went to sleep happy. I had an awesome guy friend who had made my night so enjoyable and I just really liked him.

Finally the last month of the first school year came upon us. April was full of friend outings to the lake and Funks restaurant, walking the loop barefooted and getting pumped up for summer! April was also the month where my head started to turn a little more from the friend zone to “Hmm, there’s something about this guy...” towards Caleb.

At the beginning of the month, we had what Summit calls ‘The Day of Waiting’. It’s a day where all the students come together in the chapel from 9am to 5pm to worship, pray and have an open mic where anyone can come up and share a word. God spoke to me all during that day. Our first year was entitled “Year of Light” and that was exactly what God had been doing in me the whole year leading up to that point, and the Day of Waiting was no exception. He shed light on so much in my heart and healed so many areas. That day was the first day that I broke down in tears over the love of God; it became so real to me. Towards the end of the day, as I was curled up under the pew with my Bible, notebook and used tissues, I heard Caleb’s voice start in the microphone. His voice was nervous but his words were confident. He spoke on purity, how God called him, called us, all pure and blameless and how he is a son of God. As he spoke, I broke. God used his words to heal a part in me that I had held onto for far too long. Caleb’s words, that he fought to go up and say, were God’s way of breaking me to a point where I had to let Him in to love me and fix my hurt. As the time closed, I couldn’t help but be in awe of the man that I had just seen stand up there and speak about his standing with God. There was something about him that I couldn’t shake. I was proud of my friend for his courage and his willingness to let God use him. He wasn’t just your average guy, he was different and whatever it was had captured my attention.

Graduation day came and we proudly said "well done" and "goodbye" to the senior class. Our class all hugged, packed up and returned to our homes. I had been accepted for an intern position at the school for the summer but I came back to Canada for the month in between. On the fourth day that I was back, I sent a simple message to Caleb asking something regarding going back to Summit for the summer, as he was going to be there as the lifeguard of the kid’s camp they host. We sent a few messages back and forth and then, basically, just never stopped. We talked about our days, our boredom and our anxiousness to get back to school; we even grouped Skyped several times. He made me smile. Every time I received a notification that he had sent me a message, I jumped a little inside. Truthfully, I didn’t want to. I was terrified at the thought of possibly, maybe, slightly liking him because I thought that would just be weird and creepy of me. I had no idea that he had any feelings for me. The weeks crawled by, but finally it was time to pack up again and move back to Summit for a summer that I was not expecting in the least, but one that I wouldn’t change for the world.

I interned as the daycare worker which later turned into being an assistant camp counselor. This meant that I got to work with Caleb every day. He worked as the camp lifeguard and we had pool time every afternoon which quickly became my favorite part. Pool time would come and it was a fight to try to dress my 4 small preschool children in a 5x5 bathroom and get them all out into the water without misplacing one of them or their many things. But every day at 1:15pm, we would make our way down the muddy path to let the kids swim and I would then go claim my spot next to Caleb, sitting on the incredibly comfortable life saving device he carried with him everywhere. We would talk some, watch the kids, laugh at them mostly, and just enjoyed being best friends. Which is what we had become - best friends. Apart from those afternoons working together, we spent pretty much all our free time together, as well.

For the first month there, I took time each night and went for a run. During my runs, I prayed desperately to God about the mind battles I was dealing with, about the future and also about Caleb. I begged God to help me. My prayer was, “God, I don’t want to fall for Caleb... that would just be weird and he would hate me for it and it would ruin everything. I only want who You have for me. The next person I like, I want him to be the man I marry so help me, please.” As weeks went, on the prayers became more like, “Ok God, I admit it, I like him.... If it’s of You then please show me and bless this, if not, then shut it down.” I had come to the point in the middle of the summer where I knew that I couldn’t keep trying to fool myself, I did like him, a lot, and I just didn’t know what to do about it. What I didn’t know at the time was that while I spent all my prayer times worrying about liking Caleb, he was in the dorm across the parking lot praying the same prayers; begging God to show him what to do with his feelings for me. God heard both of our cries of confusion and fear and He worked in a way neither of us ever dreamt of.

Those couple of summer months are a blur while at the same time, some of the most vivid memories I have. Caleb and I were inseparable. We started to fall in love and I don’t think either of us realized it fully. We constantly got teased by our buddies that we were a “thing”, but each time we would in all honestly defended their nags with the "no, we are just friends” response. We weren’t just friends because we liked each other; we liked each other because we had become best friends. We allowed each other to be 100% real and genuine. There were no fronts put up to try to win the approval or attention of the other person and as the friendship developed, a lot of masks that we did wear came off.

