It was a Wednesday, during the Summer of 2018 at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch. The weather was sweltering and the camp was as busy as can be. Everyone was at the volleyball court playing 'big ball volleyball' and the game couldn't have been any closer!

Next thing you know, a camp counselor had his camera out, capturing photos of the game that was back and forth. What that counselor did next would change the trajectory of his life when he randomly went over to a group of campers and showed his camera's lcd screen to one of the female campers sitting in the shade. He asked her "what do you think of this photo?"

Ever since that moment, Kerstyn could not stop thinking about me. You may think that I'm exaggerating, but no seriously! She told me herself that I had her stuck inside a daze for the entirety of the next year. Wild, I still find it hard to believe.

Fast forward to the winter time of 2018 and I was packing up my duffle bag for a few days of camp, for it was time for winter retreat! I remember the cute interaction I had with that 'Jacob James' guy and I was praying to Jesus that he was going to be there.

The entire campground was covered in snow and me and Shawna heard there were camp staff and campers that were going sledding. We had our gloves, beanies and sleds ready and I remember locking eyes with Jacob. "Oh my gosh, he's here."

Little did I know, that Winter Retreat was going to change the trajectory of my life! Jacob's charm and genuineness was able to encourage me to fill out an application to work at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch the upcoming Summer and the rest is history!

After 8 weeks of serving together, we decided that God was ushering us into the direction of getting into a relationship! Our mentors, our friends and our families encouraged us deeply. We had so many wingmen during that year!

We were a couple of kids who just really liked each other and from those first moments of friendship to our first date, we decided to work towards marriage. This was definitely a huge step we were going to take and we are sure it was shocking for our families to hear right away, but we were intentional to make this relationship count and date with a purpose.

On August 9th, we decided to start dating and this was the most exciting thing ever. It's not often that your dream crush actually likes you back! Ugh, what a cool year. We went to Indian Bible College and got equipped together, gained a biblical worldview, learned how to teach Scripture and continued to walk together in Christ. Although we faced some challenges once COVID hit, we still made it work. And once we came home from IBC, it was full-time photography for the both of us.

Our journey spans over five years of dating and it was always filled with so many adventures and crazy fun. As people who love serving youth and being an encouragement to others, we were led to take up the great opportunity of working together at Elevate Navajo! We have both been Teacher Mentors for 3 years now and love being able to work together, every single day. We are truly grateful to have had a full and beautiful dating season where we learned so much together.

As we have gotten a little older, we feel prepared for this next step in life and can confidently say that we both made a good choice. God has blessed us with wonderful in-laws and a wonderful community. We love you guys and this story was so abundant because of your prayers, patience, encouragement, and help.

Which brings us to now! Haha, you thought the story was done? Moving forward, we cannot wait to move in together, start our family, but if you know us... You know we love to travel! So, expect there to be more updates, more photos and more memories that we will share with you all.

We would love to thank Jesus for being the foundation of our whole relationship. If it wasn't for Him, we literally wouldn't even be here. As we keep Him #1 in our lives, we know that we will be more than alright.

If you have read our whole story and you've made it to this part, thank you! That means so much to us. Definitely feel free to roam around and check out the rest of the website.

We can't wait to see you on the big day!

Love, your future James Family.