Crystal Coast Couple: Jessi & Justin
I am delighted to share our first Crystal Coast Couple! Jessi is a dear friend and I have a feeling you're going to instantly fall in love with her and her sweet husband after reading this fun interview. To top it off, Katt-eye Photography captured the duo beautifully. If you're a Crystal Coast Couple and would like to be featured, please contact us here.
Enjoy!
How many years have you been married? We have been married for four years; since May 17, 2014.
Where do you live? We live in Morehead City! We love the area and being close to downtown, boating and just a quick drive to the beach.
Do you have kids? We have one little girl, Chandler Wade. She keeps us incredibly busy, always having fun and giving us a totally new perspective on life.
Tell us a little about yourselves! I (Jessi!) work part-time so that I am able to stay at home with Chandler a bit more. I love the challenges, the love, and the hairbows that motherhood has brought into my life. For fun, I like to be on the boat at Bird Shoals, taking in the sun and the sand. I also love to try new food and restaurants; something that the Crystal Coast offers so much of!
Justin also loves to be outside, on the water fishing and boating or hunting in the woods. He is an insurance underwriter here in Morehead City and has worked there since graduating from ECU. He has totally embraced the girl-dad lifestyle, even accessorizing Chandler’s outfits with the best of them. Our first child was a black lab, named June, who is as much a part of the family as any of the humans. She is spoiled rotten inside yet loves to retrieve ducks in the water also.
Tell us your love story. We met as sophomores at East Carolina University (go Pirates!) at the infamous football game against N.C. State where the Pirates won by a field goal in overtime! After the game, the students were rightfully celebrating, which gave Justin the courage to strike up a conversation. He and my best friend lived in the same apartment complex, so Justin had seen me before, allowing him to use that as his opening line. Things set into motion quickly, both of us falling fast. The rest is history and we have enjoyed every minute of this adventure
together!
How did you prepare for marriage? We participated in a two-day retreat of sorts through our church called “The Art of Marriage.” It addressed different stressors of marriage, along with the wonderful bits of being a team and building a life together. We loved the curriculum! We also did traditional marriage counseling with the pastor that led our wedding ceremony leading up to the big day.
Describe your wedding day in one sentence. Our wedding day was full of love and fun little moments with the ones who have shaped us as people and as a couple.
What is your favorite thing about being married? Our favorite thing about marriage is probably having that one person who serves as your teammate. That person who celebrates your wins, helps rebuke your faults and encourages you to no end. We also take pride is naming the movie from which our random quotes are from that are spontaneously thrown into the conversation.
How do you celebrate your marriage? Because life is busy and goes by so quickly, we celebrate our marriage in the little moments. We try to work hard to create them, whether it is when we grill a steak, just us two, after the baby is down for the evening, or when we take the time to show gratitude for something the other did that expressed love and value for our family.
Tell us how you balance career and marriage. This is so hard, yet so important! We love our jobs and love the opportunities they allow for but we try very hard to remember the ‘why’ and that is to be a blessing to our family and our community. To do this, we are constantly sharing our heart for this with each other, prayer and having conversations on goals and accomplishments.
Tell us how you’ve overcome challenges in your marriage. Our hard and fast rule for our marriage is to apologize quickly and forgive even quicker. We realize that we’re human, we sin and we hurt feelings but even more so, we know that we are each other’s #1 fan and that we have our families’ best interest at heart. Because of this, we’re able to move past barriers and challenges quickly. Laughter is also a great medicine for this – something that Justin is great at creating!
Tell us one simple way you love on and serve your spouse. We love to leave little notes for the other one in secret! Sometimes it’s left in a shoe when packing for a business trip, sometimes it’s on the toothpaste, or on the other’s steering wheel. It’s our quick and simple way to show each other that we’re thinking about them and to put a smile on their face at a random moment of the day.