Amy spotted Joe at youth group and instantly fell in love, but didn't tell anyone, and would have denied it even if you put her in the stocks. Their mutual friend discerned that they would "get along well," and facilitated some get to know you time. Amy couldn't help liking Joe, and he took a fancy to her, but things remained platonic enough for several years.
Suddenly, Amy was graduated from High School and Joe realized he was about to lose her forever and got scared. They spent Amy's last summer before college running around Green Lake, and after Amy left, they wrote letters to each other through fall semester. Joe took Amy on a date the first chance he got when Amy was home for Christmas break, and over the course of the next few weeks, realized that he was hopelessly in love and told Amy so the day before she went back to school. However, Amy got scared that this suddenly wasn't a game anymore and tried to shut Joe down, but he persisted, and secured a pre-dating arrangment where he would call Amy on the phone every week (sometimes twice), send her roses on valentines day, and generally be awesome until she could come home for spring break and seal the deal. This all went exactly according to plan. Amy and Joe started dating in March 2006, and Joe visited Amy in Chicago the very next week, then left for England for 3 months.
Joe's love for Amy grew to almost mythic proportions as he roamed the English countryside and imagined himself as one of Chaucer's gallant knights - chilvalrously rising in the wee hours of the morning to walk to the nearest red english phone booth and call his love before she went to bed.
Fast forward through a year of long distance dating.
Joe graduated from college and went to graduate school in Chicago so he could visit Amy twice a week, which he has done for the past two years. At first, Joe didn't have a car, so he borrowed a bike and rode 3 miles to the nearest train station and then took two, yes, 2 trains to get to Wheaton College. The whole ordeal taking 2 1/2 hours each way. Joe often marveled at his own devotion as he rode his bicycle back home after midnight, on unlit roads, in mortal fear of large deerlike animals that occasionally surprised him.
Things progressed.
By February of Joe's first year in Chicago, Amy was hooked, though she still thought she could hold out on marriage for awhile. Joe, being a shrewd, patient chap, resisted mentioning it, figuring that Amy would probably warm up to the idea right on schedule, and so it was...
However, Joe's schemes faced one daunting obstacle: school. He had been on track to finish his degree in 2 1/2 years, which would mean that Amy would already be off to graduate school someplace, making a summer 2009 wedding impossible. But where there is a creative will, there is almost always a way, and Joe used every trick in the book to ensure that he would be free to move about the country come fall; without telling Amy of course.
It happened that on a brief trip home in October to meet his new nephew, Joe landed in a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Harrylock about their summer plans, and quickly realized that the December proposal he had been planning needed to get on the calendar ASAP. But, since he realized this the night before flying back to Chicago, he didn't have the opportunity to discuss it with them.
Arrive back in Chicago: Sunday oct. 5
Buy Ticket back to Seattle: Friday
Tell Amy's Parents He was coming to chat with them: over a week later (Joe knew that Mr. Harrylock wouldn't be able to keep the secret for long)
Fly to Seattle: Saturday morning oct. 25
Fly Back to Chicago: Saturday evening, oct. 25

Picking Amy up for church Sunday morning without her knowing he had left: epic.
Joe proposed on Halloween in the Chicago Botanical Gardens after sending Amy on a 2 1/2 hour, 2 train, masterminded journey. When Joe asked Amy to marry him, she bobbed her head vigorously...and the rest is history.