Josh and I, despite having been friends with many of the same people all throughout college, didn't meet until February 2023, nearly 10 months after college graduation! We both joined our friends on a camping trip to Cloudland Canyon and quickly realized that the two of us were the only ones on the trip that had never met previously. We spent much of the trip hiking and playing spikeball together getting to know each other! At the end of the trip, as everyone parted ways, our dear friend Peyton Shirley and I stayed back to chat for a bit, and she just kept raving about her two best guy friends, one of who was Josh. I got back in my car to return to Atlanta, curious about this awesome guy I had somehow never met before who lived in Birmingham, and as I checked my phone to find directions, I saw a notification pop up from none other than Josh! And not only had he found my Instagram and messaged me- he (for some unknown reason) had decided to ask me on a date!

A month or so later, I made my first trip over from Atlanta to Birmingham so that we could go on our first date. That one trip turned into many trips, and by April, we had decided to officially start dating! And thus began over a year of long distance dating for Josh and I! Our weekends were spent visiting each other whenever we could, going on fun dates yes, but also doing a lot of studying together, as we were both finishing up our graduate school degrees. It was not long before we both realized how deeply we loved one another and that the Lord had so intentionally woven our stories together.

As I looked towards seminary graduation, we prayerfully considered what city the Lord might be leading us towards together, and it quickly became clear that Birmingham was the answer. In July 2024, I officially moved to Birmingham, ending our time doing long distance and beginning a new exciting chapter of actually getting to do life together daily!

As exciting as seeing each other daily was for us, our story was about to become even more exciting! On Sunday, September 29th, Josh asked me to marry him, and it was undoubtedly the best day of our lives! We spent the day surrounded by our family and friends, each of who we are immensely grateful for!

We are loving our season of engagement and looking forward to our future together. We can't wait to celebrate with you all on August 30th, 2025!

All our love,

J&K