You may remember this couple from a picture they shared on our Facebook fan page. That one picture literally went viral in just hours of posting it. So we wanted to see who the real people were behind the beautiful photo. Meet Jonathan and Wynter Pitts. Their love affair began during their third year back at Drexel University.
Johnathan’s story: I met Wynter very briefly at a party. We talked for a few minutes and exchanged information. She always struck me as very regal so I was a little intimidated and took a long time to reach out.
Wynter’s story: It literally took him about three months to call me. I knew where he had class so I would just hang around. We would talk maybe twice a week but it took him a very long time to call me.
Jonathan knew within the first month and a half that she was the girl he wanted to marry. Wynter said it was clear to her when they had their first Valentine’s Day dinner. They got engaged within six months of their first date, and will be celebrating ten years of marriage on June 27th. The couple have four daughters ages nine, six and four-year-old twins.
BMWK: Jonathan, how do you handle being outnumbered by all the ladies?
Jonathan: I love coming home every day to all five of my ladies. Every day I walk in the door they’re chanting “daddy, daddy, daddy!” so that makes it easy. I just feel like I’m made for this. People always ask me if I want a boy. But I feel like God made me for girls so that’s what I do.
I have great relationships with all of my daughters but I’m learning to be more nurturing and in touch with my softer side. I want them to be able to talk to me about any issue as they get older, where they feel safe to communicate.
BMWK: Do you take time and date your daughters? What kinds of things do you do with them?
Jonathan: I do daddy-daughter dates all of the time with them. It could be something as extravagant as Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant. For the younger ones it could be taking them individually for a cupcake or to the park. I try to spend time with them as often as I can, and now they beg for it. It’s more of me treating them as I want them to expect to be treated.
BMWK: How do you deal with disagreements and confrontation within your marriage?
Jonathan: It’s been a growing process. It took us a while to really learn how to communicate. I’m an extrovert so I’m liable to talk more and louder. She’s more introverted so in the beginning she would shut down. We don’t disagree any less, but we are definitely on the same page a lot more. We’ve learned to meet each other in the middle. It takes a level of humility on both of our parts. We’ve learned to work as a team really well. We learned early on that if you’re going to make it in marriage you have to be a team.
Wynter: I agree. It’s just a matter of being humble and understanding the base. Most arguments are not about the actual thing we’re disagreeing about.
Our childhood were a big deal too because we were raised differently. He was raised with mom and dad at home so divorce was never an option for him. I was raised in a single parent home so it did exist for me. He had to literally keep telling me that divorce was not an option and we were going to have to work this thing out.
BMWK: How important was it for you to find someone who not only would be a great husband, but who would also be a great father to your future children?
Wynter: I honestly didn’t know what I was looking for. So I have to say that was the grace of God in my life that he brought Jonathan to me. I had never seen it, and I didn’t have it growing up. It’s scary because a lot of young girls today don’t know what to look for. They look for the right now and not what the future holds.
BMWK: How is it to see your daughters experience the strong relationship with their dad that you didn’t get to have?
Wynter: In the beginning it almost caused a lot of hurt for me to see my girls have it. It brought to the surface what I didn’t realize I didn’t have. It wasn’t until I started to see it at home with my daughters, that I see what I really missed out on. I see how confident they are, how excited they are when he walks in the door, how his presence really builds them up. So seeing it has brought a healing to my own past. It’s just great to see that my girls have it.
BMWK: How did you all come up with the idea for the For Girls Like You Magazine?
Wynter: We had some kiddie magazines that our oldest at the time used to really like and then got bored with them. We looked for a more mature magazine but then ran into the problem of it being mature but not positive. So it started as something to do for her and her friends.
I have a non-profit background and a degree in communications so I thought I knew enough to put together a little booklet of things I wanted her to know. I then started and told my husband that God was telling us to do something more with it. It wasn’t just going to be for our daughter but we wanted other parents and their children to see it as a Christ-focused, positive message and resource. So it started off as a personal need and turned into a magazine.
We are a print magazine that targets little girls ages six to eleven, with the first issue printed in the Fall of 2011. Subscriptions are available on the site in one and two year subscriptions, and past subscriptions are also available for purchase on the site as well.
BMWK: Do you have anything else to share on your perspective on how to make a marriage last?
Jonathan: It doesn’t matter how picture perfect it looks in the beginning for any marriage, everyone is going to face issues. Any other thing you want victory in, whether in sports or otherwise, marriage is the same way in that you have to check your mindset. If you have the perspective that you’re going to work it out regardless, I think it changes everything.
Thank you to Jonathan and Wynter Pitts for sharing their love story and life perspectives with us. To find out more about For Girls Like You, you can connect on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
BMWK: Be sure to leave them some words of encouragement in the comments section.