Apart from the thrill of unintentionally falling in love for the first time, I dealt with a lot of lies from the enemy that summer. My mind was in a constant battle of insecurities and feeling worthless. Night after night, I would have meltdowns and Caleb would stay out with me till 3am listening to me vent endlessly and just being there with me. Looking back, one thing that never ceases to astound me is that, despite the feelings that he had for me and his desperation to say something about it, he never once told me, “I think you’re beautiful.” It was always, “God made you beautiful. You are His daughter and so, so precious to Him.” Even though I longed to hear him speak his thoughts about me, he stuck to his dedication to the rules and to God’s leading and through that, God revealed to me that I was truly beautiful. He kept himself and his feelings out of the picture and put the focus on God’s thoughts. The satisfaction and the rest that comes with understanding God’s view of you is life changing. Due to Caleb’s cautious care for me, he won my respect, my trust and my heart. He caused me to feel safe and to feel valued.

The last part of July, a group of us went and spent the weekend at Caleb’s house. It was that weekend that I shot a gun for the first time, snuck into an abandoned hotel and truly fell wholeheartedly, head over heels, for my best friend. On the Saturday afternoon, we had a 3 hour long jam session with all our friends and some of his cousins. The whole time as Caleb sat across from me, using an empty guitar case as a make shift drum, we took unsaid turns watching each other. My mind was going a million miles an hour as I processed whether or not this was real or just a passing crush. As I watched him worship while we sang song after song, I came to terms with the peace that God had given me long before that day. I settled in my mind that I was going to let the apprehension of the ‘what ifs’ go and give it up to the One who was orchestrating it all.

Mind you, at this time, I still had no idea if Caleb actually liked me or not. There were times when I dared to believe that he just might but most of the time my practicality popped up, insisting that there was no way on planet earth that a guy as amazing as he would ever consider being anything more than just my friend. However, that insecurity was ripped down my final weekend there.

We were driving back to the school from a weekend at another friend’s house in NYC. I had strategically planned the seating arrangements in the car to get me next to Caleb but unfortunately, they got switched around at our pit stop. I found myself sitting in the front seat with one of Caleb’s closest friends. We had merely become more than acquaintances just earlier that afternoon as he had drilled me on my life story to get to know me a little better. Then after an hour or so of exposing my life to him, he claimed that we had become friends. As we drove home, we chit chatted about our families and what not. After about 20 minutes, the guys in the backseat, Caleb being one of them, had knocked out (or so we thought...) and Joey, the close friend, took advantage of this. He turned to me and asked me in a tone that was almost impossible to hear, “So what’s up with you and Caleb?” Totally surprised and slightly embarrassed, I blew it off with the usual, “Oh please, we’re just friends.” He didn’t buy it. He continued on to tell me that Caleb had in mind he eventually wanted to be more than ‘just friends’, and that if I was leading Caleb on or planned to hurt him in the slightest, then I would have a lot of people to answer to. I assured Joey that that was not my intention at all. It was a very roundabout sort of conversation and no solid “Yes, he likes you” statement was made. For the rest of the car ride I sat silent, in complete shock while at the same time, I wanted to sing out and tell the world that Caleb may like me. We arrived back at Summit that night and everything seemed to go back to normal. I didn’t know what to do with the possible life changing news I had just received so I simply left it to simmer in my mind and did my best to remain calm and collected on the outside.

Three days later, Caleb drove me to the Harrisburg airport and I flew back to Canada for the last month of the summer. The goodbye was emotional and long and once I got to the other side of security, I sat in my seat and cried a little. I wondered if I had made it all up and if I would be left to wonder all second year and then get crushed with reality once graduation did come. The weeks while I was at home, however, proved me wrong. Regardless of the distance, we stayed best friends and talked as often as we could and we somehow came up with nonchalant excuses to Skype almost nightly. On August 21st I got a message from a close friend who was still on campus: “I’m walking with Caleb and I really want to tell him you like him." Of course, I spastically responded telling her not to and that he probably already knew and thought I was a freak. She answered with, “Actually he thinks you don’t like him and he says he just really wants to know how you feel because it would give him so much peace.” The next 25 minutes following that, were filled with squeals and girly giggling because she gave me the news that I had been longing to hear. It was certain, he liked me and he didn’t plan on stopping any time soon. But of course, I couldn’t let him know that I knew what he had told her, so I acted as casual as ever when I spoke to him later that night. (And he, of course, knew that I knew the whole time.)

