Our Story
HOW WE MET AND STARTED DATING (told by Joe)
How did a 6'5 computer nerd from Ohio end up marrying a 5'4" nurse from Colorado? A tougher question is: How did I get such a pretty Christian girl to date and agree to marry me? Hmm, some questions only God can answer, but I think my Rubik’s cube skills helped. “Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills."
Background Info:
After graduating from high school in Colorado Springs in 2001, Jenny attended college at Luther College in Decorah, IA. Decorah is an hour and a half south of Rochester, MN. During the third year of the nursing program at Luther, the students live in Rochester where they take classes and do clinicals at Mayo. So, Jenny (a nursing major) lived in Rochester for the 2003-2004 school year. She then interned at Mayo for the summer of 2004.
After graduating from high school in 2000, Joe attended The Ohio State University where he majored in Computer Science and Engineering. During the spring and summer of 2004 he worked at IBM in Rochester, MN as an intern.
June 6, 2004 - The day we met:
Jenny had just returned to Rochester after going home to Colorado between the end of her school year and the start of her internship. She decided to check out the Single's Sunday school class at Church. We were standing near each other before Sunday school when the teacher (Pastor Jeff) “introduced" us. He said, “Joe -> Jenny, Jenny -> Joe" and then walked away! It was an awkward first meeting I suppose. People ask if it was “love at first sight" and both of us would say no. But it might have been love at second sight. 
We both were not really looking to date anyone at this point.
July 23-25, 2004
We talked to each other at church, but didn’t really hang out until the church camping trip in July. We had fun canoeing, sitting around the campfire, and walking to Wisconsin (across the river) with each other on a Sunday morning. Kari was going to walk with us too, but she slept in late. Kari is a neat gal who we enjoy hanging out with, but I (Joe) was glad to spend some time alone with Jenny. I’d say this is when I became very attracted to her. It helped that we were the only college age people in the group. I thought it was great how easily I could talk to her, which is not always easy with my mostly introverted personality.
August 3, 2004
We started hanging out more and more. On this day we went to a Bible camp where she worked during the summer of 2003 in Wisconsin. We watched a funny musical there put on by the camp counselors. I was introduced as “her friend from church." We had been talking a lot (7 hours non-stop on the way to the camp in Wisconsin) and I knew we needed to talk about where things were going. In the dumb Crusade lingo, this is called a DTR (Define The Relationship). But I stayed in passive man mode and didn’t say anything. Do not do this by the way, bad example. Men should be initiators. So the next day, Jenny called me up and basically initiated things by telling me that she liked me - something she would agree was not good to do. (See previous point. Once again, I should have initiated). So we decided to talk.
August 6, 2004
We met at Chipotle for lunch to discuss our relationship. After praying, thinking, and consulting others, I decided that it wasn’t a good idea for us to start dating. Mainly because our internships were almost over in Rochester and I was moving back to Ohio soon (Jenny back to Luther in Iowa). Both of us had job offers in Rochester for the next year, but neither of knew if we were going to accept them. I didn’t want our decisions to be based on each other, especially since we barely knew each other at this point. But it was hard, because as I told my friend Doug, the only thing I could find wrong with her is that she had never seen The Lord of the Rings.
October 25, 2004
I drank a gallon of milk in an hour without throwing up. This may seem unrelated, but its one of my “skills." 
October 26, 2004
After attending a career fair and applying for a few jobs, I still only had one job offer - IBM. I debated doing some form of ministry after graduation in December. But I felt that with timing and the skills God had given me, it was best for me to be in the working world (for now anyway). I’m confident I would have been able to get a few interviews for jobs in Columbus and other spots in Ohio, but those would have been after my deadline to notify IBM. Also, after watching my friend Clay (a bright computer scientist) struggle to find a job in the Columbus area, I decided that taking the job at IBM was the best thing to do. I enjoyed my internship at IBM and I really enjoyed the Church in Rochester (it’s better since then too). Some say Rochester is a boring town, but after growing up in Jamestown Ohio, anything is exciting.
Jenny and I had been staying in touch, talking and emailing more than “friends" probably should. I figured we should either stop communicating as often or start an official relationship since I was moving back to Minnesota in January and it sounded like Jenny was going to accept her job at Mayo (St Mary’s hospital). To avoid "leading her on" more, I felt that God wanted me to ask her out; so on the night of October 26 I called her up. After some small talk, I asked if she wanted to pursue things further and start dating. She said yes!
But then we didn’t see each other until January… I guess I thought we would see each other before then, but with a 10~12 hour distance and busy college schedules, it wasn’t very feasible. I probably would not recommend doing this (and Wu makes fun of me for it), but it worked out amazingly well. I feel like we got to know each other pretty well by phone, email, and letters.
From January through May we saw each other at least every other weekend. Then Jenny went out to Colorado for the summer where she did a summer training program with the Navigators. So, that was another 1.75 months apart, but she did fly back for a physical at Mayo for her job.
Finally she moved to Rochester in the middle of August to start her full-time job at Mayo! We were finally a "normal" dating couple.
WHEN WE GOT ENGAGED
November 25, 2005
HOW IT HAPPENED
A few months ago (in June) Jenny sent me the following joke she saw on some Laffy Taffy. I was going to Ohio for a wedding (Jason and Steph’s), so she thought it was fitting.
Q: Where is Engagement, Ohio?
A: Somewhere between Dayton and Marion.
(Get it? Dayton = dating. Marion = marrying)
Corny, yes, but we are our a corny pair. For Thanksgiving Jenny and I drove to Ohio to visit my family. The Friday after Thanksgiving, Jenny, my brother, and I ate dinner with Doug and Cindy (friends of mine). After eating dinner, I drove a “different" way home that “happened" to be on the road between Dayton and Marion (Route 4). I had told John that when I touched my hair, he suddenly would need to use the restroom as an excuse to pull over. However, he was involved in a conversation with Jenny and did not notice me playing with my hair like crazy. But, just as I was pulling off the exit, he remembered and asked me to pull over (good work John). Jenny is not from anywhere near Ohio, so she didn't know where we were anyway. I found a store in Enon, OH that looked like it had a bathroom. John got out and went inside. Jenny almost got out to use the restroom also, but I stopped her by asking if she knew where we were. Of course she did not. I said “Dayton" is that way and "Marion" is the opposite way. She still didn’t know, so I tried to explain it again. She said “Jamestown?" The name of the town where my parents live. So I said, “Nope, I think we might be in Engagement" as I pulled out the ring and then asked her to marry me. She said yes! I love her!
Also, the store where I happened to stop was a liquor store, which I definitely didn’t know when we pulled in… So yes, we got engaged at a liquor store… things can only get better from here.
I kept the ring and box in my inside coat pocket the days leading up to this. To be safe I also put my Rubik's cube in there, in case Jenny felt something in my pocket and wondered what it was.
We thank God that He brought us together and we thank Jesus for coming to this Earth and dying for us, so we can know what true love is. We know we'll need to learn to rely on God more as we (two sinners) begin our lives shacked up together. We plan to keep him the center of our relationship now and in the future.<
THE WEDDING DAY
We were married on August 6, 2006 in Rochester, MN.
What about now?
We lived in my old apartment until February, 2007. Then we bought a house in northwest Rochester (~1 mile south of IBM). We have also joined a married couples Bible study group at Church.
