God had Joel picked out for me from the very start...


I never knew of the city of Wichita Falls until my junior year of high school when I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in Dental Hygiene I picked the #1 Dental Hygiene program in the state of Texas at Midwestern State University (MSU). I thoroughly researched what would be my home away from home for these four years of my life and I was overjoyed to find Mustangs 4 Christ's website. I knew I was going to join Mustangs 4 Christ before I had set foot on MSU campus. I thought that I had it all figured out but something greater was waiting for me: The one and the only Mr. Joel Cummings (or more famously, Coach Joel).


My first impression of Joel: A tall, lumberjack, cowboy, actively choosing Jesus Christ and his church.


I was thoroughly impressed by Joel. Truth be told, when I first met Joel I hoped that he would take me under his wing and that we would be close friends at Mustangs 4 Christ (M4C) since I saw a lot of similarities between us. When we first met though I didn't picture him as my husband yet because I was still in a relationship with a guy from my high school years. Joel was very understanding of this now past relationship of mine and we just got to know each other as friends.


During my first semester of college, Joel and I had a government class together but for an embarrassingly long time I wasn't sure if he was the same Joel from M4C. I had only identified Joel as the lumberjack cowboy, not his athleisure wear or his glasses. When I finally put two and two together I was too shy and it was too late for me to move seats to sit next to him. I can only imagine what trouble we would have gotten into had we sat together. This will be the last time that I give Joel a hard time for this but it's a funny part of our story, Joel made plans with me and a few other people to study together but the other people flaked out so Joel cancelled on me. We still could have studied together haha. Oh well, I forgive him though and I made the better grade on that government final between the both of us so the joke is on him. If only we had studied together then he would have made an A too.


Joel is the go-to "car guy" for all the ladies of M4C, myself included when my car was just low on oil. He promptly responded to my text and took me to walmart to get myself some oil. While at the store, Joel decided that he wanted to get his grocery shopping done. He then proceeded to buy his usual three milk gallons. I asked him how many roommates he has just to learn that he lives alone. Joel has some strong bones haha. Once we had the oil my Dad told me on a phone call to pour one quart of oil into the car. I misheard him as saying one quarter of the bottle of oil. When I told Joel to just pour in one quarter of the one quart bottle of oil, he did so without questioning me. He didn't make me feel like a fool or try to make himself look like he knew more than my Dad. Proud of myself I called my Dad back to tell him we just put in one quater just as I mistakingly thought he said to do. My dad cleared up my misunderstanding and Joel promptly came back without complaint to pour in the rest of the bottle. I will always admire how Joel willingly offers his hand to help out anyone in anyway that he can.


Nearing the end of my freshman year, my past relationship ended with a messy breakup. It must have been a Tuesday if I remember correctly because upon hearing the news, my Mom and my Sister got a hotel room that night to comfort me. Then the next day they helped me clean out my dorm room of any things from that relationship and we made a back and forth trip to home in Abilene to drop the things off (Also so that I could see my sweet Sugar). I skipped M4C that Wednesday night because I feared that I was going to be an emotional wreck trying to tell everyone there about the breakup so I had Jeremy tell everyone for me by putting me in the prayer request. (That is how Joel received the best news he ever heard: Rebecca was back on the market!) I'm sure Joel was baffled though when right after M4C he saw me walking and laughing with my sister (We just got back from Abliene and had a triumphant breakup music party car ride). He rolled down his car window and asked me how I was doing and he offered a time for us to meet up where he would let me talk out my breakup feelings and that he could offer me some advice and comfort.


Following my breakup, Joel planned many friend dates for us to occupy my empty time and not allow me to rot alone in self-pity, secluded in my dorm room. To this I will be forever thankful. These friend dates consisted of therapy dogs at the library, disc golf, downtown art-walks, hiking dirt hill, karaoke nights at the Ironhorse, some MSU theater productions, movies at the cinemark next to his apartment, and some tasty dinners cooked by Joel himself. (Walking around with Joel makes me feel like I have a personal bodyguard with me everywhere I go!) On these dates we discussed and learned about what the both of us expected from any future romantic relationships we might have had. At the time we still weren't sure if we were going to start dating romantically yet but these conversations were very beneficial and showed us just how similar our relationship expectations and our core beliefs are.

As the time for me to leave to Abilene for summer break neared, I dreaded that I was going to be away from Joel. After helping me pack up the last of my things into my car Joel learned how emotional I get whenever I express my gratitude. I had worked up the courage to tell him how thankful I was to his face but I was a crying mess while doing so. This scared Joel and he made me wait with him to be sure that I pulled myself together and that I was safe to drive myself home haha.


Summer break turned out to be no challenge for us though. We kept in touch and messaged each other everyday. I had a lot of emotional healing to get through over the summer and Joel witnessed all my ups and downs with gentle understanding and encouragement.


Sometime during summer break, my Dad said "It'll be real sad when Joel finds a girlfriend and y'all can't hang out anymore." Good thing that eventually I would be the girlfriend that Joel found! And now soon to be wife, so don't worry Dad, Joel and I will get to hang out for the rest of our lives.


