ERIN + JOSH

Our story so far...

We met on Friday, February 23, 2007. Once a year, Student Life at Sugarloaf UMC hosts the 30 Hour Famine. Students fast for 30 hours to spread awareness about starvation around the world and raise money to feed children. Student Life makes a big event out of it, including worship, teaching, and volunteer projects. At the time, Erin had just begun to be more involved with the church while I, Joshua, (just beginning my 2nd semester at Georgia Tech) decided to come home for the weekend to help out. We were introduced by our dear friend Kate at the beginning of the event, and as fate would have it we ended up in the same group! We didn't talk much that weekend, aside from some group discussions, but we certainly didn't forget each other.

While I was home that summer for work, we began getting to know each other. An innocent Facebook post from Erin somehow turned into a string of messages that continued when I went back to school in the Fall. We kept in touch fairly regularly- I taught Erin how to solve a Rubik's cube via webcam and Erin convinced me to read one book after another. Around Christmas, I started to slowly distance myself, realizing that our innocent friendship was headed somewhere deeper. And when Erin made the decision to go to Georgia Tech the next Fall, I had a feeling that it would before long!

That summer, frustrated by the distance I had placed between us, Erin realized she had feelings as well. At first she tried to bury them and pull away... But after school started in the Fall, common friends pulled us even closer together. It was a special time of really getting to know one another- both seeing the girl from Facebook messages coming alive before me as well as making new discoveries. It didn't take me long to confirm that I wanted to be with her. I did my best to be patient and take things slowly, but by November I realized that it was time to act. We talked things over with one another, with our families, and with our friends, and on November 20, 2008 we started dating!

On December 22, 2011 I proposed and three weeks later hopped onto a plane to India! I spent the next 6 months working with a nonprofit engineering ministry while Erin finished school and planned the details of the wedding. I got a lot of high fives for that move, but I definitely don't recommend spending most of your engagement on opposite sides of the planet! Thankfully, the Lord used that time to shape and prepare us for marriage in tremendous ways. After I had returned, at long last, we were married on August 18, 2012. In the time since then we enjoyed a perfect honeymoon, made a hurricane-dodging apartment search, moved to Baton Rouge, and started our first real jobs. We have deeply enjoyed discovering what it means to live life and serve God as a couple!

The journey has been long and good. We have discovered so much about one another- ugly things and beautiful things. We have encouraged one another time and time again. We've made mistakes and learned from them together. We've wiggled our way into each others' special families. We've had fights and celebrations. We've learned more about God's character.
We still have a long way to go... we are so excited for this! We are so excited that our story will continue to include so much more. More learning, stretching, and growing. More challenges and adventures. More love and commitment. More Christ-likeness.

We are very blessed by our Father, our families, and our friends.