Jonathan and I met through an online Christian dating app called Unplugged, unlike most dating apps, it was setup as a forum with questions and topics, so you could get to know people, and you could post an intro of yourself. I had been on the app for about 6 months, and was not very encouraged by the few conversations I had with people, so I was thinking I would just delete the app. I had never believed online dating was a good fit for me anyway! It felt like I was taking things into my own hands, and I believed God would bring someone into my life in His timing. I was just getting a little impatient waiting on His timing! ☺️ Well, I am learning to never doubt the ways God can work! On July 12th, due to an ankle injury, I was laid up on the couch and decided to open the app. The first thing that popped up was an intro post of this decent looking guy, with a really cute dog wrapped around his shoulders! 😉 I read his intro and saw that we had similar likes, interests, and goals, things like a love for the outdoors, homesteading, healthy living, farming, and raising animals in a way that would hopefully one day benefit our community. I decided to like his post, never thinking anything would come of it. After all, he lived in Alabama! Later that day I saw that he had commented on my intro post picture (from months before), a picture of me with my dog. After a few comments back and forth, mostly about our dogs, he sent me a personal message asking if I’d like to continue the conversation, I said "Yes!" From the beginning Jonathan was very intentional and asked great questions! The first thing he asked me was what my daily walk with the Lord looked like. I knew right away that this guy was different and I was interested in getting to know him! We messaged back and forth through the app for about a week, asking and answering questions on all different sorts of topics, then he asked if I was up for a phone call or FaceTime call, I said, "Yes" and asked to do it that same day so I didn’t chicken out! 😬 Our first FaceTime was pretty awkward, but went well. I don’t really remember much of what we talked about 😂, but it went well, and we both decided we wanted to talk again. We continued texting and getting to know each other, and had a second FaceTime call a few days later. On that call we talked about Jonathan coming to Alaska for a visit, and on July 24th he booked tickets! He wasn’t coming until August 29th, and that felt like a long ways away! We texted everyday and FaceTimed every few days. It was hard to coordinate FaceTime calls with the 3 hour time difference, work schedules, and just the busyness of summertime. The more I got to know Jonathan, the more I liked him! We had so much in common and shared so many interests. We could both see God working in every little detail! For instance, One evening Jonathan told me how he had spent $15 to pay for the app, and he said it was the best $15 he’d ever spent! The next morning my Bible reading was in Hosea, where he buys he wife for 15 shekels of silver! I laughed out loud! August 29th finally came and I made the 3 hour drive to Anchorage to pick him up. I was very excited to meet him in person but a little nervous and also wondering how crazy was I for going to pick up a stranger by myself? We had a good week together, getting to know each other in person, introducing him to my family and friends, showing him a bit around Alaska. I was hoping he would fall for Alaska as much as me! 😉 We butchered chickens, rescued run-a-way turkeys, went on four-wheeler rides, and sat by campfires. By the end of the trip, I had booked tickets to visit him in Alabama the beginning of October and we made plans for him to come back to Alaska for Thanksgiving. Long distance is not very fun but we were very thankful for FaceTime, and we sent lots of pictures back and forth!

