Wedding Date on Oct 27, 2018

Stephen: After years and years of helping people move, it finally paid off. After countless couches moved in the bed of my truck and untold Saturdays eating Publix subs and pizza, my gift of serving was used to bring this amazing woman into my life in the most unexpected way and here is the story! On a Sunday like any other I was jumping around Southpoint's rotunda talking with all the Young Professionals when one of my friends (Matthew Iannatto) found me and said a few YPs had come to the visitors area and were looking for information. I love my Young Professionals group and this was a common occurrence for me on Sundays, but this time...THERE SHE WAS: a tall, cute, brunette with gorgeous green eyes. She was with a guy friend of hers going to church trying to find a church home. We talked and exchanged numbers with them both (For YP purposes only of course) and parted ways. I think I texted them to come to YP that Thursday but with no response from either. YP went off without a hitch and I just remember catching her afterwards briefly and just making the "new guest" feel welcome. Unfortunately, I was running around getting things done so talking to her was just short of "Hi, glad you made it!" We all went to Burger Fi afterwards and she was at the other end of the table so we never talked except for maybe at the end of the night just to say, "Glad you came". One of the things people love to give me a hard time about with all my moving people was how I should start a business and I just laughed it off, as usual. But one girl was listening and took note of it (it was the cute brunette)! Fast forward a month later and I got a ping on Facebook messenger from the cute brunette who doesn't know anyone and needs a tall, handsome, and strong man of faith (I'm paraphrasing her words of course) to help her move a bed to her new apartment. I immediately said yes and we met at the warehouse, lifted it up her stairs, and drank loads of water to cool off because of all the sparks flying (or Florida's crazy hot summers) haha. She talked about all the crap in her storage container and I said I can use my truck and make short work of it; so we did, talking the whole time. I was thinking, she doesn't mind serving, is SUPER cute and has a fun sense of adventure... Lord could she be it because I'm digging this woman! She came to a game night with a bunch of my friends that night and after that she kinda fell off the radar (I texted her but she WAS TERRIBLE AT RESPONDING!) After a few back and forths I just said I'm going to shoot her a message and see if she is up for getting ice cream, and then we started texting and she said YES. My joy was short lived when she said, "Is this just going to be me and you?"... I said yes then she waited to respond to me for an hour...AN HOUR...she responded with a resounding "ok". We went on our first date of ice cream at 3FX and then I offered to come with her on a errand to Home Depot as she wasn't very open to much else. After that, it was a crazy mix of on-and-off again text with a discussion about many things, but landing on a final text of "I may want to just work on my relationship with Jesus." I responded with, "I respect that"... a common response with dating in the church. This time though, she didn't back off. That kind of understanding and space gave her the room to think about it and that next morning my phone was full of a cute brunette with green eyes' texts! Praise the Lord! We started to play tennis every so often and we went on a few couples dates with people from the church (wanted to keep it safe for her). Then on Nov. 26th we became "Emily Official", my date is much earlier than that but we will just say that's our moment we moved into dating! We have been going on adventures to New York, Wisconsin, Orlando, and all over ever since! I have loved every moment with her. She makes every day an opportunity to go on a grand adventure and I couldn't be luckier to have a woman like that! God has been such an integral part of our story from start to finish. She is a blessing whom I will joyfully work a lifetime to be worthy of! Emily: Well, It's hard to follow what Stephen described for our story, but I'll give it a whirl. Mine starts a little different because I had just moved down here from Wisconsin to start a nursing job. I moved in with a family that I contacted through Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) because I had a month until my lease started at the apartment. After moving down here I started going to the beach, getting to know friends that the CRU family knew, and exploring more of Jacksonville. A few of the outings included church "shopping" -trying to find one down here that best fit me. I tried a few churches when I wasn't working on Sundays, until I ended up outside of Southpoint Community Church on July 23rd, 2017. Little did I know I would meet my future husband that day...It was like any other Sunday with beautiful weather, lots of people, and one of my friends who had been going to the various churches with me. After we walked into the rotunda I headed to Guest Central wanting to get connected right away. Here I met Matt, who told me I needed to come back after the service to meet this guy who is very involved with the Young Professionals (YP) ministry at the church. I agree and head into the service. The service was amazing and Pastor Russ was talking about the "Reluctant Deliverer" and a few things that had stood out to me were: Exodus 3-there is something God has for us, but we've got to be willing to walk a different way, Exodus 4-our gifts and talents will never grow how God wants them to grow until we throw them