Our story begins at the house of the Halls, dear friends who used to lead Kingdom Culture - the young adults group at Reliance Community Church. The first time Josh and Hope met was in spring of 2023. Jacob Hall introduced the two of us to each other. We had just finished up small group at the Hall's house. Jacob made a point to introduce Josh and Hope as both of us were homeschooled. In Josh's mind, Hope was an exceptionally joyous woman - like he had never met before. At this point, Hope had just started attending and was fairly sporadic in attendance. This introduction didn't stand out to her much from the MANY others at the time (Thank God this changed!).


This meeting, albeit brief, was more than enough to make Josh interested in Hope.


Josh tried to get in the middle of as many situations as he could to get a full "first" conversation with Hope. He knew he had to take a chance. But when?

Do the titles make more sense now? Good.
October of 2023 was the true beginning of our friendship. It happened on a nice evening, sitting on the patio of the Riffel's, the couple who hosted Kingdom Culture that month. Josh saw the opportunity to speak to Hope after Bible study was over. Hope shared about graduate school plans, asking for prayer for wisdom from the small group. As most people headed back inside from the back patio , we let most people go in front of us, so Josh was right behind Hope. Josh asked Hope about her studies. We recalled our first meeting and shared some more details about ourselves. Hope shared her love of science, stories, literature, and academia. Josh shared about his time in robotics, what it was like being homeschooled, and what having five sisters was like growing up.
We both got to know each other a little better. To Josh, it was magical. This was the day he had been waiting for for several months. For Hope, she was starting to speculate that Josh might be interested in her. Why did he seem to care about her interests? Why did he willingly talk to her and listen to her ramble about these topics for so long?

Josh and his "wingman" Jay went to the Stockyards in November of 2023 with Hope and her sister Rebekah, as well as some other friends of the sisters. After a night of dancing, sharing more about ourselves and our interests, and laughs, Josh fell in love. This started Josh and Hope interacting on a regular basis, messaging about VeggieTales, memes, Doctor Who, music, obscure pop culture and more.

For Josh, this story starts in Kansas City, KS in early December (Hope was not on this trip). Some friends from Kingdom Culture were going on a trip to surprise an about-to-be-engaged friend on her and her boyfriend's engagement. Josh's friend Tobie told him about a game he and another friend played where they stuck a donut on a part of a car and saw how long it would stay there. A donut that might've possibly been found in a dumpster was stuck on the back windshield wiper of Josh's Jeep. Also, while on this trip, Josh decided he was definitely asking Hope out as soon as humanly possible.

For Hope, this story starts with one of the different interactions with Josh between October and December. Right before the trip to KC, Josh went to go see The Shift with a group from Kingdom Culture, including Hope. This evening made Hope realize that Josh had an interest in her, as Josh made a point of sitting next to her at the theater (smooth!).

The actual asking out happened in late December. Specifically, December 30th, 2023. Josh was the ONLY person from Kingdom Culture to respond to an open invitation from Hope and Rebekah to go ice skating. Josh decided that come "hell or high water", this was the evening he would ask Hope out on a date.

At the ice rink, some of the friends Hope was skating with noticed that Josh wanted to talk to Hope and made excuses to leave. Josh cheered for the zamboni driver, much to Hope's surprise. The two discussed more nerdy things. Hope started to think this guy might be a good fit interest/personality wise and that maybe he hadn't just been being polite at the Riffel's.

While walking back out to our cars from the ice rink, Josh told Hope about dumpster diving for donuts with Tobie. The group went to Braums after ice skating, where we shared stories, laughs, and banter. Everything felt so natural. We were all becoming fast friends. Josh thought in his mind at this point how he was going to ask Hope out. He hadn't done it at the ice rink, so now was the time. He recalled that he had shared the story about the donut, which had tragically fallen off of the windshield wiper a couple weeks prior (after surviving rain, freeze, and a car wash). Luckily for Josh, some donut residue was still left on his back windshield (gross!). He used this as an opportunity and asked Hope if she wanted to see the residue of the donut that had withstood the forces of both nature and man. She agreed, and he was able to get her alone. Behind his car, Josh asked Hope to tea and a discussion of C.S. Lewis' The Weight of Glory that she had told him about during that first conversation at the Riffel's. He made a reference to the movie The Shift, which tied in that day that Hope started to figure things out. Hope happily agreed.

Josh and Hope celebrated Valentine's Day early, on February 8th of 2025. Josh planned a mystery date with a trip to Lindsborg, KS. Josh and Hope spend the day exploring shops, the local park in the area, and more. After Lindsborg the two visited Coronado Heights. Josh had planned to dance to significant songs on top of the castle, around sunset leading up to the proposal. Hope had been starting to wonder if Josh would propose on the castle because he had talked about how it had been a special place to him growing up. She was right! There on the castle, Josh asked Hope to be his wife and be with him for the rest of their lives. She said yes! And the rest is soon to be history.