In October I flew to Alabama. Jonathan still had to work some of the days I was there, so I spent the time with his grandma, who he was living with and helping take care of her property. I went to church with him, met a lot of his relatives, and we were able to drive down to Florida to meet his sisters, and then over to Georgia to see his parents and two younger sisters for a few days. After about 20 hours in the car together, we weren’t tired of each other, so I thought that was a good sign! We may have gone through every list of questions on the internet though, as neither of us are big talkers, and we had already covered so many topics in our first weeks of talking. Jonathan had asked me while he was in AK if I thought around Thanksgiving would be an appropriate time for us to get engaged, so while we were in Georgia we visited some jewelry stores and also started talking about wedding plans on our road trip. Did it seem crazy to be talking about getting married on only our second meeting? Yes! But also, we were both so aligned in nearly everything, and I was continually praying for God to show any red flags, and I felt such peace moving forward. Obviously, our biggest obstacle was distance and deciding where we would live etc. We both have a big desire to farm, raise animals, and work from home if possible, so we spent a lot of time talking about what that could look like in each location. Jonathan decided to resign from his job at a packaging company and come to Alaska for 6 weeks ( in the darkest part of winter ), to see what he thought of living there. He arrived November 14, and stayed until December 22, when we both flew to Alabama to spend Christmas with his family. He stayed at my house, and I was able to stay with my parents just down the road. We wanted to get a sense of just normal life together so we spent most days having breakfast together and doing chores together. We butchered pigs. We birthed a cow. Well, actually, my cow birthed a calf, 😉 but we spent a lot of time on calf watch…including middle of the night checks at 0°! We did a flooring job together, did some woodworking projects together, went Christmas tree hunting, spent evenings with family or friends, and spent a lot of evenings sitting by the wood stove talking. It was a sweet time of just getting to know each other better in person, and I am very thankful we were able to have that time together! Jonathan was planning to propose around Thanksgiving, but wanted to talk to my dad first, and he was out of town at our bush cabin, so Jonathan waited until he returned from the bush the middle of December. I was pretty sure Jonathan was going to propose before we left for AL on the 22nd, so I was a little suspicious of everything since we were getting down to the last few days! We had plans to have Christmas dinner with my family on the 20th, and that afternoon I said let’s walk up to my house to milk the cow, and he responded, “Why don’t we go for a walk up the hill after we milk the cow?” (my favorite spot on our property, where there is a view of the mountains) I said, “Okay.” 😏 It was a beautiful sunny (Cold!) day. We got up to the top of the hill and just stood for awhile enjoying the view. I was thinking to myself, “He’s probably trying to get up the nerve, but we can’t stand here all day!” So eventually I said, “Well, my toes are getting cold (which they were, it was about 0°), and then he said, “Well, I think it’s about time we make this official.” He got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I said YES!! 🥰

July 12, 2025, I had taken some strategically timed PTO around the Independence Day holiday to get about 10 days off of work. This allowed me to focus on projects around my Grandmother’s property and spend a couple of work days at my hunting club. During this week of projects, I began voicing some complaints to God and thinking about the recent success of a man in my church who had recently met his wife on a dating app. I’ve always been opposed to using dating apps personally. First, the apps I knew about are not centered around a Christian worldview. Second, I always felt like it was taking too much control and not trusting in God’s timing. I always fell back on the fact that Adam, who was the only human in existence, got a wife; so obviously, God can do the same for me in His timing. I just needed to wait. Hearing about the success of this man in my church and hearing the reactions of others to his story got me thinking. Maybe I’ve been thinking about things incorrectly. I realized I was unintentionally limiting God to my own self-approved methods. He can certainly use dating apps to bring people together if He chooses. I had recently learned about a Christian dating app styled after a public forum where interactions occurred over common interests and various public conversations. I decided on my drive back home from my hunting club that Saturday that I would sign up for this app. It was $15 and I was going to give it one month and then I would never again try any more dating apps! That evening, I sat down with my phone and went through the sign-up process. I worked through the app intro and filled out all the basic information for my profile which automatically got posted. The next step was to write a more detailed introduction about myself and post this intro in the public section for everyone to see. I stopped at this point. I needed some time to figure out what I was going to write and I didn’t really even want to do that. It felt very weird. I sat my phone down and took my dogs outside for about 10 minutes. When I came back, I had a profile “like” from Jessie. She had a photo with her dog and she lives in Alaska! She loves the outdoors, gardening, and farm animals. She dreams of having a farm/homestead. I was intrigued but skeptical. People on the internet can be psycho after all! For the next week we messaged back and forth through the app discussing ALL the serious issues. Life goals, religious beliefs, personal interests and tastes, family dynamics. I covered everything I could think of to make sure this girl was solid and that I wasn’t wasting my time. July 19, 2025, We agreed to FaceTime that evening and see how a face to face conversation would go. Our messaging had been going very well so I was feeling optimistic about this girl but we both knew the other had introverted tendencies and neither of us are good conversationalists, so I was nervous. The time came for me to call and when she answered, she blushed and my future flashed before my eyes. The conversation lasted about an hour. I felt the call went well but FaceTime accentuates silences and pauses in conversation making a conversation between two introverts even more difficult. After our FaceTime call, we shifted our conversation from the app to text messaging and our conversation continued. I continued asking very direct questions, digging into her life experiences, childhood experiences, family relationships, reading about her relationships with family and friends and learning how she interacts with others. I asked her to describe a good husband/wife relationship in her own perspective.

