Dave and Jessica crossed paths a couple of times while they both attended Clemson University (they had some mutual friends and Dave was in the "famous" men's vocal group called Tigeroar), but they never got to know each other until after college. It was in Fall of 2007 when Jessica was in her second year of graduate school in Greensboro, NC, and Dave was working in Greenville, SC, that they found each other on a Christian social networking site. Jessica actually contacted Dave just to say hello to a fellow Clemson grad, and an ongoing conversation began. When they realized they were both going to be in Asheville on the same weekend, they decided to try and get together. Jessica and Kendall were spending the weekend hiking, and Dave suggested they meet at the Orange Peel for a Dave Barnes and Matt Wertz concert. They all went to the concert together and had a good time. Later that month, Dave met up with Jessica and Kendall again at Clemson's homecoming.

While the phone calls and visits became longer and more frequent, it was unclear in the beginning where things might go. Jessica enjoyed Dave's company, though she wasn't quite sure about the prospect of a relationship with him at the time, especially a long-distance one. Dave had similar concerns about the distance, but he was intrigued by Jessica's good heart, intelligence, and perspectives on life--not to mention she was absolutely gorgeous :)--so he kept planning fun weekend activities in the hopes of finding out where things might go.

As fall gave way to winter, they continued to meet up to hike or go on random day trips to locations somewhere in between their two cities. Dave also began to visit Jessica in Greensboro from time to time, and Jessica would visit Dave in Greenville, often on the way to see her family in Mississippi. Finally, when phone conversations began to stretch past the three and four hour marks, and the weekend visits could never be long enough, it became clear that their friendship was turning into something more. In the weeks and months to follow, they both realized that "something more" was even more than they had expected. They had been slowly getting to know the love of their lives, one phone call or short visit at a time. Dave and Jessica are so grateful for the Lord bringing them together. Even though the physical distance between them has always been tough, they have learned through it all that true love knows no boundaries.