A week passed and I got back to Summit with just a few days left before the new school year was to begin. Due to our friends talking and people saying things they should have kept to themselves, Caleb felt the need to talk to me himself and explain everything from his side so I wasn’t mixing stories and left wondering for the remaining 9 months of school. I had no expectation of getting an explanation from Caleb himself, so I went on my merry way, simply hoping that the word of mouth I’d heard was true. The Saturday before all the students were to arrive, we planned a birthday surprise for our friend which just, oh so conveniently, allowed for Caleb to come down for the day.

After a fun night out celebrating, we came back and the girls all went inside to go to bed but Caleb asked me to stay out and walk with him. It was only then that I started to panic because I could see that he was nervous and trying to say something. I tried to seem unsuspecting and make the situation comfortable but I royally failed and merely managed to babble on about shadows, leaves and a stray cat for 10 minutes to delay the inevitable talk. Once we reached the pillars out front of the Manna House, he cleared his throat and said, “Ok, so we need to talk about this before school actually starts...” All I could squeak out was, “Ok.” He continued, “I like you. A lot. And I’m not just saying this to say it, I didn’t want to have to talk about it yet cause I know we still have second year left but I wanted to clarify everything and have you hear it from me. And I want you to know that I didn’t become your friend because I liked you, I started to like you because I got to know the real you because you were my best friend.” He went on for about 10 minutes explaining that his feelings were true and that he had prayed all summer in regards to us and that he wholly wanted to play by the rules and wait for me and if I was ok with it that, we would start dating once graduation came around in May. As he spoke, his words got faster and I could see the uncertainty on his face assessing whether I felt the same as he did. He finished and he looked at me hopefully. I was speechless, I was happier in that moment than I can remember ever being in my life. I tried to look him in the eye and give him my response but I nervously smiled and looked down and managed to work out the words, “I like you too, a lot.” After those words were released, everything relaxed. We were both smiling like fools and couldn’t stop babbling on and re-playing moments of the summer that we could finally express our feelings about. We sat on the curb, under the stars and we just talked. We talked as we always had, as best friends, but now with a new, secured knowledge that this was going to be something more. We talked right through the sunrise until he had to leave. We hugged right before he left and it was the best hug I have ever been given. As he pulled away, I snuck into the house and ran up to my room where I laid awake for hours, despite the fact that I had just pulled an all-nighter. Sleep came a lot later, after I went over every single syllable of what he had told me - my best friend liked me and I liked my best friend. It didn’t seem like it could get any better! Although I wasn’t ready in the least for all that came next, I now know that it was still God’s hand guiding us every step of the way and refining our story to be the best that it could be.

Year two of Summit started and God didn’t waste any time getting to work on my still fragile, broken self. Caleb and I were not properly prepared for all that was to happen in the first month of returning to the routine of strict rules. We never intended on getting in trouble in lieu of the “no dating policy”, we honestly didn’t think a thing of it because we knew our intentions were pure and we had no intent, other than to just remain as close friends. However, at Summit they see all and know all. The staff knew that we had gotten so close during the last few months and because they knew no specifics and that we had not come into this with dishonest goals, they brought us in to get “the talk” just 3 weeks into the year.

I was mortified, hurt and so scared. The student life directors brought us into their offices and told us that we were too focused on each other and that we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, regardless of our good intentions and then they banned us from speaking to each other until the term ended. I walked out of that meeting at a loss as to how to move on from there. I felt as though I was judged and hated, that I had failed everyone, like I had just lost the chance of a lifetime, and that Caleb would now give up and just ‘walk away’ per say. I was so angry then but knowing what I know now, I am so grateful for the interference of a loving staff.

I spent the next month practically in solitude. I wanted to do nothing and see no one. All I wanted was to stay in my room or hideaway in the secluded janitor’s closet and cry. During that time of being shut away, I was smart enough to shut myself away with God. It was through that time of confusion and fear that He showed me He had to allow me to hurt like that in order to heal me fully from the wounds of my past. The wounds that I had just covered up and considered as good as gone but that were still raw underneath; He healed them. He turned the scars I had into a song of praise rather than a point of self-hate. It was in those times that I learned God’s love for me like never before and I simply let Him love on me. Even though it was such a sweet time of God fixing a lot in me, it was also a couple of the most painful months I have ever experienced. Not being able to talk to, sit with or hardly look at the person you love the most really takes a toll on emotions. The quiet smiles and reassuring looks as we passed in the cafeteria kept me going through the days. It also helped quite a bit that I had become super good friends with his sister and she let me have nightly vent sessions and frequently assured me that his feelings weren’t changing with the difficulty of the situation.

