We met at Brevard College During the first day of preseason for fall sports. He was a junior and I was a freshman. Josh was a Resident Advisor in my building (a freshman building). He told all of us freshmen about how this building could be a fun community, leaving doors open to get to know each other. I did just that. With my open door Josh did stop by to help me get my TV set up, being short this was much needed with Josh's height! I later found out that Josh was caught off guard that I gave him a real hug, as his height led many to do otherwise upon first meeting. From there Josh kept stopping by my open door, and we quickly learned of our common foundation in Christ. we immediately became interested in one another, thus began our pursuit after one another!

When June rolls around, Kelsi and l will have dated for almost 7 years (WOW!). After our first year of dating we knew we wanted to have a life together. We were only 2-years apart in school so once l graduated l stayed around to work and be near her while she finished her undergraduate degree. Once l graduated and we were no longer students together in the following years we faced nearly every stressor on a relationship that seemed possible. Once Kelsi got accepted to Graduate school in Colorado l moved out to be near her, but again our plans changed when l was guided to accept a job in North Dakota where our story of patience and persistence through distance began. From time zone conflicts, restraints to having rules against our relationship, getting a concussion, living 1000+ miles apart, seeing each other for short broken periods over a 3-year span, mutually shedding tears in countless public airports- needless to say we may have faced it all. But we agreed to love each other unconditionally from the beginning, the same way that our savior loves us, our conditions were not what made us fall in love, but rather each other. We made commitments to love each other, not the situations we faced, not sickness or even our difficult times. By having this foundation with each other we made our vows early on so that when June rolls around, the easiest part of the day will simply be saying the words "I Do"!