We're so excited to celebrate with you!

I always thought the world of Josh since I met him as a sophomore 4 years ago. I was with my cousin, David, on campus when I heard the loudest voice scream his name and that is the moment I met Josh VanderLugt in all of his glory. I thought "this guy is crazy" and that was it. We would pass each other throughout the years to and from class and we would say hello, but that was it. However, once I became more heavily involved with the Collective, I was around Josh way more often because his best friend Trenton was my teammate. A big group of us made a weekly ritual to meet up after campus church and talk about what we learned and just hang out together. It was one of these nights where a girl sitting next to me pointed out how alike Josh and I were and we just laughed. That night, our group was late for curfew, and since Josh lived right next door to me, we walked back to our dorms together. It was this night that I realized I was in awe of the character and heart that he had. It reminded me so much of Jesus that I could not help but wonder why he did not have a girlfriend. He then told me he was waiting "for the right one" and had no problem with waiting patiently for her. God showed me that night what the standard of the godly man should be and I decided I needed to seek the Lord in singleness. I prayed and asked God to place Josh in my life only if he was my husband, and I prayed that God would initiate everything and allow me to be a woman who WAITS for the Lord's timing. It was not easy, especially after that night when I truly believed God had introduced me to my future husband. Fast forward a few weeks and I get a text from Josh and he told me because of COVID his plans had changed and he wanted to go with a group of us to Spring Break. It was over Spring Break that we decided to pursue a relationship and he accepted a job to work for my dad. I can honestly say all of my prayers have been answered in this man and it truly is better to wait for the Lord.

Madison and I met briefly my freshman year of college through her cousin David. David and I cheered together, and he always had great things to say about Madison, so he introduced us and that was that. Flash forward about 2 years to January of my junior year. Our friend group started hanging out and that’s when I started to notice Madison. I always thought she was super fun to be around, but never saw anything romantically. In March, right before COVID hit, I somehow ended up on a spring break trip with Madison, 10 friends, and her mom. I got to see her hometown and meet her family. Going in to this spring break week, my friends always joked around saying – “y’all will date, fall in love, and you’re perfect for each other”. I always laughed and said “I don’t think so!" The first day of that spring break, the boys and I made breakfast for the girls in the pool house. When Madison came out of her house without makeup, my jaw hit the floor! And then and there I knew I had to have her. She thought my face was saying that she was ugly, but in reality that’s the very moment I fell in love with her. All throughout spring break I tried to flirt but got denied every single time (she was a tough catch). Madison made it very difficult for me to understand whether or not she was interested (which I liked… sorta lol). She actually told me to "stay in my lane" and I loved it. I always told my friends I wanted to wait to date my junior year of college because I wanted to only date my future wife. When I sat Madison down, she told me she did not want to date again unless she was going to marry the guy. It was crazy to see God beginning to work in a beautiful way between us. Two weeks after spring break, COVID got bad and school got canceled. So naturally, I moved to her house to work for her dad. One week later, I asked her to date me. Four months later, I bought a ring. 2 months after that, I asked her to marry me. So crazy! I cannot wait to love Jesus with her forever.