A month of not speaking to someone seems like forever. There were days where all I wanted was for him to break the rules and just say hi to me but he never did. Now some would feel like that was extreme; of course it would have been possible to squeeze in a “hi, I miss you” when staff wasn’t looking, but I have no words to express my gratitude to him for not ever trying to. His desire to follow the rules set for us without any compromise, no matter how much he disliked it or how bad it hurt him to see me so upset, amazed me. I didn’t realize it then, but now I know that it is because of his self-control and dedication that gained my full respect for him, knowing that he valued me that much to give up all control of the situation and fully submit under authority which made October 24th that much sweeter.

It was the Friday at the end of midterms week, we had made it to the end of the term. As soon as the exam was taken, I saw Caleb walk purposefully into the office. A half hour or so later he came back out and walked towards me with the biggest grin on his face. With 15 feet still left between us, he grabbed a nearby freshman for ratio and called out, “Hey, we can talk now!!” I was so relieved and ecstatic to feel ‘normal’ once again. We continued on being so careful of our time spent together but remained so grateful that it didn’t have to be in full out avoidance anymore.

Thanksgiving break time came and I got to go away with him and his family. It was a vacation I will never forget because of the special memories we shared and also, because we spent it with his extended family in the back woods of South Carolina and I was scared to death. It was not exactly what I had been expecting for my second ever-popular American Thanksgiving, but it turned out that that week, of such adventurous ups and downs, was what sold his mom to the idea of me, so it was well worth it all.

December was flying by, as were the days of our countdown until graduation. Thankfully, yet again, I got to stay with Caleb for the first week of Christmas break and we had a blast! It was so different to spend Christmas morning with a family other than my own, but it was so special and exciting to be spending what I hoped to be the first of many Christmases with this man and his family. The rest of break rolled by and before we knew it, we were ready to start into our final semester of college. But not even two weeks back into things, we hit some more bumps.

With exactly 100 days left of our Summit experience, we got called into the office for a second time and for this encounter, they yelled at us a little bit and told us to stay focused. Bottom line - we had to be super careful. They came across harshly and I began to crumble, but I could still see their love behind the rebuke and I knew their heart was that they wanted us to get all that we could while we were there.

I returned to my room that evening and got real with God. Up to that point, I felt as though I had not really poured enough time into seeking out whether or not this was really of Him; I was more focused on whether Caleb would give up on me and I would end up disappointed and alone. That was the night that I settled in my heart that I would seek for answers and take God at His word versus watching and trusting in man’s actions. The following days I prayed so intently on hearing what God had to say on the subject of Caleb and me. I became so aware of the fact that I had no definite answer as to if this was for sure the man I was going to marry and I was not about to graduate with an uncertainty about a relationship I was headed into. Less than a full week later, my answer came.

Our woman’s life director called me to come see her so that she could get to know me better. I hesitantly went to meet her and was fairly stiff and awkward for the first little while. She got me to start talking about me, my story. As I reluctantly poured out my life’s details, that I only trusted with a handful of people, she intently listened. I watched her process everything I spit out and at the end of it, all she could say was, “Caitlyn, God so loves you.” I was taken aback by the force and sincerity of her words and as I let them sink in, she continued to give me the reassurance I had been praying for. She went on to explain how God is so good and gracious to me and I had no idea. She told me that just minutes before Caleb and I were called in to be seen the second time, she and the men’s director were discussing our punishment - not being able to speak again until graduation, which would have been almost 5 months. As they laid out the logistics of what they were going to tell us, she said that she became so overwhelmed with God’s grace and she turned to look to the men’s director and said, “We’re not to punish them, we’re simply supposed to re-focus them.” He agreed wholeheartedly and they both started praying for us. She told me that it was God’s grace that kept them from drastically affecting the rest of our time there and that God had confirmed to her that this was of Him. I was floored. I didn’t think I had heard her correctly and I snickered slightly, thinking that she was pulling my leg or something. We talked a while longer, she prayed for Caleb and I and then I left the office with my heart so full of thankfulness and almost disbelief.

