We are getting married!

Josh and I met while in college at Virginia Tech, through a campus ministry called Cru. During one summer, we both happened to be in Blacksburg at the same time. I was working as a research assistant for Virginia Tech and Josh was working as an intern in cyber security. We had known each other for a while in Cru, but it wasn't until this summer that we became closer friends. One day that summer, after a long day at work, Josh invited me to go play soccer, and I was immediately hooked. We spent that summer hiking, playing soccer, watching movies, and playing video games. After talking in the car for hours one night, Josh played this song by the Mowgli's called, "Say It, Just Say It," and I replied, "What? Do you want me to tell you that I like you?...because I do!"

Emma and I met in the Fall of her freshman year playing Wallyball (a variation of volleyball) with some mutual friends, but she only remembers meeting my roommate. It wasn't until the spring semester that we really saw each other again. We still had a few mutual friends, but didn't really interact much. The following year, we both went on a spring break mission trip with Cru, and that was really where we talked for the first time. A few weeks later we were serving at The Big Event at Virginia Tech, and she had volunteered to be in the group I was leading (a hint I did not pick up on). As summer started, we went on a hike together with a few others and the plans I had for the summer to "hang out with the guys" already started to fade. Our mutual love for soccer gave me an excuse to start hanging out with her more, and that quickly turned into hanging out pretty much every day.

It was Halloween, and the whole day, I didn't see it coming. After going to a murder mystery party that my bible study had put together that evening, Maggie (one of my best friends) and I went to the river to have a bonfire with Josh and his roommates. Little did I know, that night would change my life.

When you know, you know. I knew and couldn't wait any longer. I enlisted the help of one of her friends to "just go and look" at some rings, and ended up finding the perfect one. The next weekend I drove home to talk to her parents, and then the planning started. With the help of my roommates, we got some firewood and some candles and drove down to the river. We got everything setup, and then we waited for something close to an hour and half for her to arrive. This is one of those moments where you build it up in your head. You plan all the words to say, everything needed to perfectly capture the moment, but when she stepped out of the car I lost all of it. To be honest, I don't really remember what I said, but it was a small fraction of what I wanted to say. I got down, the words fumbled out, she said yes, and now she's stuck with me.