If you ask us how we met, you'll get two different answers. Caleb likes to say the girl of his dreams just walked through his front door. But there is more to the story.

In the fall of 2021, I (Avé) took Intro to Evangelism with Dr. Bowman. As a result, I ended up going to South Asia with the Bowmans in the summer of 2022 and became friends with Abbie, Caleb's sister. It was in the summer of 2023 that we were preparing to return to South Asia. We had a video call meeting with our team and I decided to invite myself over to the Bowman's house for dinner so that I could hang out with Abbie before our meeting. Little did I know that my life was about to change. I didn't know that Caleb would be there. But when I walked in, there he was. (Here is where he would say the girl of his dreams walked through his door.) We had dinner together and let's just say that when I left that night, I knew I was in trouble. I liked my best friend's brother. I did the only thing I could do. I invited myself over the next week and I brought dessert.

We interacted a few times over the summer, but Caleb was traveling for work and I didn't have any way to contact him. And I had refused to tell Abbie I liked her brother because I didn't want her to try to make things work for us. On August 7th, I told my family that nothing would probably come of it and I was over it.

August 10th was the night of the Faculty Staff Picnic at Cedarville. My whole family was there as well as Caleb's parents. I was hugging one of my friends when Caleb walked in the doors. He was looking around, looking a little lost. I knew where his parents and I knew I was one of the only people he knew there. He looked lost, what could I do? We should help people who are lost, so I promptly walked over and showed him where his parents were sitting. I went back to my table, but then I decided I wasn't going to stay at my table if the boy I liked was in the room. I walked over to his table and started talking to his mom. After a few minutes, she left and gave me the opportunity to start talking to Caleb. We hit it off and once I sat down in his mom's chair, we didn't resurface for an hour and forty minutes. When we came up for air, the event staff had completely cleaned up around us. I walked over to my family and they said to me, "You're over it, huh?" Clearly, I was not over it.

There was a lot of drama - and I mean a nine-episode-podcast-drama amount of drama - between this 2 hour long conversation and when Caleb asked me out. But we'll skip that drama and summarize it the way Caleb does. "Let's just say I beat out the competition."

If you live in Cedarville, you know what a big deal Labor Day is in Cedarville. It was Labor Day Sunday and Abbie called me to tell me to come to Park Palooza before the fireworks. She said the whole family was there and I should come. I hung up and promptly dragged two of my sisters to the park where we found the whole Bowman family. I sat across from Caleb at a picnic table and somehow, the rest of the family disappeared. My sisters claimed they went to smell goat soap, but I found out later the rest of the family disappeared due to the "encouragement" of Amy. God bless Amy! Caleb asked me out and we had our first date on September 10th.

We dated for 13 months before Caleb asked me to marry him. We had been talking about engagement for some time, but I, as per usual, took time to process. He had bought the ring in August and waited patiently until I told him that I was ready.

It was the middle of October right before Cedarville's fall break. He asked my dad for permission to marry me on Tuesday and then he went out of town on Friday afternoon. Before he left, he said we should go out on a date on Monday evening after he and his family got back from being out of town. I was supposed to meet with a friend on Monday, but Caleb told me to reschedule. So I did. (Thanks, Liv.) I spent fall break painting furniture because that is what I do when Caleb is gone. On Sunday evening, Caleb came to see me and told me he wanted to take me to Firebirds. Ahh, steak. What a win. But then he said, "And I'm thinking we should go to Cox Arboretum." Alarm bells. Why did he want to take me to the pretty arboretum with all the flowers and trees? "And I am going to be here on time at 5:15. So plan for 5:15, not 5:30." Even louder alarm bells. Caleb has many strengths, but picking me up on time isn't always one of them. Sometimes he shows up late because he knows I won't be ready, but why was he so adamant that he was going to be on time? I was getting suspicious, but I thought there was no way on this earth that he had a ring. He had only asked for permission five days before, rings don't come in that quickly. I walked into my house and told my family that I was suspicious. They were all in on it and lied to my face telling me that "He didn't have a ring." and "Rings take 6-8 weeks to come in." and "He is just trying to throw me off." I didn't sleep well that night and spent all Monday talking myself out of being suspicious.

At 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon, I walked out Hebrew class with two of my friends. I told them I was going to go home to get ready for a date and I was very suspicious. Why were we going out on a fancy date and going to Cox Arboretum? To which Anna (who was also in on it) said, "You go on fancy dates all the time." True. Very true. To which I said, "Well, whatever happens, at least I will get steak for dinner." I did, in fact, not eat steak for dinner.

I went home and I was running late as usual. My mom was steaming my dress while Serenity was helping me with my nails when Caleb showed up. I was not ready and I needed more time. Serenity looked at me and said, "I got this." She ran to the chicken coop, shooed them out, and told Caleb they had escaped and she needed his help catching them. So Caleb was catching chickens while I finished getting ready. He came inside and told me not to rush, we weren't in a hurry. Wait, what? That made me wonder if we weren't getting engaged. If there was no photographer waiting on us, then maybe that is why he was so chill about the time. We got in the car and he said, "We don't have very much time to go to Cox Arboretum. Do you still want to go?" Hold on. The arboretum was optional? Okay, we definitely were not getting engaged tonight. I had my nails done and I was wearing a white dress for nothing. He was also unbelievably calm. It was in that moment that Caleb convinced me that we weren't getting engaged. So much so that when we got to the top of the tower at Cox Arboretum, I rounded the corner and saw a white blanket covered in rose petals and a bouquet of flowers, I thought to myself, "Oh no! We need to turn around. We just walked in on someone's proposal." When I saw the photographer in the corner, I realized this was not just someone's proposal. This was ours! I froze and all I could say was, "You've got to be kidding me. Are you serious?" He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes!

And now, we are counting down the days until we get to celebrate with you! We are thankful for the Lord's goodness is bringing us together and we rejoice in the story He is writing for us.