In 2014 Jay, while serving at church, met Erin via a new members luncheon at their local church. Jay was highly interested to know more about Erin. However, he quickly learned that Erin was already in a relationship. Yet, we maintained a friendship through church events and serving on Sunday mornings. Over the years, we witnessed each other go through various seasons of life, and truthfully, go through some pretty tough ones. In 2016, Jay hit an all-time low with anxiety and depression. Erin acknowledged the toxicity of the relationship she was in and ended it. It seemed like 2016 was a year of us both hitting rock bottom emotionally. We individually experienced glimpses of hope and light during those hard seasons through deepening our faith, finding a community of support, and working hard in our careers. Both of us began serving alongside one another in the singles ministry at church in 2017. Jay began teaching at our gatherings and led a men's group. Erin led a women’s group and led our greeting and hospitality team at weekly gatherings. While leading side by side and learning more about each other, we went on our first date towards the end of that summer. Both of us agreed that we had intentions of only dating to find a life partner (either going to lead to marriage or not). We discovered we could potentially be great partners in life during that three-hour coffee date. We learned that both of us are pastors’ kids. For Jay, along with pastoring, his dad owned a handyman business to make extra money. In 2002, his parents became officers (pastors) in The Salvation Army, which moved them to Greensboro. Erin’s parents moved to the Greensboro area in 2000 to plant a church and, soon after, would invest in real estate in 2003. Our conversation continued as we shared how we have a mutual interest in playing sports, being active and traveling, hosting and being involved in our community, and the desire to structure our lives to be in positions to give back with our time and resources.

Yet, even after the rough year that we experienced before we started dating, we shared another rough year during our time dating. For years Erin’s mom battled cancer, with seasons of activity and remission. However, in early 2018 the cancer returned. In March 2018, her mom, Beth, passed away after months of knowing the inevitable. Beth was Erin’s best friend and everything Erin has become as a woman. Walking alongside Erin, Jay was present in her pain and supportive of her loss. However, Jay received a phone call a month later while at work. His mom, Andrea, let him know that his father, John, was in ICU after a severe motorcycle accident. The prognosis for Jay’s father was not good, but after months of hospital visits, recovery, and rehabilitation, John survived his injuries. We grew closer together and became each other's safe spaces during this time. It was not just words; it was practice and our love towards one another in those moments. Our intentional presence in each of our pain revealed that we were committed to each other through all of the ups and downs of life. A peace inside us led to knowing that we could tackle anything that life threw at us. In September of 2018, in a little bookstore in downtown Greensboro, Jay proposed to Erin, stating, “Amid so many stories around us, our story is the story I choose forever.” Six months later, we married on March 16th, 2019. Our marriage has been a beautiful story of how ashes can turn into diamonds and how new wine comes from crushing. Still, we have grown together and individually, and our relationship has revealed a steadfastness to add another member of our little family. We know that God has given us this desire as only a product of our love for one another.

Five Fun Facts:

-           We are huge sports fans! Jay grew up playing soccer, baseball, basketball in high school. He regularly plays in a local adult soccer league. Erin played volleyball and basketball in high school. We both love college football! Jay is a massive Georgia Bulldogs fan, and Erin is a Clemson Tigers fan. Every season there is a team to watch, and we love to have friends and family over to hang out and watch games together.

-           We have lived in the Greensboro, NC, area for 20+ years. Jay is originally from the little town of Albany, GA, and Erin is originally from the southern heart and class of Charleston, SC. We enjoy city life and traveling but are Southern at heart. We have fallen in love with Greensboro, NC since our family brought us to this area years ago. It offers a good balance of all you want from a city and growing up with small-town roots. We believe it is one of the best places to raise a family.

-           We both prefer the mountains over the beach when it comes to vacationing but love both regardless of the occasion. Each year we travel to the Florida panhandle to spend a week at the beach with Jay’s extended family. We always make a getaway trip in the fall when the leaves change in the NC mountains.

-           Both of us tend to be introverted, meaning our way of recharging comes from reading a book, watching a good show, or going for a walk. Jay is probably more of a homebody than Erin, but we recharge similarly. Even though our lives are very social with our church, neighborhood events, and work, we love a good night in or a Saturday morning of resting and recharging.

-           We both currently work in real estate. Erin is a real estate agent and an owner of her family’s property management business. Jay helps with property management and is a pastor on staff at our church, United City Greensboro.