Our Story

So, our story starts December, 2010 on a winter night. I was talking to mutual friend of ours via Skype. We caught up on news and then she brought up this guy's name..Jim. She said he was an great guy and that he holds the same beliefs as I do. I could tell she was trying to play match maker..so I just played along for fun. Unfortunately I did not set a good impression the first time I met Jim. Everyone in the world wanted to call, text, or chat online. Jim tried hard to keep the conversation going but I would have to excuse the conversation to take a phone call or text. Looking back now I realized how patient he was with me. Fortunately after that night he wanted to continue to keep in touch with me so we would Skype, text, or chat on Facebook. A few weeks of texting constantly (no exaggeration), skyping, and talking over the phone, Jim decides our friendship is ready for a new chapter and asks me as romantically as he can to be his girlfriend. I could tell Jim was a great guy but I wasn't ready for that step until we had met in person so I turned down his offer. My rejection did not defer him from wanting to keep the friendship that had grown so quickly. So we continued to text everyday and share our stories of the day. 

I loved and still love talking to Jim. He grew into being my best friend and my venter outter. Our conversation in the beginning was more planned then random because we didn't like the silent awkwardness. Some days we would talk for hours and not even notice how fast time slipped away from us. We started a mental list of things we would do together. This list started the second day of us talking. We would joke around and make up things that we knew we probably would not do. I honestly didn't even think at that time that I would ever see him to accomplish things on our list. The more I fell in love with Jim the more I wanted our list to go from pretend to a reality. 

I moved to Utah in the beginning of January. Jim was my invisible side kick which made it so I wasn't as nervous as I would be in a new atmosphere. He was always right there via phone to cheer me up or to make me feel safe. The time came when not even an hour passed that we wouldn't hear from each other. If 10 minutes passed and I didn't recieve a text, I worried and waited for a reply. Jim once again, felt that we were getting closer then before and was ready to try and ask me to be his girlfriend again. I still felt like we should meet before taking our friendship to boyfriend and girlfriend, so when he did ask me I turned him down again.

I loved Utah but Rockford was calling me home to a point I got physically sick. I prayed over and over about leaving or staying in Utah. I went to several people asking for advise on what to do. I felt like I was being pulled every which way, but there was one who was standing still, and that was Jim. He supported me no matter what and didn't love me less. I knew at that moment that I loved him. He showed me that he would be there for me through times of trials. I saw his love for me more then ever during this time. I made the final decision to come home and put in my two weeks.

When I moved back home to Rockford in March, I started putting in applications every day like it was my job. Jim cheered me on once again and helping me to stay positive about getting a job. He offered suggestions on where I could apply and would talk to me while I spent a boring amount of hours filling out online applications. Through all of this our relationship grew closer and we started unofficially dating. We started making plans to visit each other but because of one reason or another any date we set had to be pushed forward because of financial reasons or something would come up. 

On May, 11, 2011, late in the evening we were talking about how close we have become and haven't even met. I could feel the love he had and still has for me. I knew all he wanted to do was make me happy. Jim made me feel special, like I was the only woman in the world. I couldn't take it anymore, I wanted to be his girlfriend, so I hinted to him that maybe we shouldn't wait until we met to start dating. Jim in his hopeless romantic way asked me to be his girlfriend via Facebook and I said yes. 

Jim and I continued trying to make plans to visit each other and finally a break through happened! We set and date and this time everything worked out that we could meet. The plan was for him to come to Rockford and meet me and my family on July 1st and then for me to drive back to Michigan with him to meet his family the next day. We talked about being engaged and the thought of it. He said he planned to propose on July 4th before the fire works went off. I was so anxious to know the details that I may have bugged him a little too much, however I got all the details, or so I thought.

The day finally came that he was in his car headed for Rockford. Anything and everything that could go wrong did. He traveled through bad weather while I dealed with power outage and a bad hair day. Luckily Michigan to Illinois is a six hour trip so I had time to recover from my emotional break down and he was able to safely make it through the stormy weather. I was suppose to call him 15 minutes before he arrived where I was at and because of my nerves I was running around crazy and forgot to. He called me and said "Where was my 15 minute phone call?" I replied with an apology. He then mentioned that he was outside waiting for me. My heart fluttered and a permanent smile remained on my face as I stepped out the door and into his arms. Any doubt or nervousness I felt before left me and I was just happy and thankful to have my boyfriend near me. 

The day he came to visit me was over planned due to us not wanting hang time. Jim met some of my family and friends. The next day I went to Michigan with him and stayed with his parents. Our first date was dinner and a movie. I loved the food, the movie, and the wonderful company of my boyfriend. We talked through out the whole movie like we had when we were apart. 

Sunday, July 3rd, after Church, Jim and I walked to his car and he opened the door as he always does and I noticed a purple candle on the passenger floor. I said "Oh look! A candle!" I thought about the time he told me he might propose using a candle, but then I brushed it away because he said he was going to propose on the fourth. Jim told me pick up the candle and so I did. I said "what's this?" as I took the top off and saw something sticking out. I turned from the candle to Jim and saw him on one knee. I then said "what are you doing?" and he told me to take the ring out of the wax. He then said "Joy, will you marry me?" The first thing I said after that was "Are you serious?". I thought he was going to propose on the fourth, so I thought maybe he was just pulling my leg. I apologized after I realized that he was being serious and said yes and handed him the ring to slide onto my finger!
I love Jim so much and I'm excited to see what the future holds for us!