To all you North Americans... This was written with an Australian slant to introduce the Aussies to Joanna... Well, if you haven't heard, Joanna is a Canadian. She comes from Kingston in the province of Ontario. Joanna arrived here back in August 2006 to complete a 12 month diploma of education at La Trobe University. In the first couple of weeks of being here, Joanna ended up attending my church and was even put in the Bible study group that I was leading. At this time, Joanna and I got to know each other really well, and both grew in a deep friendship together. Over time, this friendship slowly began to grow into something more - we found ourselves both seeking ways to spend time with one another. We had been pretending that we didn't want a relationship with the other, but both of us really knew the truth. About two weeks before Joanna returned to Canada for good in August 2007, we had a conversation and decided to not take our relationship beyond friendship. It was hard, but we felt it was the best course of action. We said goodbye at the airport, with none of our friends knowing how we felt about one another. I was determined to let her go as she walked through the gates - just as determined as Joanna was to let go of me. Over the next 6 months, Joanna and I hardly communicated. It was very awkward and the best I could manage was a few measley Facebook posts. Joanna was fairly angry with me and had made it known to quite a few of her friends. I learned a lot about myself during this time. While on a New Years break holiday I had a chance to think and spend time with close friends. It was at this time that I realised it was Joanna that I really wanted to spend my life with. By the end of the holiday, I had decided to contact Jo and start the process of reconciliation with the aim to go and visit her in Canada. Contacting Jo wasn't easy. We had a lot of difficult conversations regarding trust, long distance and having families and lives on the other side of the world. After much discussion, Jo invited me to Canada and even decided that she would move to Melbourne again to give the relationship the best chance possible. It was four weeks before I was to leave to go to Canada that I decided to ask Jo to marry me. I had talked to a wise mentor who said to me, "What is the risk in asking her? The real risk is in losing such a great girl". This was completely true, I had known Joanna so well and even after six months apart, still cared deeply for her and missed her company. I couldn't think of anyone else I would prefer to spend my life with and she had already decided off her own bat to move to Melbourne to be with me - even without any concrete commitment. Upon discussing these times, Jo says that she knew if she said yes to me coming to Canada, that I would end up being her husband. She was right.
Anyway, since the proposal, we had to be separated in different countries for 4 months while we waited for the VISA to arrive. This was a great time for us as we talked in depth over the phone. Jo arrived in Melbourne on August 6th 2008 and we began the process of bringing our lives together. We had a great wedding day in Melbourne on December 6th, 2008 with our family and friends on this side of the world. We will hopefully have a wedding album and a DVD of the day to share with you when we get to Kingston in June. We look forward to sharing our Canadian wedding day with you as a celebration of what God has done in our lives. Hugh
PS... Here is where we live now... Google maps. Here is where Hugh grew up, and where Tom & Helen
spent plenty of time... Google
maps |
I had a ring made through Grounds Jewellers with the help of David Grounds and my Uncle Phillip. I collected the ring three days before flying out - just in time. It took 10 days before I got to ask Jo's parents if I could ask her to marry me. We asked Jo's parents together and they welcomed me into their family. It was a great moment. Joanna's parents Helen & Tom had met me in Melbourne when they visited in 2006 and Jo's mum Helen said on reflection, "Hugh, the moment I met you, I put an X next to your name. One, because I knew you would marry my daughter and two, because I knew you would take her back to Australia". Jo's parents, family and friends will miss her, but we know we will see them as regularly as possible and have committed to making a decision in two years time about which country to live in.