As much of a confirmation as that may have been, I still endlessly sought for a “yes” from God and time and time again He gave it to me through verses or through the unknowing words of my parents or our teachers. While I was on my mission to find God’s will, Caleb was on a similar one, asking God to show him if this was right or not. God answered him in a Chapel service with, “Why do you keep asking for the answer to something I’ve already shown you? You know you don’t have to try to work needlessly to keep her. I’m giving her to you and I will help you.” Our coming relationship was being covered in all areas and we had no idea until it all came to pass.

God gave me a verse in Proverbs 24 where it says, “Through wisdom a house is build and with understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. A wise man has great power and a man of knowledge increases strength; for waging war you need guidance and for victory many advisers.” This verse blew me away because I knew that I knew that this was a promise for us that if we continued to seek His wisdom and understanding that God would establish us as a home and fill it with treasures from Him. We were in a place specifically designed to wage spiritual war and we had been given advisers to ensure that we got victory in every battle we faced. As I forgot to mention before, our second year was entitled "Year of Victory". God had given me victory in so many areas that I wasn’t even aware were a struggle, and He was preparing me to receive a gift that would require me to fight selflessly and fearlessly for, for the rest of my life. But despite the feelings of inadequacy that it brought up, I had a promise from my Savior that I knew wasn’t going to fail me.

The last couple of months of the school year snuck by slowly and it was in that time of waiting and continuing to keep going forward that I was shown a love so deep that I didn’t know could exist. I had of course experienced God’s love for myself during my time at Summit and I knew the reality of it, but I had yet to discover entirely what it was like to love someone else with God’s love for them. I was doing my devotions during a set aside personal chapel time, I had started to pray about several issues that had recently surfaced and I was quite worried and fearful of what the outcome could be. It was then that God took me by surprise. I began to pray for Caleb and suddenly I was overcome with a love so deep for him that I had no words. I got a glimpse of God’s love for this priceless man He created and I was astonished. He taught me that I, in myself, was not capable of fully loving Caleb in the way he needed or even deserved and that I had to learn how to love him with the love that only God can give. Suddenly, it had become not about me anymore; I was out of the picture and this was about God giving me a treasure that He was teaching me to love and handle so gently and purely.

You could feel the excitement rise as day by day, graduation got closer. Suddenly, May 1st was upon us and my parents arrived ready for the big day. They had been on campus for only about 7 minutes before Caleb turned to my dad and hurriedly asked him if they could go “talk”. What felt like 9 anxious hours later, they met up with us again; both looking rather pleased. We all left together to go out to eat and somewhere in between the school and my parent’s hotel, Caleb turned to me and said that he had my dad’s permission and blessing to date me and that both my parents were in full support. The relief I felt was undeniable and I was on cloud nine for the rest of the evening. We all came back much later that night and Caleb and I went for a walk. At 12:19am, the very early morning of graduation day, Caleb asked me to be his girlfriend and I accepted without hesitation. With a satisfied smile on my face, I went back and settled down for my last sleep in my dorm room which had become home.

May 2nd was a glorious day! We had the graduation brunch that morning, which was followed by the graduation ceremony. The feeling of walking down the aisle and standing on that stage with my class of 51, knowing that I had given my all and that I was not the same girl that had walked onto that campus just two short years earlier, cannot be put into words. We worshipped together as people who had known death, but who had been brought back to the fullest of life again. We had victory! The ceremony ended and we all exited as free graduates. Being closer to the top of the alphabetic recessional line, I got outside before Caleb had and I eagerly waited for him amongst all my celebrating classmates. As he came out through the doors towards me, everything in the world around us stopped. Our eyes were solely fixed on each other and he ran to me, picked me up and hugged me for the first time as my boyfriend. All around us our class, or should I better yet say, our now family, cheered for us and shared our long awaited excitement. Our Summit journey had come to a close and we were given a reward that neither of us ever imagined getting.

We had made it; we felt like we could take on the world but God quickly burst our bubble of pride and over-enthusiasm. The weeks to follow were painful and trying beyond compare, but He remained faithful and carried us through. At the end of May, Caleb and his sister came to visit my family and me in Canada. It was so incredible to see the acceptance and excitement my family had towards Caleb. After almost a week in Canada, we packed up and I returned with them to New York where I was to begin my internship at Times Square Church.

