Engaged in Mystery...

So Josh and I recently entered a contest for a local radio station. The contest was to submit a story or video telling how you got engaged. We decided to submit a video. We were in a creative mood so we made the story into a 1950's detective type story. I figured I'd share it on my blog so you all could see. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think.



- Jenn

On This Day In 2007...

On this day in 2007, I didn't know that my life would never be the same again. Let me take you to where I was on this day in 2007....

It was January 18th. I was just starting the second semester of my junior year in college. I was single. I was semi-content with where I was (or so I thought). I was roommates with my best friend, Emily. I had several close friends at school. I was happy for the most part.

Then my friend Eddie told my roommate and I about this new guy. This new guy, this Marine, was gonna be his roommate. New guy came around. He joined several of us at school to play games that night. We played Dutch Blitz and Apples to Apples. I sat across the table from him. We all thought he was a "bad boy". I thought he had the most gorgeous blue eyes and a great personality. He also had an amazing smile. I thought there was more to "new guy" than just a "bad boy". I wanted to be friends with him and get to know him better. It was January 18, 2007. This new guy had caught my attention...

... and we all know where it went from there. This new guy's name was Josh. From the time he initally caught my attention I was intrigued by him. We quickly became friends and started to get to know each other better. Before we knew it we were falling for each other. Then we were dating. Then we were in love. Then we were talking about spending forever together. Then we were engaged. And finally we were happily married - and still are today.

It's funny how God brings people into your life at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected ways. He brought Josh and I together at the perfect time, the time that He had planned all along. It's hard to believe that it's been three years since we first met! In one way it seems like just yesterday, but at the same time it feels like we've known each other forever. I'm so thankful for every moment that He's given to us together and I look forward to many more together in the future. I'm so thankful for the "new guy", the "bad boy", the blue eyed prince who I met three years ago today! I'm thankful for all he is to me and for God's provision of the perfect husband for me!

- Jenn

Our Story... Part 5 (From Jenn's Point of View)

So the planning began. I was so thankful during those nine months that I had a wonderful, supportive fiance who was willing to help me with all of the wedding plans and details. I was also thankful for supportive and helpful family and friends. Planning a wedding was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. By January, we had already signed a photography contract, signed a reception contract, spoke with our pastor, and had a lot of little details planned. Things were going very smoothly and I was very happy with our progress.

One fun part about being engaged, besides planning the wedding and knowing I was going to marry my best friend soon, was getting our engagement pictures done. A friend of ours, Eddie, was willing to take our engagement pictures for us. So, one cold February day we headed out to Long's Park in Lancaster to get our pictures done. That was a lot of fun for me, even though both Josh and Eddie complained that it was too cold the whole time.

The months flew by as I prepared for the wedding. Bridesmaids got their dresses, I got my dress, tuxes got picked out, limo contracts got signed, flowers got ordered, and lots of other little details got completed. I will admit that while planning this wedding at times my head began to spin. But, I quickly remembered not to stress over things,as this was supposed to be a fun time and not a stressful time. Wedding planning didn't always go smoothly. There were several bumps along the way - like being scammed by a flower company, finding out my sister was going to be eight months pregnant at our wedding after we had already bought her bridesmaids dress, realizing that my dress didn't quite fit right, and a few others. But those bumps were straightened out and things came together in the end.

I was blessed with two bridal showers during that time - one down near Lancaster and one in my hometown. Bridal showers were so exciting. As I got gifts for our new house, the whole marriage thing became more of a reality. I couldn't wait to decorate our new place and to start my life with Josh. As time went by during our engagement, marriage became more of a reality and I became more and more excited about it beginning...

Our Story - Part 4...(From Jenn's Point of View)

It's been a while since I posted a part of our story... So here goes part four...

So I barely slept that night. I was so excited that I was engaged to the man of my dreams! But the next morning when I woke up, it hit me - I was engaged and I was going to be getting married soon!

So of course the normal comments started coming when I told people that we were engaged. We got a variety of comments. Of course there were the normal "congratulations. let me see the ring" and the "when's the date?". But then there were the "wow! that was fast." comments too. But once people started asking, we responded with "Well, we're not sure yet. Ideally we'd like to get married this August (2008) but realistically it might not be until May of 2009." You may wonder why this was our response. Well, it was like this. I still had another year of school left and we weren't sure if our parents would want us to get married that coming summer or that we'd be financially ready to get married that summer. But, we decided to think and pray about a date. Then we'd ask our parents if the date was ok and we'd be ready.