Joel and I met up three times over the course of the summer. I made the first trip back to Wichta Falls for a humble little comic con at the mall with Joel and Braydn. Joel also took me hiking around the River Bend Nature Center even though the trails were a little muddy we still had a lot of fun. This was when I offically met Joel's parents as they offered me Joel's old room at their house for my stay. I visited Joel again after my trip to Scotland with my mom, since he invited me to join him and his parents for the 4th of July. The cute red gingham dress and white cowgirl boots I ordered weren't going to arrive in time so I decided to dress as Joel's mini-me by recreating his iconic style. Even so, it was a wonderful time and I got to know Joel's awesome parents as they hosted me at their home again.

Joel returned these visits a few weeks later by coming to see me in Abilene. All I could think of was the song Suds in the Bucket by Sara Evans as Joel (my prince) pulled up in his Dad's white pickup truck. Joel met my Dad for the first time and had a beer together (Initially Joel was confused and hesitant to have a drink with my Dad but I explained to him that my Dad wanted to be a good host to another man over the age of 21). During his time in Abilene, I got to accompany Joel on his first time ever to an H-E-B! We also went together to the Abilene zoo and the Frontier Texas museum. My parents treated us to tickets for Sweeney Todd at the Paramount Theater of Abilene as well.


To show Joel how interested I was in him by this time now, I braved Forth Worth traffic to attend a Wichita Christian School scrimmage in Keller (It was on my way for my already planned trip to Dallas for DAR). It's worth noting that WCS football did amazing at this scrimmage! Joel tried to play it cool and he never bragged about them up to this point but they've been incredible every chance that I have gotten to watch them play. After the game Joel met up with me and introduced me to the other coaches before being a gentleman and walked me to my car to send me on my way to my grandparents in Little Elm.


Just two days after moving back into my dorm at MSU Joel officially asked me to be his girlfriend and we went on our first romantic date to Parkway Grill, August 24, 2023.


Tragically that night was the same night when Grammy fell in a parking lot. On September 4, Joel and I visited Grammy and Papa when she went back in for rehab. Grammy enjoyed meeting Joel and I am so happy that he did as well. On this trip, Joel also got to meet Nana and Pa for the first time (Joel helped Pa work on the AC of my car). On September 10, I made another visit for Grammy as she was considering hospice (Grammy had been in a long battle with pancreatic cancer). Joel wasn't able to come with me but I stopped at his place before I left. I sat with him on his couch while I cried and he talked me through it and calmed me down to drive but just as I had calmed down, Joel gave me a Whataburger gift card to get myself dinner on the road and this simple gesture of kindness had me crying again. For all the trips I made for Grammy leading up to her funeral I would stop a Joel's to exchange my tears for comfort and then Joel would send me on my way with a Dr. Pepper from his fridge.

God had the right time planned for when I was going to need Joel in my life. Thank you, Joel, for always listening to me, saying yes to all my requests, prioritizing me despite your busy schedule, caring for me when I'm not feeling well and for being the best provider, protector, and problem solver. You're my biggest blessing and I love you so much.

Joel was faced with his own tragedy. Just the day after we celebrated our 6th month anniversary, Joel had a fire start in his apartment. (We were there that morning for 3 hours before said fire started.) As soon as Joel was able to go back inside his apartment the first thing he checked on was my backpack for school that I had brought over. Joel kept telling me that I could go back to my dorm and that this wasn't my problem to deal with but I knew that this was my turn to step up and be there for Joel. Besides, we had already planned to spend that whole day together and our day was going to look a little different because of the situation but that wasn't going to get in the way of us being together. I waited with him until his parents arrived, went back to my dorm to put on some 'work clothes' while his parents got tote bins, came back to gather up clothes, and made a run to canes to bring food for all of us to the laundry mat. As we sorted through his clothes I scored some pretty awesome Joel shirts to add to my collection. At the end of that day I remember thinking that it was such a long and tiring day but being so thankful we made it through together. Since then, Joel and I have grown stronger and closer together.

Over the time of our relationship I have thoroughly enjoyed being Coach Joel's girlfriend, and now Coach Joel's fiancee. But I think Coach Joel's Wife has a much better ring.

I can't wait to marry you, Joel, and to see what else God has planned for our story!

When I first met Rebecca my initial thought was “she seems cool”. However, one of our friends, Danika, gave me the look and I informed her she was currently off the market.

She was apparently in one of my classes and didn't know until about 4 weeks after the class began. This was unfortunate since I could have sat next to her and copied her.

Fast forward a few months of being close friends, we began to hangout more and go on errands with one another.

Once the semester was over she moved back home to Abilene and we still kept in touch. She came back to glorious Wichita Falls to visit me twice, and I went to visit her in Abilene.

Once school began I decided it was probably time to ask her on an official date. I tricked her into thinking we were going to Whataburger. However, I fooled her and we went to parkway grill instead, where she instantly fell in love with me as I rambled on about very niche topics.

The moment I knew she was the one was after I had a fire at my apartment. She helped me and my folks get everything salvageable out and cleaned. This fire was also a blessing of $10,000 so I was generous and let Rebecca pick anything off the dollar menu.

Fast forward a full year and we are now engaged after she said “I guess.” When I proposed.