Daniel & Katelyn's Wedding
Well, it’s happened again! Another member of the John Forster household has moved on to start his own household! On June 28, 2008, Daniel and Katelyn Joy committed their lives to each other and established the Daniel Forster household! Daniel, our oldest, is the manager of Doorposts. He is the man who helps get your orders out the door, along with wrestling computer problems, ordering print jobs, overseeing our crew of young workers, making plans for our future projects, managing the finances, and much more. We’re glad God has given him a helper!
John & Pam with Daniel, 1984
Since childhood, Daniel has been committed to saving himself for just one lady, the one God had chosen for him. Over the years, we have prayed along with him for God’s perfect timing, and for God’s sanctifying work in his life as well as in the life of his bride-to-be, wherever she might be.
Part of Daniel’s "college" training after "graduating" from his homeschooling (Isn’t all of life part of homeschooling?) was the writing of a book, Prepare Thy Work, a volume for young men who are looking toward courtship and marriage. As Daniel interviewed the godly older men in his life and as he read books, studied the Bible, researched insurance and financial matters, and continued to run our business while also serving in many roles in our church, God made it obvious that he was truly ready for a helper. He was ready for a wife to come alongside him to encourage and aid him in the God-given tasks he was pursuing. He had reached a point in life when he needed a helper. But where was the lady God had for him?
We encouraged him to make a list of the traits that he felt would equip his future wife to best help him serve the Lord. His list focused on character, but also included some specific practical skills that would complement his own.
Now flash back to 2003, when we first met Katelyn and her mother. They had come to look at one of our goats. (Katelyn remembers our daughter Bethany in her dress and rubber boots.) We shared some brief conversation about churches, along with goats, and they were gone.
Bill Forster, with son John and grandsons, Daniel, Joseph, and Benjamin, Spring 2001.
But we met up with some of the family again while we were selling flowers and cards at a local farmers’ market. Our last name drew the attention of Katelyn’s mother. "You aren’t related to Bill Forster, are you?" she asked.
Yes, as a matter of fact, we were. We discovered that Daniel’s Grandpa Forster and Katelyn’s Grandpa Ford had been good friends in their younger years. Soon a reunion of these old friends was arranged, and our two families got together. During that visit, Katelyn and Bethany found that they had much in common, and over the next few years they corresponded with each other, and our families occasionally shared some time together.
Daniel, Katelyn, and her Grandpa Ambrose Ford, July 2008
Now fast forward back to winter 2007 and the day when we recognized that Katelyn, Daniel’s little sister’s friend, was the embodiment of his list! But Daniel had hardly even talked to her. She was Bethany’s friend, and the two girls were usually off with the other ladies when we visited.
At a breakfast-out one morning, Daniel and I decided we should pray for more opportunities to get to know the family, and especially to get to know Katelyn better. As we came through the door, returning home after that breakfast, one of the girls handed me the phone, and Katelyn’s mother was on the line. She and Katelyn were offering to help us make Johanna’s wedding dress! (Katelyn had gone with us just a day or two before, when we took Johanna, another of Daniel’s sisters, to try on wedding dresses. Katelyn had seen our despair over ever finding a ready-made wedding dress.)
That was a fast answer to prayer! The wedding dress would give us many hours together with Katelyn and members of her family!
Before the wedding dress was even finished (several months later), Daniel was convinced that he should approach Katelyn’s father about courting her. He nervously arranged a meeting, and we all waited on pins and needles on the day he drove away to that meeting!
Katelyn's father officiated at the wedding.
Daniel survived and came home with a glimmer of hope. Katelyn’s father was going to discuss the possibility with her mother.
Johanna’s bridal shower was just a couple days later, and Katelyn and her sisters and mother were at the shower. I recognized the stunned look in Barbara’s eyes. Something happens to your entire world when a young man comes asking to court your baby! How can it be? She was just born! It was difficult to carry on a normal conversation when the biggest thing on both of our minds was something that neither of us could bring up!
Daniel met with Katelyn’s father several times after that, and one quiet Sunday evening suddenly erupted into chaos when Daniel hung up the phone with the news that Katelyn’s father had told her about Daniel’s request.
Katelyn later told us that her first thought was, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" and then she realized that she should say it out loud! "Yes!" If her trusted daddy gave his approval to Daniel, she knew it was what God wanted. And so the courtship began!
Horseback riding at Grandpa Ford's
Daniel is a true romantic. The courtship began with a simple bouquet he picked and handed to Katelyn at their first meeting after the news. "These are for you," he told her. The days that followed were filled with conversations, chicken butchering, lots more bouquets, bucking hay at Katelyn’s grandpa’s, five long weeks apart when Katelyn and her family traveled in Germany and Israel, lots of letters and journal writing (both Daniel and Katelyn like to write), and many family gatherings.
Engaged! September 2007
On Daniel’s 24th birthday, Katelyn gave him his best present – an enthusiastic "yes" to his request for her to become his wife. What a happy young man he was (and is)!
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The first glimpse of each other on the wedding day
The wedding was beautiful, even though it was the hottest day on record for June 28 in this area! Daniel and Katelyn’s first glimpse of each other was accompanied by Daniel’s words as he once more said, "These are for you," while handing her the bride’s bouquet that he had made for their wedding day.
Guests and family gathered in the Pontiers' back yard for the celebration
Katelyn's parents walk her down the aisle
Katelyn had always wanted her wedding to be in her family’s yard, so with the back drop of fields and farmland, they stood before her father and covenanted to become husband and wife. A surprise for me (It’s amazing how much less you know about a wedding when it’s your son’s wedding instead of your daughter’s!) was the inclusion of a Jewish tradition – the groom stomping on a wine glass after he and his bride drank from it. The glass would never be the same. And neither would life for Daniel and Katelyn. They were one. Our son, in that energetic stomp followed by his solemn vows, left his father and mother, and cleaved to his wife. A new household was born, and we rejoiced with our son and his new bride!
The exchange of rings
Their first dance as husband and wife!
Daniel & Katelyn became parents to little Ruby Patience on April 26, 2009. Click here to see pictures!