Our Story

It’s not everyday when something you’ve waited 26 years for happens almost overnight . . .

Engagement photo by Ernie Echols (Dad)

Where It All Began

Well, I guess it kind of began about 6 years ago, when Steve and I first met in a small group. At the time, we had no clue we would end up where we are today and mean what we now mean to each other.

Steve remembers a fleeting thought: Joanna sure has a pretty smile. I remember feeling comfortable around him. But neither of us ever thought of the other as “potential.”

Setting the Stage

Now, fast-forward three years. My friends Katie and Leah started talking about how Steve Echols had joined their “Thursday Night Group” (a weekly, family-like gathering of young adults, kids and teens in a trailer park). Katie talked about how good Steve was with the kids.

Oh, good, I thought. I’m glad God is using Steve in that way. End of thought.

Photo taken by Ernie Echols on Nov trip
to visit Steve's Great-Grandma Bert

Divine Insistence

Two years later, Katie was marrying Tim, and some of the girls from the Thursday Night Group needed a ride to the wedding. So Ashley and Jasmine rode with me, and Jasmine invited me to come on Thursday nights. Then she begged . . . and finally insisted! I agreed to visit once but told her I probably wouldn’t be able to go every week.

The following Thursday (May 5), I went to the trailer park gathering . . . and a new chapter of life began.

Passion Meets Purpose

Perhaps I should explain that for the past several years, the number one thing God has put on my heart is hurting kids. I thought I’d like to adopt, once married. Little did I know that God would give me the opportunity to help youth in my own town as a single person, and get to be part of their lives on a weekly basis. The Thursday Night Group instantly became a dream come true for me! I love those kids and teens as if they were my own.

Photo and special affects by Ernie Echols, Nov '11

Take Notice

So what about Steve? Well, I felt comfortable around him. And before long . . . well, how can a girl help but notice a man who loves kids, is great with them and devotes a significant portion of time and money to help them on a regular basis?

One of the first times I remember noticing Steve was about six weeks after I joined the Thursday Night Group. We were celebrating a few birthdays, and I had been serving cake for a while when Steve came and took over. He served me and told me to go sit and enjoy my cake.

The next evening, our newly married friends Tim and Katie hosted a game night. In addition to playing competitively, Steve shared how he’d gone through a rather rough patch a few years back and how God used the Thursday Night Group to help him want to be a good example for the kids. I couldn’t help but appreciate Steve’s openness, honesty and humble gratitude for God’s work in him. I’d been through dark valleys myself and recognized the distinct transformation God had brought about in Steve’s life.

Two of "our kids" at the Denver Aquarium, Jun '11

The following day, we leaders took our Thursday Night Group youth to the Denver Aquarium. Steve had purchased the tickets (not cheap!) to give the kids an amazing experience, and we’d been able to borrow a church van. Jasmine insisted I sit next to her, and I ended up behind Steve, who was driving. He talked to me almost the whole way to Denver and back (he does like to talk!), and he paid attention to what I was saying even if I was talking to one of the youth.

By the end of that day, my heart had opened to Steve, and that scared me. I went home and had a long talk with God along these lines: Lord, I don’t want to like a guy and risk being hurt or disappointed again. I don’t want to like Steve unless he’s the man You have in mind for me. Then as I listened for God’s direction, I had the startling sense that He said, “This match is My idea, not yours, so don’t be afraid.”

Well, I’d been through enough relational disappointments that I was still far too scared to hope. That must’ve been my wishful thinking, I determined. Surely that wasn’t God.

Steve and "our boys" set up camp for 20+ folks in July '11

Partners in Adventure

About a month later, we took our Thursday Group youth on a camping trip. The next morning, I climbed out of my tent and went to stir up the campfire. Steve awoke from where he slept on the ground and gave me a huge, happy, unguarded grin that took my breath away! I thought about that smile for days . . .

Later that morning, the boys asked Steve if he’d show them how to build a raft like the one he’d been talking about. They roped together fallen logs to craft a terrific raft, then gave us rides down the river where we played. At one point, I was helping Steve pull the heavy, log raft back upstream in a swift current, and I noticed how fun it was to partner in that adventure with him, to give the kids an extra great time.

Just Friends?

Meanwhile, Steve had a few fleeting thoughts about me, but mostly he just enjoyed our friendship and grew to deeply admire me.

In September, Steve went bow hunting and talked to God about a lot of things, including his desire for a wife. Later, when Steve was hiking up crazy steep terrain, he thought, Joanna would like this. He also pictured me as the pioneer wife in a Western starring his friends, then wondered why I was coming to mind in that way.

Steve led me on this incredible adventure hike! Sep '11

At the end of September, Steve invited our leadership group to go hiking. I was the only one free to go, and both Steve and I felt a bit nervous about that. Will this be awkward? What will we talk about?

I should’ve known Steve wouldn’t run out of things to say. But neither of us expected to have as much fun or feel as comfortable with each other as we did. I felt like I was on a fantastic adventure with a great friend, and I so appreciated Steve’s excellent care of me. He kept thinking about how natural it felt, and his eyes were suddenly opened wide to me as “wife-potential.”

Over the next 10 days, we exchanged 40+ emails, getting to know each other better and realizing even more we had in common. Then I wrote a blog about my desire to have a home where hurting kids were welcome, and Steve told me he wanted a home just like the one I described. After we exchanged a few confusing emails (one of which made me think he wanted nothing more than friendship), Steve suggested we meet in-person to talk about things.

Engagement photo by Ernie Echols, Dec '11,
during trip to Cali to visit Steve's sis and bro-in-law,
nieces, grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins.

Pasta and the DTR

The next evening, Steve treated me to Macaroni Grill and told me a few rather special things . . . including that he deeply admires and respects me, that I have all the qualities he’s looking for in a wife, and that he wanted to know if I was open to pursuing a relationship with him.

I told him to get lost and went back to eating my pasta.

Actually, I told Steve how honored I felt that he’d asked, that my respect for him had been growing all summer, and that I’d definitely be open to a relationship with him.

You. Me. Together Forever?!

Before long, Steve told me he wanted to marry me, and I couldn’t imagine anyone who could better lead me on the paths God has laid before us. Considering how early we “knew” we were the right fit, it’s almost surprising that our relationship didn’t progress even faster than it did.

On Thanksgiving morning, Steve took me back to the gorgeous trail where we’d completed our first hike almost two months earlier. Along the way, he shared memories from that first hike . . . and it was so special to hear about the thoughts he’d had toward me then! We eventually reached a sunny meadow and climbed onto a ginormous rock for a picnic.

Engagement photo by Ernie Echols, Dec '11

After we finished eating, Steve said something like this: “Have I told you lately that I love you?” (He had.) “Have I told you lately that I want to spend the rest of my life with you?” (Not yet that day.) Then he pulled out a brown velvet box, opened it to reveal the sparkly ring inside, and asked me to be his wife.

I said I wouldn’t dream of it.

Actually, I said I would love to be his wife!

And I will be, beginning February 4. Woo hoo!

I can hardly believe that something Steve and I have waited 26 years for is now coming true. (I say 26 years because I knew when I was 5 that I wanted to be a wife, and Steve needed a woman in his life from the moment he was born.)

Photo by Ernie Echols, Nov '11

Thank you, God. We feel so blessed and excited to continue on this adventurous journey of life, together!