A Happy Engagement

It has been much longer than I thought since the last time I posted on here. :-| Evidently my last year of college really took up a lot of my time!

I just wanted to announce that as of March 25^th . . . I am a fiancée! :-D My sweetheart of 2.5 years proposed, and we will be getting married on August 12^th, 2017. Since many have asked for the full story of the proposal, I have decided to post it here!

That Saturday morning (March 25^th) I drove down to Texas to Jessie’s parents’ house. Jessie and I had plans to attend a wedding in central Texas on Sunday evening, but I came down a day early so that we could just have some time to spend together. We had seen each other quite a bit over the previous weeks, but we had always been busy doing something with our families. Jessie had mentioned going on a date together on Saturday night, so I had a nice outfit planned for that.

When I arrived, he said we were going to have a date day! I had planned a special day for his birthday celebration this past year, and he had planned a similar sort of day in return. When we got in the car to head to our first destination, he asked if I knew why we were celebrating. I couldn’t think of a good reason. He explained that Monday (March 27^th) would mark 1,000 days since we left on our Guatemala internship together. :-O I hadn’t even thought about that, but was so appreciative of his thoughtfulness to mark that special milestone!

Ready to go on our date!

Our first stop was Chick fil A for lunch! This was significant because when we were in youth group together, this was the very first place where we talked to each other. After we ate our lunch, we drove over to a Mexican ice cream place in town to get choco-bananas. During our internship in Guatemala, we went to the choco fruit shop nearly every day for a snack since everything was less than one U.S. dollar! This was a sweet throwback. ;-)

At the Mexican ice cream place.

Then we went home and set up Jessie’s ENO hammock. During our relationship, we have frequently had “courtship talks” in the hammock. During these times we would discuss deeper, bigger issues related to our future together. After relaxing in the hammock awhile, we went back inside to watch the last Downton Abbey episode together (we had been watching the show “together” over the past few months while we were apart, but waited until we were actually together to finish the series).

After that, it was about time to dress up for dinner. I got ready and came downstairs. His parents asked where we were going (it was a surprise) and then asked if we were sure that we didn’t want to stay at the house and have chili with them. ;-P We stuck to our plan and headed to a favorite café downtown. We had only ever been there for lunch before, and had the restaurant virtually to ourselves at dinner time! The food was delicious, even though we were both still pretty full from lunch.

All dressed up and ready for dinner!

When we finished dinner, we got in the car and drove towards one of our favorite parks in town. After dates, we frequently go to a park and dance together for fun so I didn’t think it was unusual. When we arrived, he said I would need my Sperry’s. I panicked a bit because I hadn’t brought them; all I had with me were the wedge heels I was wearing. But he had packed my Sperry’s in his trunk!

We started walking down the nature trail. We were walking at a faster-than-enjoying-nature pace, so I figured we were headed to a very specific spot to dance before the sun went down. We came to a part of the trail that turns down a peninsula.

Halfway down, I saw mason jars with candles illuminating the path. That was the point when I knew what was happening! I think the shocked “is this really happening?!” emotion started to take over at this point! We arrived at the end of the peninsula on the lake and the park bench there had been covered with a sheet. Four dozen roses lay on it, and the redbud tree behind the bench was illuminated with twinkle lights. A Go-Pro peeked out of the woods as well. ;-)

The set up on the peninsula.

The path.

Jessie sat me down and pulled out a letter he had written to me and read it aloud. I couldn’t remember much of what he said because the whole time I was thinking, “Wow! He’s actually proposing to me! Also he’s choked up right now and it’s precious!” <3 After he finished reading the letter, he had me stand up.

Then my sweetheart got down on one knee—in the damp and muddy grass—and asked if I would marry him! That was the point when I started crying and saying “Yes!” over and over again! We hugged for a long time and I admired the beautiful rose gold and diamond ring he had chosen for me. (I had actually had a dream about getting engaged, and the same ring was in my dream!) Apparently he picked it out based on the fact that I had pinned it on Pinterest four different times! I didn’t even know that I had done that! Then he played our song (“Forever Like That” by Ben Rector) and we waltzed together, smiling, laughing, and tripping probably more than we ever have before while dancing together. ;-)

Engaged!!

After taking pictures of the beautiful setup, we headed back down the path as dusk fell. At the end of the trail, we could see someone lighting up sparklers. I thought it was Jessie’s dad or brother (I figured out that they had been the ones who set everything up while we were at dinner). As we got closer, I could tell it wasn’t them. I thought maybe it was one of Jessie’s friends. The guy—who appeared to be around our age—asked, “Did she say yes?!” Jessie said yes, and then introduced himself! Neither one of us had ever met this guy! He was very nice and we chatted for a few minutes before leaving. It made our night even more memorable!

I was anxious to FaceTime my family back in Oklahoma to tell them the good news. Jessie suggested waiting until we got home and calling them together. We pulled up to the house and walked in. There were balloons, flowers, and candles decorating the living room! As I walked into the room my jaw dropped . . . my entire family was there waiting for me! They had driven down from Oklahoma that afternoon and were planning to stay at a hotel for the night and come to church with us in the morning!

Some of the decorations!

Talking to grandparents on the phone!

What a joy it was to have both of our families together for an evening of celebrating! We retold the story from our perspective, heard about all the secret happenings that made our night possible, called friends and relatives, and enjoyed a delicious fondue bar made by Jessie’s mom!

The past month have been so delightful and we are so thrilled about our August wedding coming up! It is an exciting season of life that we are entering together! :-)