Hello everyone! It's Josie here. I know that the Lord knew exactly what he was doing when he paired Jaycee and I together, and I'm so excited to share our story with you all.

It all started at the 2021 Bullington family Christmas party. My Aunt Kaylar and Uncle Drew gifted my family a gift certificate to be redeemed for one quail hunt at Boggy Pond Plantation in Moultrie, Georgia. My father (if you know him, you already know this) is obsessed with all things related to shotguns and bird hunting. That next year, 2022, on the week immediately following Christmas, he decided to take us on said quail hunt.

As much as I love to hunt, I was not thrilled about going on this family hunting trip. The forecast called for rain that day, and lots of it. However, I am my daddy's girl and would do anything to put a smile on his face. I smiled the entire hour drive to Boggy Pond Plantation, despite seeing the dark storm cloud that we were driving straight into.

When we got there, not a single staff person was expecting us... I mean it was literally 5 days after Christmas and a very nasty, rainy day. We ended up having to wait 45 minutes past the scheduled hunt time because they didn't have a guide available for us. I won't lie, at this point it was hard to keep smiling... even for my daddy.

Just as we were about to reschedule, a young man with dark hair pulled up beside us in a camouflage Polaris Ranger claiming that he would take us to our guide. I had never heard of being taken to a hunting guide, normally they are supposed to come to you, but at this point we were ready to hunt. My father, mother, brother, and I all climbed in.

After about 10 minutes of driving, the young man parked the ranger in the middle of the hunting woods, in front of a truck that was deeply stuck in mud. When I realized what was about to happen, the only thing running through my mind was that there is no way that we somehow managed to land the one hunting guide that couldn't find his own way through the woods without getting stuck... and it's about to rain.

The next thing I know, this soaking wet, curly-haired, blue-eyed young man climbed out of the truck and started making his way toward us. As soon as I saw him, I knew I was done for. Though he was covered in mud, he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. LOL... I'm sorry daddy, if you're reading this, but it's true. He traded places with the other young man that drove us to him, told us that he was our guide, and quickly drove us to the area that we would be hunting in.

Throughout the hunt, I used every opportunity to start a conversation with him. We ended up knowing a lot of the same people and were surprised that we had never previously crossed paths. The hunt ended up getting rained out, and he had to drive us through the pouring rain back to the lodge. By the time we got back, we were all soaking wet, freezing cold, and starving so we left soon after the hunt ended. I left Boggy Pond Plantation knowing that I was definitely interested in getting to know that guy better. It only took us a week or two to figure out each other's full names, find each other online, and begin talking.

At the time, I obviously didn't know that I had just met my future husband, but I did know that I had met someone that would soon become very special to me. It didn't take long at all for me to know that Jaycee was the man for me.

723 days later, Jaycee Harden got down on one knee and asked me to marry him in the same woods where we first met. There has never been an easier question for me to answer in my entire life.

The truth is that God has blessed us and has always had big plans for our future. We are so thankful for his love and for the way he orchestrated our paths to cross. We are also incredibly grateful for all of the love and support that we feel from each of you that may be reading our story. We want to say thank you! We can't wait to see you on our big day!!

Love,

Josie Bullington, aka Future Mrs. Harden!!!!

Travel

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