The History

On Sunday, October 20, 1985, Brian Patrick was born to Janis and Robert Ford, in Pasadena, California. While a few months later on the opposite side of the country, Austyn Elizabeth was born to Jeannie and Jeffrey Bruenning, Wednesday, February 26, 1986 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

A few years later, the Fords moved to CO while the Bruennings moved between Chicago and Appleton, WI. Both Brian and Austyn grew up to become really cool teenagers and Brian became good friends with Mr. Paul Hittle. Paul some how ended up heading to the North of England to study Bible at Capernwray Hall in 2005, while also, on the other side of the Mid-West, Austyn tagged along with her younger Cousin, Seth, to also study Bible at Capernwray that same year. Paul and Austyn decided to take a random trip down to London and see a show before the school year ended. Their trip to London allowed Austyn to meet Paul's mother, Saundra, who invited her to come visit while she was going to be going to school in Colorado. Austyn was planning to head to Colorado after Capernwray to complete the full year of school at Ravencrest – 45 minutes from where Paul’s family lives. While Paul headed to Austria, Austyn heading to Colorado and meet up with Paul’s family. And it didn’t take long for them to introduce her to Paul’s friends. While Brian was expecting to meet a guy (Austin) that first night, Austyn felt like she already knew all who she was meeting (those were long train rides to and from London).

The semester ended at Ravencrest and Austyn headed back home to Chicago. That summer (2006) Brian worked with a youth organization, Know Sweat, while Austyn headed back to Lake Geneva Youth Camp. The summer ended and Austyn was debating moving to CO or going to school at Brooks Institute of Photography. During those few months, Brian and Austyn had build a stronger friendship talking over the phone. The decision was finally made and Austyn was going to head to Brooks Institute of Photography to start school the first of November. And it just so happened that the weekend that she needed to get out to Cali was the same weekend Brian and his family, along with Paul, were going to a family vacation stop – Catalina Island. It worked out perfectly. In the middle of October, Austyn drove down to CO with a friend. The friend flew home, Austyn stayed in CO for a week and a half before loading up the car again, with Brian and Paul this time, and headed to California. During her time in CO though, it seemed that it was busy life for everyone, except for Brian. So he, feeling a little sad that Austyn was left alone during the day, would pick her up and they’d go take pictures, go look at cameras, eat really good food… and just talked. (this was the beginning of the turning point). The week and a half ended, and they loading up the car, picked Paul up from school, and headed to California.

The rid was crazy. Paul only drove for 3 hours and got 20 miles because of a terrible snow storm in Utah. Austyn couldn’t see anything when driving through Vegas – because of the amount of lights that filled the darkness at 3 in the morning (your eyes just don’t adjust). Finally, Brian drove the car into L.A. just after sunrise. They hopped on a boat and relaxed for 4 awesome days in Avalon, Catalina. It was beautiful there. Brian and Austyn spent most of their time sitting on the second story porch; Brian reading airplane books while Austyn painted on canvas. They would talk and laugh and share dreams. At that point Austyn knew she was falling for this kid… while Brian, may have already made up his mind.