How we met, our relationship, and the proposal!

We have known each other for a long time, or should I say we've known OF each other. Josiah was my brother Jake's friend before he was mine. I remember them taking math class together, playing with bay blades (remember those?!?), and Jake driving Josiah around in high school. We now laugh because as we started dating, we learned of times that we were at the same event and had NO idea that the other was there. We were pretty oblivious to each other for years. He was my brother’s friend and younger than me…ew! That sums up our relationship until December 17th, 2021....oooo suspense!

On that blessed Friday night, the young adults at our church were having a laser tag party, and Josiah showed up! For some reason, as he walked through the door, I remember thinking, “Huh, he’s better looking than I remember.” As the night progressed and many rounds of laser tag were won, we were both sweaty and exhausted and sat down next to each other. I will never forget that hour-long conversation. We talked about college, family life, beliefs, and more. I came away from that night with a piqued interest in Josiah…and a little bit of a crush if I’ll admit it. (Thank you, Jake, for spilling the beans to my WHOLE family, ha!) Time passed, and Josiah threw a New Year's Eve party, and sparks were flying! This guy was singling me out, talking to me, and making me laugh. Could he like me back? Yep, that’s when Josiah started taking a real interest in me. We spent the month of January getting to know each other at various events, talking about politics, religion, literature, music, and everything we could think of! We spent a FREEZING day in DC at the March for Life, and we shared deep things with each other; he saw me as an anxious wreck, and I saw him sick as a dog. It was a crazy day, but one for the books. By February, I was like, “Ok. This guy has got to make a move.” And he did. On February 2nd, he asked me out for coffee, and I got absolutely NO sleep that night. Four days later, he asked me to be his girlfriend. We obviously aren't very patient people ;) Since then, it has been months of complete bliss. I’ve always wished I was the brave, adventurous type, but was always held back by my fears and anxieties. But Josiah came along and became my adventure buddy! He’s shown me more new foods than I can count, taken me on romantic dates, and introduced me to new experiences! Josiah has desired to appreciate nature more, and it has been so fun to share my love of nature with him! I’ve told him the name of trees and flowers, and we even planted petunias in front of his place! Overall we have grown with one another in so many areas and seen how God created two people so perfectly for each other.

It was like any other day for me! Josiah got off work and asked if we could go to our favorite spot at Harris Lake just to be surrounded by nature. Of course, I agreed! As we were walking to our favorite spot, my heart jumped when I realized it would be a perfect place for a proposal! But I quickly put that thought to rest as I remembered our conversation the night before where Josiah hinted it might be a while before he proposed....sneaky guy. We get there, talk for about 30 minutes, and then Josiah asks to read me a poem he wrote. As he began, I remember thinking, "Wow this would make such a good proposal, I should mention that to him!" When he reached that line in the poem that said, "And now I have a question," I knew he was about to propose! In typical Grace fashion, I freaked out, hands over my mouth, shouting "NO WAY!" Then Josiah got on one knee and pulled out the ring (that he designed all by himself, I might add!) and asked me to marry him! I then remembered I had to say "yes!" which I did. We both are in awe of God's graciousness to us, to bring us together against all odds. It is surreal to think that our dreams are coming true, but they are, and we cannot wait to begin our life together as husband and wife!