We’re getting married!

Jo & I met at an on campus job orientation at UTA. I knew he was the one the second I saw him. Cliché, I know. We were placed in the same group, and he sat next to me. I tried to strike up conversation, but he wasn’t biting. Our group decided to exchange numbers for group texting purposes and after maybe three weeks, Jo texted me outside of the group asking to go on a date. I agreed and then stood him up, of course. But he was patient. He was persistent. He was determined. I liked it. Another week or two went by before we went on our first date— we watched War Room in theaters and stopped at Whataburger for dinner. How Texan? A few more weeks of hanging out and spending what seemed like literally ALL of our time together, he asked me to be his girlfriend. One year and eleven months later, he proposed. And FINALLY after over a two year engagement period, we are getting married!

I had just turned 22 and we were in Denton, TX for youth church camp. Earlier that day, I was gearing up to go zip-lining. Jo was helping me get strapped in and I asked “So, when are you gonna propose”, and he said, “Today”. Yeah, right. I had asked him this twice before and the answer was always the same. “Today”. But little did I know. Later that night, I was preparing for bed with the campers and realized I had left my bag in my friends room in another building. I called her to ask if she was in her room and if I could come get it. “Sure”, she said “I’ll come get you and drive you over”. It was a far walk, after all. Just a few minutes after, she texted, “I’m here!” I got in the car, and instead of taking me to the hotel, she drove off-road down towards the lake. “Umm..what are you doing”, I asked. She replied “Sometimes the kids like to sneak out. Just want to make sure none of them are out here”. Made sense to me. As we got closer to the lake, I saw a bonfire with Jo standing in front of it. I was thoroughly confused. I got out of the car and ran up to him for a hug. I hadn’t seen much of him that week because he was camping with the guys, and I was with the girls. There was some small talk, and all of a sudden he got down on one knee and pulled out my ring. Quite honestly, I don’t even know what he said. I just remember crying and saying yes! P.S. I later found out that the previous times I asked him about proposing, and him saying “today” were actually true. But he never went through with it because he thought someone was telling me since I asked on the day-of on both occasions. And I got my bag about an hour after this ordeal. LOL!