So, we thought and prayed about it and picked a date. We were gonna aim for August 9, 2008. That was only 9 months from when we got engaged. There would be a lot of work and planning to do, but we figured it was definitely doable. We also figured that we'd be financially ready to get married that summer, and that there wasn't much of a point to waiting a whole nother year. So, we asked our parents about the date. His parents said yeah, but we better start planning. My parents said yes as well, as long as we were sure that we could plan it all and afford to live on our own by then. We assured them that we were and set our date - August 9, 2008. That would be the day that we would become Mr. and Mrs.

Of course there was a lot of planning to be done and a lot of decisions to be made. I knew that I wanted to be married in the church that I had grown up in, so that quickly settled the decision of what city we would be married in (Josh and I lived two hours apart). But there were plenty of other decisions to be made - bridal party, a reception location, a photographer, flowers, transportation, and the list goes on.... It would be a busy, but well worthwhile, nine months ahead of us. During these nine months we'd have the chance to grow closer to each other and learn to love each other even more as we planned our wedding...

-Jenn

Our Story - Part 3... (From Jenn's Point of View)

So I caught the bouquet. The funnier part is that Josh's younger brother, Jonny, caught the garter. We'll just say Jonny didn't get the garter very far up on my leg (that's if you consider the ankle to be part of the leg). They let Josh take over and put the garter on the rest of the way. So after catching the bouquet, we "joked" around about how I'd have to be the next one to get married. That was September.

October came and went quickly. I consistently wondered in the back of my mind when Josh was going to propose. I had a feeling it was going to happen, but in my mind there was no way he could have asked my dad yet. So, I just kept forcing the idea out of my head. We enjoyed spending time together. In October we went to one of the huge fairs not far from my school. We enjoyed walking the streets of the fair together and then watching the fair parade. It was a great time together.

Josh and I at the fair together

The next month was November. Each November the Marines have their annual Marine Corps Ball on or around November 10th to celebrate the Marine Corps birthday. It's a huge formal affair - everyone gets all dressed up, the Marines in their dress blues and the civilians in their nicest clothes. Josh asked me to be his date to the ball. I was honored. Josh's unit's 2007 ball was being held on the actual birthday, November 10th. However, Josh had to report to drill (reserve duty) the day before - Friday November 9th. I had thought that Josh had been acting kind of weird around that weekend, but I brushed it off. That Friday night, Josh was at drill and I was at a friend's house hanging out. I had texted him and said something about how I couldn't wait until we were engaged and he responded with something to the effect of "Not too long baby". I had a feeling he was telling the truth on that one, but I wasn't quite sure how soon he meant.

So the next day was the ball. A friend of mine did my hair in the morning and I got all ready. Then his mom came and picked me up and took me to their house. Josh was on his way back from his unit to pick me up from the ball. I felt bad for him. He had told me he hadn't slept well the night before and then had overslept that morning. I kept thinking that maybe it was "the day" but didn't want to get my hopes up. Anyways, I got my dress on and make-up done. Josh got his dress blues on and got all ready. Then his mom was like "hurry, hurry, we won't have enough time". I was wondering why she was hurrying us, as we were ahead of schedule and had plenty of time until we had to leave. So once we were ready his mom took what seemed like a million pictures. His brother, Jon, was also videotaping us. I found it rather odd that he was videotaping us and that his mom, dad, and brother were all there in the room watching us get pictures. I figured they were just excited for us going to the ball together.

Anyways, after what seemed like a million pictures, Josh told me that he had gotten me something and he had to go upstairs to get it. So he went upstairs and came down. He told me he had talked to my dad to see what kind of challenge coin I'd like and he had gotten me one for the ball. (A challenge coin is a commemorative coin that Marines get for different places they go and things they do, and notice he had "talked to my dad to see what kind I'd like" that was him telling me he had my parent's blessing on this) So he hands me the coin. The front of the coin looked exactly like this.

Then he said to turn it over. I turned it over and read the back and it said "Jennifer Lynn, will you marry me?" By the time I looked up from reading it Josh was on his knee with the most gorgeous ring and said "Jenn, will you marry me?". Of course I said yes. Then I laughed and hugged him and laughed and hugged him. (Laughter is my nervous reaction) Then I looked at the ring. It was a beautiful ring, with several small diamonds shaped as a heart. He told me, "Now wherever we are, even when we're apart, you'll always have my heart". That melted my heart.

After I realized what had happened, I got on the phone to tell everyone the good news. Josh says I was on the phone the entire drive to the ball (an hour and a half away). I was so excited! It was great for Josh to be able to introduce me as his fiance at the ball. We had a great time there that night and then drove back to his parent's house after the ball was over. I could barely sleep that night, as I was so excited to be engaged to the man of my dreams...

-Jenn

Our Story - Part 2... (From Jenn's Point of View)

So where did I leave off?... Oh, the beginning of the summer. That's right.