July 23, 2025, We had our second video call where my coming for a visit was seriously discussed. In the days between our first and second FaceTime, the topic of me visiting came up. I had already checked prices to Anchorage and she admitted to checking prices to Nashville so I knew at this point she was serious. We decided that the earliest I could fly up would be the end of August and I purchased tickets the following morning. Our face to face meeting was scheduled for Aug 29th! I still believed it was a long shot at this point. This wasn’t my first rodeo and I began bracing for this one to end as quickly as it began. Our conversation continued over the next 5 weeks. I asked more questions and learned as much as I could about her. I still had time to cancel my plane tickets if things didn’t work out and I would be saving myself a whole lot of money and trouble by being thorough now. She bought a ticket during this time to come visit me for a week at the beginning of October. We were optimistic that my visit would go well and needed to get plane tickets at a good price! We fell into a routine of daily texting, sharing pictures of things we were doing, and having video calls 2-3 times a week. Scheduling calls was a little difficult because we were 3 timezones apart and our personal schedules were shifted about 12 hours apart. I was getting up at 5:30 am for work and she was staying up until 12:00 or 1:00 am at night which meant she was going to bed about an hour before I got up. I was determined to make this work though so I began staying up later so we could talk in the evenings. August 29, 2025, The day finally came for me to fly up and meet this girl! I had spent the last 7 weeks doing my due diligence so I was feeling pretty optimistic at this point but it’s easy to hide who you REALLY are over texting and phone calls so I was still bracing for disappointment when I got there. The optimistic side of me felt that things were going well and now I needed to know if we could actually get along in person? We had agreed for her to pick me up in Anchorage and then drive the 3 hours back to where her family lives. I was surprised she was willing to do this! After all, she is picking up a stranger and driving 3 hours through the mountains with spotty cell service. What if I turned out to be an axe murder? Wait…What if she’s an axe murderer? I realize the odds of two axe murderers being in the same car together is pretty low so I figured maybe I was overreacting a little but what if she’s part of some gang that steals kidneys or something? In all seriousness though, we both had safety concerns and discussed boundaries that we felt set us up for success. As I stepped off the plane in Anchorage, my hopes were high and my spidey-senses were tingling. She said she was coming by herself but did she really? Our first interaction at the airport was awkward. The rest of our airport interactions have also been awkward but that’s a different topic!

