Our Story

Meet Josh

Josh is a born and raised Pacific Northwest boy. The spaces that are sacred to his childhood are the trees and mountains not far from his home, where he has spent countless hours hiking in the woods. Josh has a knack for dreaming up wild surprises, making people laugh and creating unique birthday cakes, all of which are gifts he inherited from his dad. Josh’s ability to quickly sense the needs of the people around him is just one of many special traits passed on to him by his mom. Josh grew up with two best friends, his little sisters Emily and Alise. To this day the three of them still love hiking together, competing against one another, and being silly together.

It makes more sense to say that I showed up into Josh’s life one fine fall day, seeing as we began our acquaintance on his turf. But either way, we first became aware of the other’s existence during our freshman orientation at Seattle Pacific University. Josh was the tall, handsome, basketball guy who wanted to be a missionary doctor and was in the honors program with me.

Our list of common activities steadily grew over the next three years: classes, playing cards, going to church, missions cadre, intramural pickleball and badminton, late-night studying, road-trips with friends,  planning birthdays, Homecoming… it was getting a little obvious when he started carrying his laundry all the way down the hill to do it at my house. But it wasn’t until the end of our Junior year when Josh, who was by then one of my dearest friends, finally spoke to me about pursuing a relationship together. 

In the 2+ years Josh and I dated before we became engaged, we spent more than half of our time apart. I spent my school breaks away from Washington and then moved to India a few months after graduation to serve as a nurse. Even though long-distance was achingly hard at times, Josh was always supportive of the things that were taking me away from him, and the distance didn’t seem so great when he was consistently communicating and coming up with creative ways to show me his love. 

Josh is a man of integrity, compassion and patience, and I feel tremendously blessed to be walking into the future with him. I don’t know what joys and trials lie ahead or how we will each grow and change, but God, in His great mercy, has delighted to give me a man who desires to know God more and reflect Him better.  And that’s the greatest hope I could have for the one I marry!

 

Meet Charis

Trying to describe all of someone you love in only a few short paragraphs is nigh impossible, so I’m going to try to boil it down to a few key facets. Let’s start with pronunciation: Charis’s name is pronounced CARE-iss, which rhymes with latter half of Fitzharris but not with the frequent variations sounding like Shah-reez, Car-iss, or chairs. 

Charis’s parents were Wycliffe Bible translators for a people group in Indonesia and this is where Charis was born and spent the first nine years of her life. Later the family moved to Manila in the Philippines where she lived until college. Charis grew up surviving the antics and affectionate teasing of her two older brothers Nathan and Caleb, big whopping boyos whom she loves very much and I think are pretty swell.

Southeast Asia is less a chapter in Charis’s life than a spindle around which much of her identity is wrapped. The people, culture, and experiences there have been pivotal in shaping her heart for the world and goals for the future, and the translation project for the Yawa people (with whom the Joneses are still involved today) has been a keystone in the family’s story.

As Charis mentioned, we met first day of freshman year and I got to liking her pretty much straightaway. Many who knew me back then can attest that I was pretty focused in high school, and girls, if they were even in the back of my mind at that time, occupied some far corner I hadn’t bothered to explore. Needless to say, Charis wrecked that streak pretty quickly. :) She possesses a gentle spirit and humble wisdom that I have come to rely upon and admire. She is adventurous, silly, and is the kindest most gracious person who has ever smoked me in the card game Nerts. Most wonderfully, her first love is Jesus our Savior and I am so excited to follow Him alongside her. In a nutshell, God’s led me to someone who is more than I could have imagined and I am so excited for those who haven’t had the opportunity to meet her yet to get to know her at least a little bit through our wedding celebration.