So school was over. We were gone off our separate ways, unsure of how often we would see each other. He was working full time and I was working full time. We both had busy schedules and such so there was no knowing how much we would see each other over the summer. I was worried I'd only get to see him once or twice. God knew my worries during this time. Fortunately we were blessed and ended up seeing each other quite often during the summer, pretty much every weekend (if not that, then every other weekend). He'd come to my house, I'd go to his. The summer was great as we got to know each other better, but also got to know each other's families better too.

I went down to his house the weekend of June 9th-11th. It was his birthday so I wanted to be there for it. Plus we were having a party for him. He told me he had a surprise for me when I got there. He gave it to me and here it was a promise ring. I was ecstatic. Josh was promising that one day he would marry me! (Some of you may be thinking - my this is kind of early to get a promise ring, you've only been dating for four months and have only known each other five. But you have to understand, Josh and I started talking about marrying each other about a month after we started dating. Many people probably thought that we were rushing things and we were crazy, but we somehow just knew that we were meant to be together and that God was going to allow us to spend the rest of our lives together.) Anyways, back to the story. So he gave me a beautiful promise ring that weekend and then we spent the rest of the weekend celebrating his birthday with his family and friends. I remember going home and showing my parents the ring Josh had given to me. I especially remember my dad's reaction. I showed it to him and his first question, with tears in his eyes, was "Do you love him?". Of course I said yes. His second question was "Do you want to spend the rest of your life with him? Does he treat you good?". I answered yes to both. He then hugged me and told me he was happy for me. I'll never forget that.

So the summer went on. We had many random dates over the summer as we visited each other. One date I remember in particular was up at my house. We were bored and trying to figure out something to do. So we randomly decided to go to a local state park. When we got to the park we walked around a bit and then decided to go on the paddleboats on the lake. Josh quickly learned my fear of small boats in big bodies of water. I'm petrified of falling out and drowning (even though I can swim). It was a lot of fun though, on the paddle boats in the middle of the lake, just talking and spending time together.

So the summer flew by and our love for each other continued to grow. Before we knew it, it was August and I was back in school and he was at home working. This way we were only about 40 minutes from each other and we got to see each other more often.

In September, Josh's cousin got married. We went to her wedding together. Throughout the day of the wedding, Josh and I discussed some ideas for our wedding (even though we weren't even engaged yet). We agreed on a lot of things about it, which was good. At the reception they had the normal bouquet toss. Guess who caught the bouquet?!? That would be me. We all knew what that meant...

Together at his cousin's reception

-Jenn

Our Story - Part 1... (From Jenn's Point of View)

I think from the time you're a little girl, every girl dreams of meeting her prince and having him sweep her off her feet, carry her away, and live happily ever after with him. I know even my niece, who's only four years old, talks about her prince and how one day she'll marry him. I was just like any girl, well for the most part. Before I tell our story, let me give you a little bit of background on my own story....

I'm the youngest of three kids. I have one older brother, Joe, and one older sister, Steph. As kids we were like any normal kids. We played hide and go seek outside, we played pee wee sports, we beat on each other and tattled on each other. When I was younger, I was a tomboy. Well, at least from the outside I was a tomboy. I loved to do what the boys did, yet at the same time I still liked to do what the girls did. One moment I'd be playing in the dirt and playing baseball, but the next minute I'd be playing Barbies with my sister and our friends. Even though I may have appeared to be a tomboy from the outside - playing in the dirt, wearing my brother's clothes, and playing trucks with the boys - I was still a princess at heart. I dreamed of the day when I would meet my prince charming. I dreamed of dressing in a white dress and having my daddy walk me down the aisle to marry this prince. I dreamed of the perfect fairy tale, where my prince would take me away and we would live our happily ever after together....

As I grew up and went into high school I grew out of my tomboy stage. I still wasn't a girly girl, but I was no longer a tomboy. In high school and college I was BOY CRAZY! And crazy doesn't even begin to describe me. I was obsessed with boys, obsessed with finding my one true love. I had little regard for the fact that I was still young, and that none of the boys in school were what I truly wanted. In high school I was pathetic (if that can even describe me). I liked a different guy at least every month and studied that guy so that I knew everything about him. I laugh about it now, but also admit that it was crazy. Despite liking all of these guys, I never dated. I wasn't the kind of girl these guys wanted. I have to say, probably my most ridiculous high school moment with a guy was at the beach with my best friend Erica. We seriously must have checked out a dozen guys at the beach - one of them being a particular lifeguard. That poor lifeguard got "studied" more that week than probably any other time in his life. It was pathetic. Anyways, once high school was passed and I started college, I was still boy crazy (just ask my roommate). I didn't like nearly as many different guys in college, but I liked enough. My poor roommate had to listen to me talk about them all the time, and I probably drove her insane. Anyways, there was a particular guy who I had my heart set on in college for a long time. I was convinced that God wanted the two of us together and that we'd get married. However, God had a different plan. Through a series of difficult events, he showed me that we weren't meant to be. He had different plans, plans that I couldn't even fathom at the time. It was at this point that I told God that I was giving up on guys. I was going to be content to be single for then because I didn't want any more heartache....

