When Bethanni began her first semester at the University of Notre Dame, she immediately joined an interdenominational Christian faith group called Iron Sharpens Iron (ISI). Fortunately for him, Caleb had been part of this club for two years at this point. Unfortunately for him, he didn't date Bethanni for a long time. However, they did learn of each other's existence on one annual ISI Dune's Day trip. In fact, they both thought the other was cute which they learned years later. After this, there is nothing to write about for about a year and a half. They never talked, never hung out, and never viewed each other as options. That is, until early in December of 2022, Caleb threw a birthday party for a mutual friend at his apartment which Bethanni was invited to. That night was the first time Caleb truly saw Bethanni: her fun, playful personality and her loving, compassionate heart. After that, he couldn't get her off his mind, and he began a long journey of prayer to discern if it was God's will for him to ask her out. Admittedly, this wasn't the smoothest journey, but God used it to greatly increase his understanding of how He speaks. And finally a few months later, the breakthrough came when God used a glitch in the Bible app to share with Caleb Isaiah 55:8-9. God had been speaking for weeks, Caleb simply needed to trust that God's ways were higher than his ways, that His thoughts were higher than his own thoughts. That very day, March 20th, Caleb texted Bethanni to see if she was willing to meet up to talk that night. Thankfully, she agreed to meet, although she was a bit suspicious. What followed was a lot of nerves for both of them until that evening. But when the moment came and Caleb asked her out, she did the unexpected, but also the best thing she could have done: she asked if she could take time to pray about it. Admittedly, Caleb got a bit stressed at this point, but he wouldn't have wanted to hear any other answer.
After a couple days of stressing, Bethanni got back to Caleb. (He received the reply right after he prayed in fact.) And much to his delight, she said yes! When Caleb first asked Bethanni out, however, she was terrified of the implications. She didn't want to be in a relationship with someone, especially within ISI, if it was going to end. She also was unaware of how much thought and prayer Caleb put into asking her out and feared that once he got to know her he would no longer be interested. (Side note: Caleb thinks this is crazy.) As she prayed for God's direction, however, He provided her with Jeremiah 29:11 revealing to her that He had plans for her good and not harm. This gave her the confidence and assurance that this was the Lord's plan for her at the time and no matter the outcome, the future He had for her would be good. Two days later, they had been on their first date! Caleb took Bethanni off campus to lunch and they learned they could talk to each other! Yay! Anyways, they continued going on dates much to the joy of both of them. A couple of fun ones include a trip to the South Bend Zoo and a trip to Caleb's hometown. After a trip to Grand Rapids with some friends, they became official, giving them a month of dating before Caleb would graduate. Entering into the summer of long distance, they took multiple trips to see each other. It was during this time that they felt like God was revealing that they were meant for each other. Unfortunately for them, the distance would last for a long time with many short trips in between. However, after a particularly hard semester when Bethanni was studying in Rome (with a very fun visit from Caleb and her family in the middle), that all changed. Bethanni had the opportunity to volunteer at a safe house for survivors of sex trafficking in Florida where Caleb lived with his parents, so she was able to spend two months at their house. After a year of distance, this was a sweet reunion.
At this point, Bethanni and Caleb had prayed enough about it to know that they were getting married. And they even knew when: the following summer. So all that was left at this point was to seal it with a ring. However, this was a bit more complicated than it seems. Ideally, they wanted to get engaged at a place that was special to both of them and where they could celebrate the big moment with their friends. So, Caleb’s plan began with setting a timeframe: the beginning of Bethanni’s senior year. But this is where the real issues came up. You see, Caleb wanted it to be a surprise, but there was a major issue with this: Bethanni had Caleb’s location. So what followed was an elaborate plan involving an old phone and a hotspot. A momentary bout with covid and pinkeye attempted to dissuade him, but to no avail, and finally the time had come for Caleb to attempt to pull it off. He snuck up to campus Monday, August 26th, the day before her first class of the year. With a lot of help from her friends and mom, Caleb was able to surprise Bethanni at a small beach in New Buffalo, MI, one of their favorite places. Obviously, she said yes, and the rest is history. And we’re so excited to start the next phase off with all of you!