Mandi & Joe

Our weekdays are a balance of work, school, and giving back—Joe works hard, Joey is busy at school, and Mandi can often be found volunteering or subbing right alongside him. Weekends, however, are all about fun and adventure! You’ll usually find us at amusement parks, arcades, festivals, or outdoor concerts. Joey is full of energy, and we love cheering him on in football, basketball, baseball, swimming, or even when he’s up on stage performing. Weekends also mean family time, and it’s rare that one goes by without seeing one—or both—of our extended families. When school is out and sports are on break, we make it a priority to travel. Some of our favorite destinations are Sandbridge, VA, and St. Augustine, FL, where we’ve created unforgettable memories like swimming with dolphins in Florida and jet skiing along the Virginia coast.

We live in a wonderful small town that offers parades, parks, outdoor concerts, and festivals, all just minutes from home. We love having so much property to entertain, farm, and garden. About 20 minutes away, there’s a larger city with a zoo, museums, AAA baseball, air shows, and more. We are lucky to have the option to stay home to make our own fun and be close enough to a city to explore new places. Our community has a true small-town feel, and we enjoy being active members by attending local events and volunteering. At home, we enjoy spoiling our two Dobermans, Rambo and Zeus, who love playing frisbee, chasing deer and trying to make friends with our chickens. They’re big snugglers and never pass up the chance to give kisses!

We met online 10 years ago and quickly fell in love because we shared the same values and centered our lives around our Catholic faith, family, and friends. Both of us grew up spending Sundays at church followed by afternoons at our grandparents’ homes, which shaped the way we value family traditions today. Joe is the oldest of 10 siblings, so family gatherings are always full of the best kind of chaos—lots of games, laughter, and healthy competition. Mandi, with one younger brother, feels blessed to have a large extended family of cousins who are like siblings. We now live on a farm and are grateful to host big family gatherings for every occasion with plenty of space for outdoor games, movie nights and karaoke. Joey especially loves his sleepovers with grandparents and all the adventures they share together since we live so close. Joey attends Catholic school in town, and we feel blessed to be part of such an amazing community. Through school, we’ve met wonderful families and built lifelong friendships. Mandi is part of a Bible study with other school moms, while Joe enjoys coaching Joey’s school football, basketball and baseball teams. We love being involved and feel incredibly supported by our church, school, and community, who encourage and pray for us through every season of life.

We met in our early 30s, both wondering if love had already passed us by. Deep down, though, we still dreamed of marriage and family, so we decided to give online dating one last try—and we’re so grateful we did. From the very beginning, our connection was strong, built on shared morals, values, and the dream of raising a family. Joe, with his entrepreneurial spirit and strong work ethic, was already running his own business, while Mandi was working in education but had always hoped to one day be a stay-at-home mom and “domestic engineer.” By our third date, we were already talking about kids—wanting as many as God would bless us with, raising them Catholic and close to family, and even considering adoption if that was part of our journey. Life has brought twists and turns we never could have predicted—infertility, losing loved ones, moving to new cities, and Joe starting a new business. Through it all, we’ve faced every challenge side by side, and it has only strengthened our marriage, our faith, and our commitment to growing our family.