Aidan: I knew I was going to propose on this trip. I had the ring. I brought it with me. I didn’t know when. I was waiting for the Lord to reveal to me where and when.

The night before, we were praying in Adoration. It was raining. I was feeling the Lord’s presence and He was very in my heart and we saw this beautiful rainbow. It was the most clear rainbow you’ve ever seen in your life. You could see all the colors so beautifully. The base of it was going towards Cross Mountain. I was like, “Lord, is that where You want me to do it?” 

Then the rainbow had kind of faded away. I said, “Lord, give me a sign or something that that’s where You want me to do it.” A couple of minutes later, the rainbow reappeared on the same spot pointing to Cross Mountain. So I’m like, yes. 

I didn’t do it that following morning, but that next night, I went up to the mountain the night before, and I actually slept up there. I slept by the cross up there. It’s kind of interesting to have that silence and time before. I just like to be away with the Lord as well.

They were coming up the next morning for a sunrise hike. I kind of slept up there and they came up around 4:30. We were watching the sunrise. 

As it was getting closer, I was excited, but nervous. I’m like, “Okay, how am I going to do this?”

Her sister was up there with us and I was like, “How am I going to tell her this and to get pictures of it?” 

Sydney: We sat and waited for the sunrise for so long.

Aidan: She was like, “Let’s go down because we need coffee.”

Sydney: It got really cold because I was sweating. 

Aidan: She’s like, “Alright, we’re going down.”

I’m like, “Dang it. I need to do it.”

We’re getting down to the first station up at the top, and I tapped her sister. I’m like, “Tell her that your parents need a picture of us back at the top.” 

She’s like, “Are you serious? We’ve already taken pictures up there.” 

Sydney: We got to station twelve maybe so we weren’t far, but it was enough to be annoying.

Aidan: Inside of me, I’m like, “Get up that mountain right now.” It was just so funny as well. 

I’m like, “Yeah, let’s just go do it.” She finally gets up there. 

I reached in my bag, and I had it.

Sydney: I was so shocked because I thought we were about to take a picture. I was like, “Why are you moving rocks?” Then I looked at him down there, and then I saw the box. 

I looked at my sister because I was like, “Am I, like, delirious?” I didn’t know what was happening. 

Aidan: She looked at me like I was crazy, and I was like, “Yeah, it’s happening.” 

Sydney: I knew we would get engaged in the next few months, but I didn’t know it would be here. In my mind, I was just trying to figure out, like, “How did you get this ring here? What is going on?” But I was just really excited and had a lot of peace. 

We’ve only been dating for seven months, but we’ve just known for so long, like, since the beginning.

Aidan: We met at a praise and worship night at our church, and the Lord was in it right away.

Sydney: I actually met his his mom first. She was praying over me at a healing service, and I didn’t even know him at all. I’d never met anyone in their family. 

Our parents are in the same ministry, but we didn’t know each other. He knew my parents before we even knew each other. His mom even went home and was like, “I want you to meet this girl.” And so his mom is who kind of set us up.

Aidan: The Lord just led our conversations to get to this point, to talk about those hard things that people are scared to talk about, things people wait to talk about until marriage prep a few months before they get married. We dove deep right away and let the Lord guide us in our conversations. 

It’s just so of God. There’s so much peace. It’s so clear that I want to be with her the rest of my life. 

Sydney: Aden wasn’t even necessarily supposed to be with us here. We didn’t plan to come here together. I was already planning to come with my family. 

Aidan: At first we said, “No, you just go. We’re going to be distracted. You just go and enjoy it. You focus on the Lord.” 

Then a couple of months later, we talked about it again. I felt God on our conversation. He was so present. We were thinking, “Should we go together?” and then, “I’ll pray about it.”

I prayed about it more, and Our Lord very clearly said, “Go with her.” 

Sydney: At this point, we hadn’t talked about marriage at all. It was only like month three. It was very new still. So you had no idea, like, not even the thought that we would get engaged here. It was just like, “Let’s go on that trip.”

Aidan: Going forward from here, it’s one of the best places to start on the road to marriage. 

Medjugorje just stresses the family, hearing Patrick at the castle talk about how the rosary being in the family saves the family. Being a future father, being that Saint Joseph for family, is big for me. How it is to be a prayer warrior for your future spouse and your children, even though they’re not here right now, but you’re praying for them in the future. Being really rooted in the Lord, having our eyes focused on heaven and everything will be taken care of. That’s the big focus. 

When you’re focused on Our Lord and Our Lady, nothing can go wrong.

Sydney: We’ve both prayed for this for so long before knowing each other. The providence of that was just very clear.

Aidan: While we were taking a picture with Mirjana, she told Sydney, “You’re in charge now.” She said, “Listen to what she says.” 

I’d say if you’re questioning Our Lady’s intercession or the power that She has, the Catholic Church didn’t put Her there, Our Lord put Her there, and so we need to put Her there in our hearts as well. 

Surrender and be bold and let God do what He does. 

Sydney: Tell her about the this morning at the little Mary statue, what you felt like we were supposed to do.

Aidan: Near Mirjana’s at the garden where Our Lady appeared, we were walking. We walked past the gate, and I stopped. I looked over and was like, “Let’s go over there.”

We started praying, and I felt like we were called to consecrate our marriage to Our Lord’s Sacred Heart through Our Lady of Medjugorje. We prayed a Rosary right there together. I just about fell over. It was so powerful. 

I was funny because we held hands. We didn’t hold hands for one decade. Then we held hands again, and that’s when I felt the power back again, when we held hands together. Unity being displayed right there. 

Sydney: It was of God. I mean, we didn’t plan it at all. That’s how you know. 

Aidan: People that are discerning marriage and you think there’s no one out there for you, just wait. 

Sydney: We’ve both been there. 

Aidan: Keep praying. Don’t lose hope. Don’t lose faith because she’ll come. The Lord will blindside you. 

Sydney: He’s made it very clear that He needed to work on us, and He knew when we were ready. The timing wouldn’t have worked any other time.

Aidan: Praise God.