If you’ve ever heard us tell the story of how we met, you know just like any story it has two sides. Although we each tell our own version, we both are eternally grateful that they share the same ending. We briefly met at a joint cookout for our bible study groups in the spring of 2016. As we continued on with our separate lives, our paths reconnected soon after when Jake began serving in our church’s children’s ministry where Catie was also spending her Sunday mornings. A friendship began, but neither one of us had any romantic feelings or intentions other than friendship. A couple months later, Jake offered a family friend’s beach home to all the church volunteers and Catie took him up on the offer. As with most trips the plans changed as the time neared, and the final arrangements allowed us time to ride together and connect before meeting up with the rest of the group. During the weekend in Isle of Palms, we were able to share our stories and realized we were more suited for each other than we could have hoped for. Quickly after, we began dating and were already talking about our future together. Even though we came into each other’s lives unexpectedly, we felt that everything fell into place naturally. However, we each had gone through our own rough and difficult paths before finding each other. Looking back, it’s easy to see God’s hand in all of the moments leading us together, even though it didn’t seem that way while living them. We invest daily in our relationship and continue to build a life centered around God. We are grateful to do life with our best friend and love the life we’ve built together.

We both share a love of cheesy puns and somewhere along the way developed a mutual love of otters. Jake planned a trip to the zoo and recruited family to make the story even more believable. Although Jake thought for sure Catie was on to his plan, she truly had no idea which made everything a true surprise. After a stroll through the zoo, the group ended at the otter exhibit with no otters to be found. With some assistance from the amazing staff at Riverbanks, who showed up moments later for a unique otter feeding and trick presentation, Jake then got down on one knee to ask Catie if she would be his otter half forever.