Welcome to our next chapter!

Our story begins with a conspiracy by the people who knew us best to get us together. “The Laurens”, Lauren Smith and Lauren Curtis tried to set us up on dates as early as 2021. The nearest attempt was after Camp Meeting when we ended the evening at the same restaurant at the same table but yards apart with people between us. Even then, the people that knew us best thought we would be perfect for one another, and they were completely right. However, we were busy adults with our own lives and no time for such foolishness as love. Rachel (with the help of The Laurens) tried several times in early 2022 to capture Joseph’s attention, but schedules and shyness kept that meeting at bay. Rachel did reach out to Joseph via social media, and that started a very slow connection building time. Joseph even made plans to come to the singles conference in North Little Rock, but life had other plans. Joseph left the education field after the Spring of 2023 to pursue a legal education at the Bowen School of Law in Little Rock. While choosing a law school was a difficult decision at the time, it is easy in hindsight to see how correct that decision was. We didn’t actually speak in person until August 2023. It was a brief conversation in a Jonesboro parking lot where we did little more than exchange contact information, but that brief conversation would soon turn into longer and longer talks. We had our first lunch date later that month at Raduno. It was so hot outside that we made air conditioning one of the only conditions of seeing each other that day. An hour flew by in no time, and we learned two things: 1) Joseph is not afraid of parking in sketchy gas station parking lots, and 2) this relationship could be something very real for both of us. We continued texting and talking. We discovered we had many things in common. We were band kids, church kids, and nerds to the core. We shared views on politics and on family. We discussed ways that we had been hurt in the past and how we had grown through that hurt into the people we would eventually become. We wanted all of the same things in our lives. We met up again in September. Rachel invited Joseph to go to the Main Street Food Truck Festival with her in Downtown Little Rock. They solidified their plans to meet up in the mid afternoon. This was also the first time that Joseph’s family had any inkling of their being a possible romance in the air. When it came time to meet up for the food truck festival Rachel drove through the area first and decided that there were wayyyy too many people present. She then text Joseph and they switched plans to Blackberry Market in Argenta. This is where Rachel introduced Joseph to the best rice krispie treats on the planet! This was the first day that they talked for almost 3 hours. Everything seemed so easy so fast. Maybe too fast… In October, after a wonderful date to see members of the Arkansas Symphony perform at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library, we “broke up”. Kinda. Hearing the imaginary voices of all the responsible people in his life, Joseph decided that he absolutely had to make being successful in law school his main priority. Rachel took this admirably well, and agreed that it was probably the smart thing to do for the next three-ish years. We left the door open for friendship, but decided it would be better to wait to pursue any real relationship.

This lasted all of approximately one month. We texted infrequently, and a combination of busy schedules and a deep desire to be successful in school kept us apart. November is when the winds of change began to blow. Finally, we were able to spend a few hours together. We drove around Little Rock talking about what music we liked, how Andy’s had the best custard, and where we’d like to eventually live.In December, we had a “singles event” that turned into a date that turned into introducing Rachel to Joseph’s church family the next day. This felt so good that we made it “Facebook Official” soon after. After Christmas, we had the opportunity to drive to HYC as bus drivers for our two churches. By the end of that trip, we had already talked about what a marriage timeline might look like. “After law school,” we said, and God laughed. At this point, it was time to tell our families how serious we were. When Rachel told her grandmother her reply was that she was happy as long as Rachel was happy. When Joseph told his mom that he was in love, she said, “Well, what are you going to do about it?” What indeed. We opened up about our finances and discussed everything we could think of that would be easy or difficult about getting married. While we saw some challenges, they would mostly not be made easier by waiting another two years as separate people, especially when we felt it was such the right decision. Just about the time we had it figured out, Rachel became very sick and had to be checked into a hospital. The combination of this sudden illness with the ice storm that had decided to appear meant we spent several days together, albeit in a hospital. It was a difficult time, but it was also SO encouraging for both of us to see how we faced that difficulty together. We came through the illness even stronger than we went in. In early February, we started making all the moves we needed to make in order to become engaged. We talked to pastors. We talked to our families. Joseph bought a ring.

The engagement itself was not quite so easy. Even though we knew we wanted to get married in the summer of 2024, we wanted to keep the details of the engagement secret from one another. The first secret plan was to have Zane and Kyly (Rachel’s best friends) attend a concert with us at the Presidential Library to put a different ending on the sad night in October. However, Rachel and team are much too good at playing detective and sniffed this plan out almost immediately. Joseph had to scramble to keep the plan a secret, so moved up the proposal date and location to The Old Mill where Rachel had made many happy memories as a child. Joseph tortured Rachel by walking around for an entire WEEK with the ring in his pocket. The day was beautiful and everything was set when things began to get difficult. We had breakfast together and were planning to meet Kyly for pictures when Rachel’s boss sent a text. Could we pick up something from the boss’s house and drive it across Little Rock like RIGHT NOW? This lead to probably the most aggressive “NO” that Rachel had ever heard from Joseph. By the way, Rachel does not like Joseph telling her no. We had to be at the Old Mill right now. We hurried to the spot, and Joseph forgot his phone in the car, the phone which he needed to have in order to text Kyly to appear. After looking around in a panic for Kyly for a minute, we found ourselves alone in the mill itself. The birds sang and the wind blew softly. The boss’s things were still across town. It was now or never. Joseph asked if he could ask a question. Then, he got on one knee and asked the question. “Will you marry me?” “Yes! Of course!” It was perfect. Suddenly, and without warning, Kyly appeared! Just in time to snap a few pictures that could be posted hours later after a LONG day: the boss got her things, the bus got driven to Marion, and we got engaged. Since then, we’ve navigated difficulties and joys successfully together. We had a successful single’s conference. We both found new jobs. We continued to work for our churches and make time for one another while being successful in our studies and careers. We’ve had disagreements that we talked through and solved like the adults we are. We are not perfect people, but we are perfect for one another, and can’t wait to spend forever together! Thank you for reading, and hope to see you on July 20th!