Naomi and Josh first met at the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). After a smattering of group outings to City Café and post RUF volleyball games, Josh came up with the brilliant plan to “get together and talk about music.” After meeting up at the Stone Cup Cafe in Chattanooga, they (Naomi) talked for hours, and they (Josh) listened to each other’s stories. Afterwards, in a fateful display of joint courage, they agreed to “do this again sometime.”

In truth, that meant more coffee outings and many nights walking the campus of UTC. Josh, being a languages and philosophy guy, had a near-primal connection to coffee and Naomi, being a great sport, got tea. Mean Mug, Stone Cup, Camp House, Niedlove’s, Rembrandt’s coffee house, Meeting House… the list goes on. When the school year ramped up in the fall of 2019, classes tried to drown out their relationship, yet to no avail. They persisted – in fact, they grew stronger through the adversity and grew (gushy but true) to love one another very much.

Several months later, under the guise of “car repairs” and “work stuff,” Josh met with Charlie (Naomi’s father) to ask his blessing on the marriage, talked with both families, and purchased a ring. On June 16th, a beautiful Tuesday night, Josh picked her up from work and they headed to UTC’s campus. Pretending that they were going to play games, Josh hid the ring box in the bottom of Naomi’s purse. At the corner of Chamberlain Field, in the heart of campus, Naomi read a sweet letter from Josh, Josh got down on one knee and proposed, and Naomi said…. YES!