My name is Casey. I grew up in a small town called Estes Park, which is at the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. I would describe myself as the outdoors, adventurous type. Growing up I was on my bike alot trying to stay out of trouble. I enjoyed playing team sports like hockey or football but also loved rock climbing and fishing, As long as I was outside I was happy. Once I had my license I had even more freedom to explore. With my custom built lifted blazer and the boys we would take weekend trips and get lost off road in the woods. After high school, I decided college just wasn’t for me and i was getting tired of the small town, so i decided to move to CA. San Diego sure is bigger than little Estes Park. I moved with expectations of friends and excitement but once there those dreams were soon lost. I heard about a local church and decided to see what it had to offer. Once I walked in, I knew that at that moment that’s where I was supposed to be. I was overwhelmed. Week after week of sitting by myself, it was only time until smiling faces became friends. I started joining some of their adventurous groups such as surf ministry, mountain biking ministry, rock climbing ministry, childrens ministry, and choir. My old adventurous lifestyle was once again, except this time I could truly trust my new friends and we all had a common thread: the love of Jesus. It wasn’t until November of 2005 my life was rocked again. While involved in these ministries, the good Lord had showed me the woman of my dreams. She was great! She loved to do all the things I did and could be one of the boys. But when it came time, she’d get dolled up like one of the girls. After praying for one year, I wanted a new lifestyle. We dated for a year and a half and knew that it was time to take the ultimate step. After 5 months of planning we had the wedding of our dreams. I was finally the man of the house except my lovely bride didn’t want a house here in sunny San Diego, she wanted to move back home to PA. I was fine with that because what I went to California for, I now had.
My hometown is even smaller than Casey’s. It’s a historic place called Washington Crossing, PA. I grew up in the same house my whole life. I have one older brother and two loving parents. Growing up, my life was nothing but sports. Since I was 5, I played soccer and tee ball. Then at age 7 I found my first love- basketball! All through school, I played 3 sports. When not at a practice or game, I would be down on the river water skiing, wakeboarding, tubing or jet skiing. I attended youth group on a regular basis, but mostly because I liked the other kids who went. It wasn’t until sophomore year away at college that I came to accept Christ. Not feeling at home in NY, I decided to see what the west coast had to offer. I packed two suitcases and jumped on a plane, with no intention of staying any longer than 3 months. Within 2 days of being in CA, I had a waitressing job and a surfboard. Life was good! But it only continued to get better. I got a teaching job and became involved in a local church and all the ministries, just like Casey. We met once after surfing then again on a rock climbing trip to Joshua Tree National Park. We remained friends for a year and he finally asked me the question…would I be his girlfriend? I agreed and the rest is history.