Our first stop after leaving the airport was to Raising Cane’s chicken since I had not eaten anything my whole day of traveling. From there we went to Costco for an equally riveting second date! The drive south went well. Turns out I’m not an axe murderer and she’s not part of any kidney-stealing gangs! We found a rhythm in our conversation and really picked up where we had left off in texting. Over the 8 days I visited, we made a lot of memories. We spent a lot of time sightseeing and meeting her friends and family. There was one moment in particular that really stood out to me on this visit. I’ve always been someone who appreciates the finer details of things so I’m frequently silently critiquing the craftsmanship and quality of things around me. Well, we walked up to her mom’s house and while standing outside, she leaned over and commented on the stone work being uneven on opposite sides of the doorframe. One side was 1/16th higher than the other. I was sold! My visit was too short and I don’t remember a lot because I was jet lagged but I left feeling like I had found the one. The next 4 weeks dragged on endlessly! We continued our tradition of texting and video calls, although now we talked every night, and I waited for her to come visit me. October 4, 2025, Jessie landed in Huntsville. I had used all of my PTO when I went up to Alaska the month before so I could’t take time off work the 10 days she was in town. I did have 10 hours accumulated since returning so I was able to work 3 10-hour days and use my 10 hours of PTO for an extended weekend off. We drove down to Savannah GA where my parents live and I was also able to coordinate a meetup with my sisters in Florida so we drove the long way. We had lunch with my sisters and their boyfriends in the Florida panhandle and then drove on to Savannah. I was glad for the 12 hour drive because it gave both of us an opportunity to see the other tired, hangry, and out of their element. Our relationship grew a lot during her visit and before she left on the 14th, we had decided that I would be traveling to her for Thanksgiving, she would be traveling to me for Christmas, and on the way to the airport the morning she left, we picked March 7th for a wedding date. But there was still a lot of ground to cover. I needed to talk to her dad. I began designing an engagement ring as soon as she left and hoped to have it before I went up for Thanksgiving. At this point, we knew we wanted to live in Alaska and my job was just interfering with accomplishing these goals so I gave notice that my last day would be November 6th. Now I just needed to wait for the ring to be completed so I could fly up. I had decided to go up around Thanksgiving and stay for a month and we would fly back together for Christmas in Alabama. This would let me experience the shortest days in Alaska and would give us several weeks of time together to grow our relationship. You can only do so much on FaceTime after all! The ring was completed a couple of weeks sooner than I anticipated so I was able to bump up my departure time to November 14th. November 14, 2025, Plans had been in the works since Jessie left Alabama and now I had a month-long visit taking shape. My first visit was so busy that I had not seen much of her dad so I planned to spend some time with him when I got back up there. I talked to him on the phone a couple of times before my second visit and told him what my goals were for my upcoming month-long visit. Unfortunately, by the time I got into town he had gone out to the bush property for an indeterminate amount of time. My plans for a Thanksgiving engagement were derailed.

I spent my time continuing to learn who Jessie is as a person and was intentional about not doing fun and exciting things every day. I wanted to experience a month of living in Alaska and doing everyday normal things. I wanted to see what the short days with 6 hours of sun are like. I’ve thought for a long time that it would be fun to live in Alaska someday and now I get to experience that! December 17, 2025, Jessie’s dad returned from the bush property and we spent the next day in town doing some Christmas shopping, discussing my intention to marry Jessie, and the ideas we have going forward. I was glad to have these conversations and could tell he was excited about the ideas Jessie and I have. Now that I have the blessing of her dad, I needed to figure out how I was going to ask her. December 20, 2025, Jessie’s family had planned on doing Christmas a little early this year since some were going to be out of town Christmas Day. I wanted to propose before we left for Alabama and my time was running short. She suspected that I came up with a ring, she suspected that I would propose before we left for Alabama, and she told me I couldn’t surprise her so I didn’t know what to do. There were a few moments I could have surprised her but I had not been able to talk to her dad so those times came and went. I decided the best place would be up the hill on their property. We had walked up there several times and the spot is special to her. The view is great too! After helping in the kitchen with all the Christmas food preparation, it was time to go up and milk the cow. Jessie wanted to walk up to her house for the exercise. I suggested driving up and then going for a walk up the hill after we were done with the cow. I could tell she was getting suspicious again! We milked the cow and then came back down to her parent’s house where she swapped gloves to a warmer pair before we hiked up the hill. These gloves didn’t have fingers. I figured she knew what was coming. We made the hike to the top and stood there for a while admiring the view. I began searching for the words I wanted to say and replaying the previous 23 weeks in my head. I was about to ask a serious question and it took me some time to collect my words. We stood there long enough that she prodded me by commenting that her toes were getting cold. I finally gathered the words, knelt down and asked her to be my wife. She said “Yes!”