"I met Becca at a house church worship and bonfire in August of 2014. I had known about her before from other college ministries I was a part of, but just never crossed paths with her until this one house church event. Before we met, I could see she was super enthusiastic with the way she interacted with people. She was confident in her own skin. Later on I found out this confidence came solely from relying and trusting God with her life. We began hanging out simply due to common interests in adventuring, trying new activities, climbing, and playing music. We simply hung out for a period of time as just good friends. We both didn’t care much for social media, or how we came across to others, but focused our time together on each other, our own hearts, the present moment, and enjoying the beauty in the time we got to spend together. She seemed super cool and before we even started dating, I would joke around to my mom saying, “I hung out with that girl again this week. She’s super cool. I’ll marry her”. Becca just blew my mind on so many levels that I had to ask her on a date. I wanted her around. I loved her mind, her brilliance, her emotions and thought process, her perception of God, her theories of space and time, her nerdiness and how much she read- I loved all of it! I wanted to be around it! We had been together for a little over eight months before I asked her to marry me.
The proposal was a long time coming. She knew from the very beginning that I didn’t date for no reason and that I was choosing to pursue and invest in her because she seemed like the kind of girl that I would love to spend the rest of my life with. I was going to be real, honest, and vulnerable with my emotions without expecting her to reveal any of hers if she didn’t want to. We didn’t kiss for the first three months because I wanted to continue growing in that deep astonishment and captivation of her beauty as my good friend and sister in Christ. The three months of purely getting to know her for who she was without the distraction of physical intimacy was incredible and set a foundation of trust for our relationship. About six months into our relationship I sat down with her parents and told them everything I loved about Rebecca- (it was a long list!). I asked for their blessing and permission to marry their daughter eventually, and they lovingly gave it. My family had known my intentions up until this point, so then we started letting the extended family know that this was serious. We let our actions do the talking instead of our words. Becca knew as well (she was always the first person I talked to when it came to marriage. I try to be on the same page as her as much as I can, and it was especially important for planning such a huge life decision). I was waiting on getting a job before I proposed, so when that job called for a summer long trip to Colorado, I knew the time was ASAP. I wanted to give Becca that commitment before leaving. It was planned quickly, but definitely not hastily - I had been thinking of proposal ideas for months. I decided that I wanted the proposal to be on Turtle Rock- a place where Bec and I both had come individually and together growing towards each other and towards God. We spent a lot of afternoons there jumping into the water, finishing up school work, playing putt putt, reading, and having great conversations in the midst of a beautifully scenic waterfront view of the lake. It is a super special and sentimental place to both of us.
Three days before leaving for Colorado, Becca’s sister Tori and
I spent all afternoon painting individual letters on white tablecloths in the
form of “Rebecca Jane Ward Will You Marry Me?”. I stayed up until 6am tying the
tablecloths together and reinforcing their knots with rope in order to hang it
easily. I took a three hour nap, then picked Bec up for our pre-planned date
day at 9am to go snorkeling on the Conasauga River and whitewater rafting in Tennessee. After
our date day, we went to our houses to get ready for a “fancy date night”. Meanwhile, the entire day Bec and I had been adventuring
and having fun, my best friend, Adam, and his girlfriend (who happens to be
Becca’s older sister, Crystal) spent their entire day hanging the banner of
tablecloths on an island across the lake from Turtle Rock. Without the love,
help, and support of Becca’s two sisters and Adam, there would have been no
proposal before going to Colorado. Before we went to eat, I asked Bec if she’d
like to take some pictures on Turtle Rock in our “fancy date” attire as the sun
set. Duh, she said yes because we love Turtle Rock. She saw the banner. Below
turtle rock on the shore area, Adam and Tori were playing guitar and singing a
soft song that Bec and I both love in the background as I read her a page of
notes that I wrote telling her why I would love to spend the rest of my life
with her. I got down on one knee, asked the question, and she said yes!"
The ring was a blessing from
Becca’s grandmother, Mima, who gave it to Joey free of charge. It was a family
heirloom from Becca’s great-great aunt who had passed away. Such a sweet testament
of their acceptance and welcome of Joey into the family!
Congrats Joey + Becca on your engagement, and I'm wishing you a life full of love, happiness, and adventure! Thank you for sharing your story on The Bliss In A Kiss!
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-Karina Buonocore
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