About Us

About Rebecca, a.k.a. "The Bride"

I am a little bit quirky. I can be over-dramatic, but I can also be quite focused. I love receiving compliments, especially about my work. I am a social butterfly and I love meeting new people…and then having lots of lunches, happy hours, walking dates and ice cream chats with those people! When I’m not working on homework (for my MBA), I enjoy the karaoke stage, dancing, reading, or working out at the YMCA. I work for JCPenney at their Corporate Office, in Internet Marketing, and assist with advertising on some websites you may have heard of, like Google.com. JCPenney is the reason I moved to Texas and I’m so glad I did because I love the company and I’ve made some great friends here—including Ben. Ben and I love being a part of Shift, the young adults’ ministry at Grace Outreach Center.

Tucson, Arizona is my hometown. I still miss the mountains, the real Mexican food, the U of A campus, and the incredible people I love there. Many of my fondest memories are ones from school and most of my closest friends were people who shared my passion for learning and achievement. I know what you’re thinking, “What a nerd!” I’m okay with that, though :-). I have a business degree in Finance and Marketing. I strive to have integrity and work hard, but I’m never alone. As a little girl, my mom taught me to rely on God for everything. Also, many people have helped me get to where I am today including my always-motivating parents—Mark and Dolly, two sets of hard-working and generous grandparents, lots of doting aunts and uncles, and some really incredible teachers. I also have a very fun younger brother, John-David, whom we call “Harry” and I really don’t remember life before him; he’s one of my closest friends.

If there’s anything I want you to know about me after reading all this, it’s that I’m very blessed. God has done so much for me and I want him to do so much through me. I look forward to beginning my life as Ben’s wife and continuing to grow as a Christian and as a woman. Psalm 138:8: “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.”

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About Benjamin

I'm often described as a quiet and geeky guy who enjoys playing video games and reading. Those closest to me will describe me as a hard worker, faithful and dedicated to the tasks at hand. I'm a programmer for a small travel services company in Plano called GDSX and a contract developer and designer for several companies through my own business Simplified Solutions. Most of my free time is spent working on digital art forms, such as graphics design, photography, cinematography and digital audio recording and re-mastering.

I'm still working on wrapping up my bachelors in science in computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas, which apparently has the highest public school tuition rate in the state of Texas and the best chess team in the world. I took two years off from school to participate in Master's Commission of Plano, now known as Leadership Master's Commission, and traveled around the US and parts of the UK ministering at churches and schools. It was during my time in Master's Commission that I developed my dream to build a company that would provide media and information services for churches to help them diversify their services and information management processes.

My family and I are originally from Amarillo, TX and we moved to Plano in 1996. I graduated from Plano Senior High in 2001, where I could have been deemed "king of the nerds" since I was the president of the Computer Club, Vice President of the Science and Research club, head of the Computer Science UIL competition team and one of the school's research students. I spent most of little free time I had during High school teaching upper level programming classes, doing research in genetics and computer science and leading several bible studies. I was a regular part of the Student Venture group at Plano Senior High and the Plano area, and most of my close friends during High School come from this group.

The Fall of 2001 I started my first semester at UTD as a sophomore and start the UTD branch of Campus Crusade for Christ, then going under the name of Student Ministry at UTD due to large body of Muslim students at UTD. Whenever I wasn't working on school or at work, I was up at the church helping with our young adult ministry. Though the ministry itself has gone through several different shifts and changes, the college and young adult group is still one of my biggest passions. I strive to make God's original message relevant to everyone, through any means available, and equipping other believers with the knowledge and encouragement to reach out to their peers, whether they are at the club or at work.

My favorite scripture and prayer is Acts 4:30. Edit

The Relationship

We started dating on Thursday, July 27th, 2006 after being friends for a couple of years.

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The Proposal

Ben proposed on Saturday, December 29th, 2007 while on a hike in Sabino Canyon in Tucson, AZ. We were home visiting Rebecca's parents in Tucson for Christmas and we went on a hike before breakfast. It was an eventful morning which included Rebecca slipping on a patch of ice, taking a hard fall and bursting into tears because of the resulting pain. At that point Ben asked if she wanted to call it quits and return home, but she didn't want to end on a low note, so she decided to toughed it out. Rebecca later thought, "I'm so glad I did!"

I'm so glad I did...

As we got higher on the mountain, we stopped to look out over the canyon below and the city view in the distance. Ben said he wanted to put his camera away before heading downhill. As Rebecca was marveling at the view-one she had seen so many times but never gets tired of, Ben was putting his camera away and getting out the ring box. Rebecca commented, "I don't think it would be possible to ever count all the saguaros." (For those of you not fluent in desert-speak, those are the tall green cacti which Rebecca thought looked like giant pickles when she was little.) Ben joked "we don't have time for that because we need to get home and have breakfast with your family." He then said there was something he wanted to do before we headed down the hill. He got down on one knee, opened the ring box and asked, "Will you marry me?" The funniest part of our story is that Rebecca was so flustered by the stunning ring before her and the realization that it was for her that her first words were, "Oh my gosh, thank you!" which forced Ben to have to repeat, "Will you?" Of course, she said yes, or we wouldn't have a wedding website, and he put the ring on...and then we walked back downhill to go have breakfast with Rebecca's family.

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About our Wedding Party