Lisa and John – July 31, 2025
We are both avid outdoorsmen and enjoy shooting. We met at a local Conservation club where they hold turkey shoots year round every Wednesday evening. (The reason for all those little turkey feather details ❤️). For our first date he let me decide what I wanted to do so I invited him over for a home cooked meal and he brought me a bottle of my favorite wine. It was in the middle of January so I would rather we stayed in. I made a beef pot roast dinner with mashed potatoes. We are both farm raised so it’s not uncommon to have a freezer full of fresh raised beef. I’m not big into watching tv and my internet connection had poor signal living in the woods so we couldn’t really watch much for tv. So we improvised and watched a movie on my son’s iPad 🤣 He had to work the next day so he left early.John proposed. The man burns the candle at both ends and just never has any down time. When he asked me it was a very heartfelt genuine moment. At the time he did not have a ring so we went together to pick one out and it was perfect. I have a love for antiques and I love estate jewelry. We found the most beautiful old European cut diamond waiting for someone to give it new life. He had told me before I picked it out when he first laid eyes on it that he knew it was the one ❤️!
We were both previously married and decided to make this day for us only. His previous wife died unexpectedly and I was divorced with a small child. We have a love for the outdoors and spend a lot of time in it. We both used the outdoors for healing and renewal during our hardships and losses. I just couldn’t think of anywhere more peaceful than the mountains of East Tennessee. P.S. this is our first trip alone!!! No kids, no family, no friends!!!! We are looking forward to having this day for only us surrounded by the love of nature and God as our witness.
We like small diner dates and enjoy hunting. Anything really. In the beginning of our relationship we hunted deer antler sheds, took my hunting dogs out for an adventure on his family’s farm. I have a Chocolate Lab (Browning) and an English Springer Spaniel (Ranger). He took me turkey hunting for the very first time that spring. And I took him pheasant hunting with my dogs for the first time in the fall. We also enjoy deer and coyote hunting. We both got muzzleloader guns for a new challenge, mine being a more primitive flintlock. My first experience with black powder and I love it!!! We live in Ohio on the Pennsylvania state line and PA has a special flintlock season specifically to preserve primitive hunting. My son also goes hunting with us. On his 5th birthday this summer we took a pontoon boat out on the lake and he got his first fish on his birthday! Striped bass. In the summer we enjoy fishing too.
We both came from dairy farming backgrounds. Hard to believe we grew up in the same county and didn’t cross paths until our adult life! So we enjoy crop farming outside of our full time jobs (he works in food production for Dairy Farmers of America and I am an RN). We grow hay, corn, soybeans and wheat. We grow our own garden and can and freeze our harvest 😊 We plan on having some beef cows and chickens to add to our little homestead. We both have interesting past lives that make us unique. John used to compete in cowboy mounted shooting competitions and has won many buckle awards. He also was an air-pilot captain for a hot air balloon. I used to enter in local demolition derby competitions and even worked on my own car 😊 We’ve since then have said goodbye to those interesting hobbies but it makes great conversation!
So a new hobby we have started is rebuilding the 1965 Case 930 Comfort King tractor that I grew up with on my family’s farm. It was the tractor I learned to drive on. We would like to enter it in antique tractor shows and farm stock tractor pulls locally! One day I hope to teach my son to drive it on our farm ❤️
