When Caleb joined Northview's student ministry team in June 2016, Jenn was already a staple there. And when he got hired on full-time two years later, there was a segment of time where his offices weren't yet completed downstairs in the building they both worked, so Jenn and Caleb worked at side-by-side desks. It was during that time that they became good friends. She probably interrupted his work to talk more than she still realizes. Contrary to what everyone else thought or 'could see', it was never anything more than friendship. It was always "yeah he's great, but no I don't want to date him" and "yeah she's awesome, but I just don't see her like that".

Those words were true and honest, and yet, God had other plans for the two of them. He began working in Caleb's heart first. And through something as simple as a shared trip to Home Depot while he helped her build some new shelves, Caleb began to know and see the potential gift Jenn might be.

Fast-forward to Sunday, December 20, 2020, and you can imagine her total shock when he knocks on her door and says, "Would you ever consider going out on a date with me?" All she remembers is her jaw dropping and saying "Caleb, I need more words than that." As he already anticipated, she had to take a couple days to think about it and said yes to a "date or two". He begins to think, "Ok, I've got two dates to work my magic." He thought date one was awkward. She thought date two was awkward. It was in between dates two and three that Jenn was talking to her boss, Kurt, and his advice was "Jenn, you've got a good, solid Christian guy pursuing you the way you've dreamt of. Regardless of what the future has to hold, be present, stay in the moment, and don't get ahead of yourself. Have fun!" There was just something special about date three. And, by about a month in, they both knew this was heading somewhere quick.

Now, we obviously had no clue what the Lord was forming over these last five years. However, we find ourselves now with a foundation of friendship, and that has been one the favorite things in our relationship.

It would be really easy to gloss over the years of waiting and wondering we both went through, but we don't want to do that. We both longed, prayed, waited, wondered, grieved, and lamented. We had years of holding God's goodness in one hand and holding our unmet desires in the other hand. God is good and He is good at being God, and that is true whether or not God gave us marriage. We hope that our relationship reflects God's goodness, but we also hope that the way we waited and were obedient (not perfect, but obedient) also reflected God's goodness.

We know that if you are reading this, you have most likely prayed for us (and for the other person just not knowing who it was yet) and to you we say - THANK YOU. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for the days we borrowed your faith. We know we are standing on the prayers of our people. We know that we will need to continue to stand on the prayers of our people.