I walked through the woods on the edge of Purdue’s campus in search of my friends; I could hear them in the distance. When I reached them, I found them hanging out, talking, and setting up their hammocks. Several minutes into the conversation, a voice coming from way above my head chimed in. There was a person way up high in a tree. “Who IS that,” I ask. “John Foster.” I laughed. I had finally put a face to the name. Little did I know it was the name of the man I’d end up marrying.

One of the many things I love about John is his sense of adventure, and I like that my first memory of him somewhat depicts that. We met freshman year at Purdue, and we have been friends since then; we spent three years hanging out, grabbing dinner, and doing school work together. When summer came around after junior year, I stayed in West Lafayette and continued to work, and John moved to Detroit for an internship. A few FaceTime calls later, we realized we had started to think of each other as more than friends.

We started dating in June 2017, and John proposed to me on December 4th, 2018. We were going out to dinner to celebrate my birthday and we walked across the pedestrian bridge in Lafayette on our way to the restaurant. John stopped in the middle of the bridge to give me my birthday present. Still unsuspecting, I went along with it. John got something out of his pocket, and got down on one knee. Talk about best birthday surprise ever.

John is in the middle of pursuing his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Purdue, and I will be beginning physician assistant school at Kettering College in May. We have a busy season ahead of us, but amidst the crazy, John and I are taking the time to enjoy being engaged and to appreciate the season we are in. I am so thankful to our God for fostering such a sweet relationship between John and I, and we pray that he continues to help us point each other to Him.

We cannot wait to celebrate with you all on December 28th :)