The above sentence came out of Sarah's mouth during a phone call with her dear friend, Charlotte. She had just come from an initial meeting with Christopher. She was the campus staff intern with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, while he was still a student. They spent an entire school year in community together, both leading sophomore small groups and both very confused as to why things always felt more-than-friendly between them. Sarah and Charlotte secretly referred to him as "student bf" so much that Charlotte didn't remember his name until April. Heh. In hindsight, they are really grateful for the fact that God had been teaching each of them lessons about patience, contentment, and discernment about future jobs. It was a f u l l school year of waiting, wondering, and knowing that they weren't able to date until the school year was over, if at all. Sarah knew in March that she was placed to be the InterVarsity Campus Staff at the University of Richmond, which prompted Christopher to specify his post-grad job search. He landed an internship-turned-full-time position in Richmond. They began dating soon after Sarah left campus at Mason and have been adventuring, growing, and learning to love each other like Jesus does ever since.

They'd spent the last four days hiking and resting with friends in the stunning Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Christopher planned a date night in "town" (three blocks of quaint shops and food spots). Interestingly, they got stuck in a rainstorm. By the time it was over, they had to beg their restaurant to take them early since all the shops had closed. They both remained calm, especially Christopher! After sharing some a m a z i n g Italian food, they ventured behind the restaurant to what they thought would be a creek. It was dried up, muddy and ugly and full of duck poop. But then they walked further, including through a parking lot (yes, very romantic) and found an actual body of water - a sweet little creek with ducks paddling along. Christopher made a face that indicated, "a thing is about to happen" and Sarah made a similar one that said, "do the thing, Christopher!" They both squirmed and squealed through a sweet moment of reflecting on the ways that the Lord has grown them through their time together. Christopher shared honestly about how next steps of commitment are both beautiful and scary, but right all the same. They talked about how they'd change over and over. AND THEN. He got down on one knee and asked her to marry him and she said yes and there was a funny mixture of freaking out and ugly crying AND THEN the ducks put on a little show of flapping and squawking. Christopher joked that he hired them to come by and that he tipped them extra for the tricks. It was the best moment. They returned to their cabin and celebrated with some beer and a few rounds of dominoes with their friends. YAY!!!!