July 30, 2022
Charleston, SC
Jess & Ike
Our Story
I (Ike) met Jess Howell at Frontier Ranch, a Young Life camp, in the summer of 2015. We worked there for a month and became friends. Neither of us thought much of it, other than I remember thinking she was cute, and I wished I had gotten to know her better.
Then, we saw each other at Wilderness Ranch in 2017. Jess came with her friends from Greenville, and I was a backpacking guide. We didn’t see each other for long, and Jess didn’t think much of it. I did. I thought about writing her a letter, but I found out she was dating someone else. Darn.
Three years later, I was living in Los Angeles and Jess was in Raleigh. She joined an app that I use called ‘Strava’ where you can post bike rides and runs and friends can ‘like’ them. And then Jess added me and proceeded to ‘like’ all of my runs right after I posted them. So, I started thinking about her a lot. Jess claims she didn’t think anything about it, but I’m still not sure I believe her.
(click each photo to read more)
Here's us at Frontier Ranch in 2015! Who would've thought?
We started calling each other and FaceTiming for about a month. We bonded over long distance running, baking and cooking (Jess is proficient and I am not), what we were both reading, and Young Life.
I went to visit Jess in Raleigh for the first time in March. I was only in Raleigh for 30 hours, but Jess took me to her favorite spots, introduced me to her dog Finley and basically all her friends.
Jess came to LA in April, and I took her to Malibu, Griffith Park, and to a fancy dinner (I had a gift card).
We fell hard for each other over the summer. Highlights included a trip to Colorado, sunflower fields and dog walks, and a trip to Texas for a wedding and Jess’s first trip to Braum’s.
At this point things were getting serious. I got a credit card to start accruing points on travel (use my link to get free miles, it’s truly a great deal https://capital.one/3IE2myq) .
Along the way we visited friends and rode mopeds in Austin, spent Thanksgiving with her family in Griffin, Georgia, and split time with our families in Texas and Georgia over Christmas.
In January 2022, I packed some flowers into my duffel bag and told Jess I was going to see a movie. But instead of doing that, I hopped on an overnight flight to Raleigh to surprise her.
After a few delays (FBI related, you can ask me about it) I made it to Raleigh and showed up at Jess’s door. She thought I couldn’t surprise her, and I probably won’t be able to ever again!
We walked to a gazebo in Fallon Park where we went on our first date and I asked her to marry me. She said yes! It snowed that night, and the next day felt like it was made just for us to celebrate.
We’re so excited to get married and build a life together in California, and hopeful that our marriage will give others a small glimpse of the love and hope we’ve experienced in Jesus.
One time I took Jess to Ikea and we watched 2008 box office hit "Mamma Mia" on my laptop in various display living rooms. We didn't make it through the full movie (they closed) but it was fun.
For all the days along the way
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