Marlee was my roommate my sophomore year of college and has been a close friend ever since!

youngest sister

Younger sister

Good friend

Good friend

Old friend

Kyle's sister, good friend of the bride

friends since middle school

One of the first guys I met at Riverbend and quickly came under his wing as a friend and mentor. Dustin has played a big part in bringing me into the Riverbend family. Every Sunday I look for him and his son Bear who is ALWAYS snacking as well as his wife Hayley and their adorable little girl Jonah. Altogether the Titus family could be part of the wedding party!

My brother and only full sibling. Trevor and I literally grew up together from birth til I graduated high school. Our brotherhood has solidified into a friendship and bond that cannot be broken! Trevor is the epitome of a little brother, he often one-ups me in things I like, e.g. he can solve a Rubik's Cube faster, has read the Harry Potter series faster than I, recently bought MY dream car, and consistently beats me at every video game, board game, and Fantasy Football league we play. But all is good because I know at the end of the day, we have each other's back.

One of my best friends and a part of a mutual friend group with Elena, including Chaz, Trevor, Aida, Ghada, and Lizzy. This friend group is where Elena and I met, so Noah and company have been with Elena and I since the beginning. Our friend group is maybe the most important thing to Elena and I, only matched by Riverbend Church. Noah is always down for shenanigans and cooking a meal together with our group. He carries a spirit of hospitality that I've never quite seen in any other person. Noah, though he might deny it, is probably the center of our group and I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a guy like Noah to help me see that life doesn't need to be so serious all the time.

Chaz is often the butt-end of the friend groups jokes, and we wouldn't have it any other way! Chaz rooms with Noah where our group most often gets together. When I think of Chaz I think of a trip our group went on to the Oregon Coast with Journey Young Adults, on this specific trip, Chaz urged me to plunge the Pacific Ocean with him (I think I had a rational respect for the oceans might) next thing I know we're both sprinting full tilt towards the ocean. After coming back form the trip, I reflected on that moment along with many others and realized in that moment I was a part of a very special group of people that I had longed for in my prayers. And Chaz played a huge part in solidifying the tone of the group.

Brendan is my brother-in-law, I consider him the older brother i never had. Brendan is a source of encouragement when it comes to self-expression through art, style, and anything aesthetically pleasing. He's often owning it in the kitchen through french toast, the best grilled cheese you could ever have, or just because he's sporting an apron. I like to think of him as an older brother because when he crushes me at Super Smash Bros he doesn't me like my biological little brothers, he encourages and uplifts. And not only when playing video games, but in day-to-day life applications. For this reason he stands out as a man I look up to just for being the man he is, and not only because he's married to my sister. I aspire to be like him similar to how a younger brother seeks to be like his older brother. And maybe someday that aspiration will carry me to a 3-stock sweep in Smash Bros using Inkling.

Andy in addition to Dustin is one of the first guys I met at Riverbend through the men's Friday morning prayer. Andy has the knack for encouraging me in the precise way I need encouraged. We might not meet very often outside of Friday morning prayer or the Sunday gathering, but the encouragement he offers would have you think we're always in connection. Andy is always so present to me and my life circumstances that I always walk away so ready to press on through my struggles, I aspire to adopt that ministry of presence he so excellently steps into time after time.

Joseph is another Riverbend connection I could do life without. I think we find our struggles and interest align in ways that open up for long conversations that balance between talking about the hard things in life and talking about whatever hobby or project we find intriguing at the time. I think of Joseph as one of my easy people; someone I can just talk with about anything and be okay that no every conversation is a deep dive into each others struggles and yet at any given time the deep dive is an option. Without Joseph I might be more prone to slip into individualism rather than seeing the beauty and need of having someone to just talk to.

Matthew in my Riverbend Community Group Leader. Meaning we are a part of a group of people who are committed to doing life together and practicing the Way of Jesus together. In this culture where the self is elevated and relying on others is deemed weak, Matthew and I courageous stand, with out community group, against that cultural pull, and we see the reward of committed community. We get to SEE each and be SEEN by others, fully accepted and yet fully encouraged and nudged to become more like Jesus. Matthew is as extroverted as anybody can get and he brings the perfect morale boost every Wednesday and the kind of mind that can read the need of another and helpfully voice solutions. If I can only see one path, Matthew can see four or five equally helpful, if not more helpful, solutions. The beauty of a deep web of community of people who aren't like me but nonetheless needed the most, can be exemplified through Matthew.

Last but not least, yet certainly the shortest, my littlest (shortest) brother Cooper. As short as this guys may be, dude is one of strongest and fastest guys I've seen. I remember going to one of his track meets and watched him run in the 4x100 relay and I couldn't believe his form and speed. I remember after seeing the event, I was filled with so much pride. As annoying as it is when your little brothers do something better than you, I couldn't fight the tears of being a proud older brother.