Charles (C.J.) and Jessica (Jessi) met through the connection of their mothers. Although they never grew up playing together during their childhood, C.J.'s mother (Debbie) and Jessi's mother (Eileen) found themselves in a Christian mom's group called Mom's In Touch, where mothers from the community gathered together to pray for each other's children. They started praying for C.J. and Jessi during their middle and high school years. When it became known that they both were planning on attending the same technical college in 2007, C.J. for law enforcement and Jessi for graphic design, both mother's thought it a great idea to finally introduce them to each other. Little did they know a seed had been planted with intention, future hopes, and continued extra prayers.

Then in July of 2024, Jessi updated her Facebook profile picture, which C.J. in turn clicked the like button. After over a decade of no communication, Jessi decided to message C.J. and see how he was doing. They agreed to meet up that 4th of July weekend while C.J. was visiting one of his best friends. He was asked if this was a date, which he replied no, just catching up with an old friend, also commenting he wasn't interested in dating a single mom. The meet up went great, with no expectation of meeting up again. Four days later, C.J. texted Jessi saying he had a nice time catching up and she expressed the same feelings. They ended up getting together again that coming weekend, as Jessi had an engagement scheduled about a half hour from where he lived. That weekend they had their first date with the following week filled with phone calls. That Saturday, C.J. asked her to be his girlfriend and she agreed. After eight months of dating, Jessi found a job near C.J. and moved to be closer to him. They have enjoyed a lot of fun times and have worked through a lot of trials to come this far.

December of 2025, C.J. was informed he would be working in Fargo for the winter, from January to March. The morning of the day he was to leave for Fargo, he wrapped her in a hug and asked her to look at him. When she did, he said this is not a proposal, but would you like to go ring shopping to look at different ring styles. Jessi was giddy on the inside and replied with a vigorous nod, but a quiet, confident verbal yes. It wasn't until February 13th that C.J. took her ring shopping. They went to a handful of stores that day, but they both agreed, their second stop at Kay was the ring they both felt fit Jessi's personality and style. They went back a couple days later, only to find out the ring had sold. Jessi was devastated, thinking they had to start all over with the ring shopping but C.J. wasn't about to give up. He checked Kay's website and called to find they had about 18 left across all their stores. He had the ring shipped to another Kay location where he went with his mom to pick it up. He then waited another two weeks before suggesting to Jessi they head to Duluth. She assumed they were going for a couple of reasons. One, to try and find other rings and two, so he could pick up some things for his upcoming road trips with his friends. They ended up spending about twenty minutes deciding on a place to eat lunch and finally decided on Sir Benedicts, and then walked across the street to Va Bene's for some gelato. It was after desert that C.J. wanted to walk along the lake and Jessi followed suit. It was a relatively gorgeous day, with some sun and wind. As they walked along the path next to Lake Superior, Jessi spotted something against the shoreline off in the distance and was busy trying to explain it to C.J. Meanwhile, he slipped behind, knelt down and pulled out the ring with an oblivious Jessi still talking. Finally, she turned around to see him kneeling on one knee, with the ring. The ring they had agreed was the perfect fit. She couldn't believe it. He then reached for her hand and began to speak and when he asked if she would marry him, she managed to whisper a yes, still surprised by the grand gesture. Now, when she looks at the ring, she immediately thinks of C.J. and her heart swells with happiness.