So there's the background... that's where I was at the end of 2006... but, moving on....

...So I gave up on the whole guy thing in December 2006. I told God, "that's it" for guys. No more right now. But God had a slightly different plan (just slightly). January 2007 comes along. January 18, 2007 to be exact. I was at college hanging out with friends. My friends Eddie (who I'd known for a couple years) got a new roommate. Eddie and his new roommate, Josh, decide to come over to the dorm that I was living in and play games with myself and several other of our friends. Eddie wanted to introduce Josh to everyone and help him get to know us. Eddie had told us (my roommate and me) a little about this friend already - Josh was 20, he lived about a half hour from school, he was a Marine, he had a girlfriend. So I knew at that point, since I'd given up the whole guy thing and this guy already had a girlfriend, that all I wanted was to be nice to this new roommate of Eddie's and potentially be his friend. So the two of them come over to play games with us.

So we play games. I remember that night distinctly. We were playing Apples to Apples and Dutch Blitz. While playing Apples to Apples I couldn't help but notice the smile on this new guy's face. I also couldn't help but notice his bright blue eyes. He seemed kind of quiet, yet at the same time he seemed to be a "bad boy". But I couldn't get him out of my mind, of course he was sitting across the table from me so that didn't help much. I kept saying to myself "I'm done with guys, plus he has a girlfriend. Stop thinking about him!"

Fast forward a few days. This Josh guy leaves for Utah to visit his girlfriend. I think about him all weekend, which is pretty bad since he's with his girlfriend. My friends all ask me if I like him because of the way I'm acting, I deny the fact. Looking back, I was just in denial because I figured there was no point in liking this guy since he was taken and I was done with guys.

Fast forward a few more days, January 31st. I'm talking on AIM to Josh. Josh tells me that he sees something in me and he likes me. I don't know what to think. I'm ecstatic! Finally, I like a guy and he likes me back. I sit there wondering, can this be a God thing? (Within this time, Josh breaks up with his girlfriend. Note: I didn't cause him to break up with her, it was something that had been coming for awhile.)

February 11th - I take Josh home to my house to introduce him to my parents and family. They get along wonderfully, which makes me smile! While we are there, Josh asks my dad for permission to date me.

February 12th - Before dinner, Josh comes to the dorm I live in and brings me flowers. On the way to dinner he asks me if I would be his girlfriend. Of course I accept the invitation. I'm ecstatic!

We started our relationship together right before Valentine's day and were both very excited about it. Here are some pictures from our early days of dating....

The two of us hanging out watching a movie together

Spending time together in the lounge of my dorm

Hanging out together with friends (and probably playing DDR)

Together after cutting our friend, Eddie's, hair

Less than a month after we started dating, March 9th, Josh was sent overseas with the Marines for three weeks. I think this was the hardest three weeks of my life, yet the most rewarding. During those three weeks I was apart from the guy I liked, worried about him, trying to focus on school, and at the same time trying to find ways to get to know him better. A friend pointed out at this time that over half the time we had "been together" as a couple, we had spent apart. During this time I dreamt about him and thought about him alot. I also did a lot of praying, praying that God would show me if this is the guy he wanted me to spend my life with. After all, I had gone into this relationship with the intentions that I was only going to date a person if there was a serious possibility of me marrying them. I didn't want anymore heartbreak. During these three weeks God gave me so much peace and I feel that during this time God showed me that Josh was the man I was going to spend my life with. I was at complete peace about our relationship together.

Josh came home in April after three weeks apart...

It was so great to be back with him and to be able to get to know him better in person. However, we had a little over a month to be together at school before it ended. I feel as though this month continued to draw as closer to each other as a couple. There were so many conversations that lasted hours, dates out together, and time spent with friends and family that helped us learn more about each other. I had come to love so much about this guy, so much more than just his smile and bright blue eyes. I loved his honesty, devotion, desire to have a family, direction in life, his way of accepting everyone, etc.

In May, the end of the school year came. Josh was asked to carry the American flag at our school's graduation. I attended the ceremony to see him.

After graduation, we both had to head our separate ways to our homes (which are two hours apart) for the summer. The summer would prove to be a growing experience for both of us...

-Jenn