Casey and Mariah grew up together, riding the school bus every day, twice a day, and only a few miles apart...despite having numerous interactions Casey and Mariah cannot recall a single memory of each other. Sure they remembered who each other were, and coincidentally shared many of the same memories...including the time Mariah was stuffed into a duffel bag and dragged and tossed across the high school for Talon Live. Don't worry...she wasn't in the bag during the dragging and tossing, but it could've fooled anyone. After high school Mariah went on to pursue a nursing degree which ended up placing her in Kansas City and she became an 'independent, boss lady in the big city' as Casey likes to say. While Casey stuck to his roots, staying in the Little Apple, he pursued collision repair...because "He's a man. A full grown man. Who works. And makes things with his hands." as Ron Burgandy/Will Ferrell (and Mariah) would said. It was many many years later in the Spring of 2024 when Mariah took notice of Casey's Instagram stories where he was so boldly sharing his faith and love for Jesus Christ. They began exchanging a "like" here and a "like" there between the two of them. After a few months they traded in their mutual "likes" for "sharing" faith-based content and videos. This eventually grew into small conversations where they discovered they aligned on more than they expected. November 2024 rolled around and Mariah would be traveling back to their hometown for the holidays. Without much planning and on a whim they decided to meet up...later she found out Casey didn't truly believe she would show. Yet there she was, sitting in his living room babbling on and on and on as he sat quietly across the room taking it all in. The next weekend they did it all over again and not long after that they began their own little nightly Bible study over FaceTime, reading through the book of Isaiah. As they grew in their faith and individual relationships with Jesus, their fondness for each other grew as well. As they reflect on their past year together there is no doubt God deserves all the credit. He guided and transformed each of them into the leader and helper He intended them to be. Without God's matchless, merciful and magnificent love these two would not be where they are today. They are eternally grateful and excited to see what more the Lord has in store for them.