We got married! come celebrate with us

-Julie: "I saw the large crowd that is the Scott family pile into a pew at church in 2012. Sitting on the opposite side of the church, I saw Josiah and remember thinking, 'oh, he's cute.' And thus began my month of flirting whenever Josiah came to my parents' house to hang out with my little brother Caleb." -Josiah: "I swooned over Julie from the start. Sadly, our small romantic relationship ended badly after only lasting a month because she was set to go to Auburn the following semester. But, like most teenage romances, it wasn't meant to be at the time, and we were forced to save face around each other due to my friendship with Caleb and Nana Nickman’s love for me." -Julie: "Josiah eventually followed me to Auburn, and our disdain for each other continued until we finally had a ‘come-to-Jesus’ moment when I realized Josiah was not going away and his friendship with my brother and Nana was real and life-long." -Josiah: “Following our ‘come-to-Jesus’ talk, we continued our jeering comments, but they eventually turned into playful flirting. I was set to finish ROTC and Commission into the Army. I would see Julie and make jokes about us getting married so we could travel the world on the government's dime. She played along, but we thought it would never happen." -Julie: "Over the next 7 years, our relationship evolved into friendship through my brother Caleb. We would occasionally see each other at holiday functions when visiting Huntsville. We both dated other people and never thought about each other romantically. Until... I saw Josiah at my parents' lake house in May of 2019 when I was visiting from Chicago, where I was in grad school. I remember turning up the playful flirting and thinking that the Army had done good things to his physique. After that encounter at the lake, I swore I would never think about him again. Still, my journal entries later proved otherwise." -Josiah: "I remember my trip to the lake house to see Caleb and even remember that Julie was dating someone, and I was excited for her. I was set to graduate from the Infantry basic officer leader course the following month and then headed for ranger school. My workout schedule obviously reflected this, so I can see why Julie wanted a piece at the time ;)." Julie: "Over the next couple of months, I thought about Josiah often and would think that I was hearing from the Lord that I was going to marry him. Every time I heard that, though, I thought to myself, ‘Lord, pick someone else.’” -Josiah: "In October of 2019 I had just got back from ranger school and I got a call from Caleb, he was calling to say congrats for finishing school and catch up. At the end of our conversation he threw the curve ball of "would you ever consider dating Julie again?" to which I responded 'absolutely not.. that ship had already sailed.'" -Julie: "In October of 2019, I confided in a good friend who was visiting me in Chicago that I had been thinking about Josiah a lot. She already knew Josiah from his long-time friendship with my family. She, of course, was thrilled to know I was thinking about him. Everyone loved Josiah and thought it was crazy we never ended up back together after Auburn. She made me promise to talk to him if I saw him in Huntsville over the holiday season like I had seen him so many times before around that time of year. She even made me seal the promise by both spitting on our hands and shaking them. The deal had been made, and I spent the next couple of months praying he would not be back in Huntsville at Christmas so I would not have to fulfill my end of the deal."

-Josiah: "Well, I was in Huntsville that Christmas. Caleb and I had plans to hang out as always, and he very openly volunteered that Julie would be coming to town before New Year's Eve. While I was home, I saw one of my long-time buddies, Vince Arnold, and asked for his opinion about the idea of asking Julie to lunch when she got to town. Vince knew the history between Julie and me. He suggested that lunch was harmless but warned me not to have any expectations of being more than friends." -Julie: "On my way into town, I got a phone call from Caleb saying that Josiah would be at our family Christmas and that he was single. To which I responded with an eye roll because, of course, Josiah would be at our family Christmas because he had been treated like an honorary member since 2012." -Josiah: "I did come to the Spearing Christmas, nothing out of the ordinary except that while I was playing pool with Julie’s Dad, he made the statement that he had four single daughters and that he and her mom would love for me to date any one of them...." -Julie: "After our family Christmas, Josiah, Caleb, and I went back to Nana's house, and Josiah told us what my dad had said, and I, of course, was annoyed but also not surprised. I continued to try and flirt to give Josiah some sort of hint that I was interested. Still, due to our playful flirtation history, my banter with him was not at all unusual. After Josiah left to go to his parents' house with an invitation to return for Nana's breakfast the following morning, Caleb told me that if I wasn't direct, Josiah wouldn't pick up on the hints because he had tried with me before, and thought that it would never happen." -Josiah: "I returned for breakfast the following morning, but as the cousins began to arrive for Nana’s Christmas party, I gathered my things and said my goodbyes. I headed out the door, and Julie followed me outside... I thought, 'this is not good; I shouldn't have said anything about her dad's comment to me: there goes my chance at lunch.'" -Julie: "After breakfast, as Josiah was leaving, I got shuffled out the door by my brother, who insisted I needed to say something and that now was the perfect time. I followed Josiah out the door and said something along the lines that all the flirting I was doing over the last 24 hours was my attempt to get him to notice me and that if he was interested, I would like to go on a date with him. I, of course, was so nervous; I hoped that what I was saying came out in a way that he could understand. I knew the message was received well only because Josiah had a grin that reached from ear to ear. My cousins were rolling in at this time, and the chaos of Nana Christmas was about to begin. Josiah quickly told me he was so happy to hear this and would call me later with his response." -Josiah: "I thought for sure Julie was going to insist that our flirting needed to stop since everyone was getting the wrong idea... Quite the opposite to my pleasant surprise. I texted her later that day (I didn't call because I knew all the cousins and siblings would berate her nonstop for all details), saying I would love to go on a date. We went horseback riding the following day, where I all but demanded that if we were gonna do this, it could not be taken lightly." -Julie: "That day at the farm, Josiah was very insistent that I not be joking. I had done a number on his heart, and he wanted to confirm that I would take better care this time around. I mean, I was definitely still cautious when it came to relationships. Still, I thought God was leading me this time, so I could confidently say I was all in."

-Josiah: "So we went on a date! It was good; I kissed her and everything. Our relationship was long distance from the get-go, which has carried obvious challenges. The first week in February 2022, I suggested that we get married when I came to town for her birthday; she thought I was joking at first. Still, we took a week to see what our mentors thought about the idea. The answer was a resounding yes, and we headed to the courthouse on Feb 11th, 2022." -Julie: "Once at the courthouse, we were informed that due to covid, they no longer married people on sight. It was Valentine’s Day weekend, and I did not want a cliché wedding with some random stranger that didn't know us. At this time, we had not let our families in on the secret. So we called my brother, and he, of course, was more than willing to do it (he may even have shed a tear or two, but you didn't hear that from us). Caleb was already on his way into town for my birthday, and Josiah suggested he get ordained online and marry us...He got into town, and we said our "I do's" on the back porch of my home in Georgia to make it official."