It took some time adjusting to living in New York City, riding the absurd trains each morning and evening and learning how to ignore the crazies that you encounter around every corner, but it became routine and I thoroughly enjoyed my job in the church office. On weekends, I would go up to stay with Caleb and his family and it would be such a refreshing break to stay in a quiet, safe and grass filled neighborhood. We went on multiple dates to the museum or the park to catch baby ducks or even to the popular craft store, Hobby Lobby, to ooh and awe at all the fun merchandise. Everything was going just peachy until my ‘Canadian-ness’ became an issue. A problem with my student visa arose and I was sent back to my own country with no word on when the problem would be resolved.

The time of re-adjustment back into normal home life was a doozy and so much harder than I expected; being so far from Caleb and feeling so helpless and stuck. My heart actually ached because I missed him so much but I could do nothing about it. We went almost two full months without seeing each other in person, we Skyped for hours a night. Just after my birthday in August, he made a special trip up for a quick, 2-day weekend. The weeks preceding his visit we had discussed hopeful wedding plans and the fact that our engagement was going to be coming “relatively soon” as he put it. However, in spite of the many conversations we had regarding it, I was completely clueless as to what awaited me the night he arrived to visit.

He arrived on a Monday morning, four hours late but that’s beside the point now, and when we finally got to see each other after 2 months, it was almost unreal. I had concluded after hours of Skype that I was dating a 2-D robot that I created in my mind and that the amazing guy I fell for couldn’t actually be real or dating me for that matter, but when he walked up my driveway and held me, he became very real again. We left shortly after for a day out on the town. We went on a lunch date, spent 2 hours in a pet store and just moseyed around, happy to finally be back together. Earlier that day he had told me that he wanted to take me out that evening for a belated birthday date and to give me my present and naively, I believed him. We left to go to a place that my parents had recommended (unbeknownst to me, they were in on the whole plan) and I was ready and expecting a lovely birthday outing by the waterfalls that they had suggested. We got to the waterfalls and started to make our way up the side of them. As I neared the top, Caleb stopped me, got me to hold onto a tree and proceeded to blindfold me. He insisted that it was because he wanted to set my birthday present out before I got up there and yet again, I believed him. He came back for me and gently led me up onto a mossy opening. I opened my eyes and was standing before a picture perfect display tucked into a dugout of rock and moss. There was one big sign in the middle that read, “You & Me” and two smaller signs on either side that read, “Mr.” and “Mrs.” In front of the signs laid 32 small flickering candles in glass holders, each decorated with a chalk letter that together spelled out, “Caitlyn, Will You Marry Me?” I stood there frozen and confused because I had genuinely been expecting some sort of birthday thing. Caleb stood behind me and urged me to read what it said. Suddenly it all fell in place in my racing mind and I gasped, clasped my hands over my mouth and turned around to see my man down on one knee. He presented a small black box that held a perfect ring. He gave his most sincere words to assure me that he wanted to spend his life with no one else and then ended with the question that I’ve dreamt of hearing my whole life - "Will you marry me?" I gave the surest ‘YES’ I’d ever given and he placed the new ring on my finger as my promise to be his for the rest of forever. The next hours were filled with uncontrollable bouncing and smiling and calling every family member we could think of to give them our wonderful news. I was full of perfect happiness and as we drove back from the proposal, I sat silently in the car and cried happy tears, thanking God for being so faithful, so good to me.

We set our wedding date that night and began the crazy ride to plan our special day. If I had been given a full lifetime to brainstorm, create and edit a love story, I would never have come remotely close to the perfection of this story that was written for us by our Maker. Regardless of our past and our downfalls, God saw fit to bring us together and give us a new story. I can without a doubt say that I am the most blessed girl alive. My husband is more than anything I ever thought I deserved, and exceeds my every dream. He is patient, selfless, gentle, real, honest, courageous, strong, loving, honorable, trustworthy and dedicated. His heart and desire for God and all that He has for him is inspiring and pushes me all the more to get the most of God that I can. He puts God before me and that gives me all the security in the world. He leads and keeps our relationship centered and anchored on the One who gave it to us. He is the most special, thrilling and captivating man I have ever met; someone so amazing and to never be taken for granted. I know that he values me for me, he has a true interest in me, and he finds me beautiful just as I am. I know my heart is safe with him. He continually fights for me, never against me and is a constant source of encouragement and support. He isn’t merely a dream come true; he is the answer to countless prayers. I honestly can’t believe that I got to marry him, my very best friend and spend my life with someone so astounding. I don’t know specifics yet, but I do know that God has big adventures planned for us and there is no one else, ever, that I would want to go on those adventures with. I fall more in love with him with every passing day; he is my perfect gift from heaven’s door.