down, and our dreams are never satisfying until it's God's. What are we trying to hold on to that God is saying "let it go and I will transform you"? At the time I couldn't think of something specific, but was sure I was holding onto something. At the conclusion of the service I went to Guest Central again where I was to meet whomever was super involved with the YP's. While chatting with Matt...HE shows up! He introduced himself and I get some information about the YP ministry, which was meeting that Tuesday (perfect! another opportunity to meet more people! love it!). I don't remember much else (I feel like my memory is terrible!) except that we did exchange contact information so he could get in touch with me about the YPs. I did attend YP that Tuesday and HE invited me to join the group at this burger place at the Town Center. I went and continued to meet more people as I sat on one side and THAT GUY sat on the opposite. That was the last time we chatted for a while as I had numerous work Sundays in a row and ended up "settling down a bit" at a different church. Then came time to finally move into my apartment! I loved staying with the Jones family. They made the transition to Jacksonville that much better, but I was ready to have my own place again. I remembered that I had a storage unit FULL of all my stuff and was still trying to figure out a way to pick up my mattress for the bed because it couldn't be delivered until a few days later. Then I remembered this guy telling me he helps move people all the time and I quickly sent him a message hoping he's available in the next couple days to pick up the mattress with me. So I sent a message to Steven Tyler (not the rockstar but another incredible man. It did take me a good month to month and a half to realize I had misheard his name on the first day we met) and he was willing to help! This was perfect so we met up at the furniture warehouse and drove separately back to the apartment where we carried the mattress in and set it up. I was so excited...and then remembered I still had an entire storage unit to pack in my car and move to the apartment. I mention that I'm going to move the rest of my stuff and this amazing man offered to help by using his truck! I, of course oppose, not wanting him to be burdened or have to do more work, but he insisted. It never fails that moving day is always the hottest, most sunny day. We kept taking truck and car fulls to the apartment and eventually finished! I remember asking Stephen if he wanted any water and that I had come to realize in Florida that everybody sweats. It was inevitable. He ended up inviting me to a game night that night with some of his friends who happened to live down the road from me and we had a blast. We played a game called Fishbowl and we all thoroughly had a great time (I could see myself hanging around them more often). Of course work took over many of my Sundays again and things kept coming up where I couldn't see any of them, including Stephen. We did get a few games of tennis in there about once a week or so (I kicked his butt). This was the start of doing more together, until he asked to go to ice cream with him. I remember debating this for the longest time because I wasn't looking for anyone to date, and I really wasn't sure I was ready. I had just moved down here (and there it was...excuse after excuse). I talked with a few of my friends who finally convinced me that it was just ice cream and it couldn't hurt. I do remember it taking me foreverrr to respond (sorry Stephen) once I found out it was just us, but hey, look at us now!! We talked for a long time at the ice cream place and I did legitimately have things I needed to get at Home Depot whatever Stephen says, plus I was thinking it would end the "non-date date" because I was so unsure if that was what I wanted! But no, Stephen stuck with it and asked to join me...ah! I couldn't say no at that point. The rest of that "non-date date" was a blur. But back to that message where we needed to let God be God and lead us where He wants us. This was one of those moments where it was time to let God take control and not Emily. I realize this is a novel, but I'll try and speed it up a bit. We continued to go on dates and get to know each other, attend church together, YP, and hang out. (Boy did I like this guy! He started taking up more and more of my time and I loved it!) I got a kitten in the mix there, little Miss Luna(tic). Stephen normally is allergic to cats (He and I weren't serious when I had gotten her) but by the grace of God he wasn't allergic to her!! How amazing is that!? I didn't want to have to get rid of her when I just got her! We were basically "officially dating" without officially dating. He even called me his girlfriend in a message. It wasn't until after his brother's birthday at Top Golf that we made it official. We needed an actual date. As of November 26, 2017, we became 'a couple'. We have so many dreams and plans for our future already. We've already done a trip to New York and Wisconsin and more. God truly blessed me with an amazing man who is exactly who I need in my life. I feel like the luckiest woman. Who knew (God definitely did) that all his moving people and servant heart would lead him to me. I loved that he loved serving not only the church and his friends, but also people he didn't know. That is something I absolutely love about Stephen: his heart for serving others. Our story continues with many adventures and his proposal on June 1st (when I was little 'Miss Nancy Drew' as Stephen says and had my suspicions). He made me the happiest woman that day when I realized I'd get to spend the rest of my life with him.