One Year Ago This Weekend...

...we got engaged!!! It's hard to believe that it's been a year since that special day. Here's a post I've been working on and meaning to publish for a while. I'm breaking it up into several posts.... Enjoy!

As many of you know, we were married a little more ago than 5 months ago on October 16th! We are so thankful that the Lord led us to be married - what an amazing gift! Wedding planning was a busy and stressful time for us, but it all paid off since we accomplished our goal of getting married. Here a “quick” recap of the 6.5 months leading up to our wedding... or actually the first of several posts….

Engagement
We got engaged on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at the Beaver Dam Recreation Area at Falls Lake in Raleigh. It all started out as a normal Saturday. Richard and I decided that we wanted to go canoeing that day to get some fresh air and spend some time together before we left for a weeklong mission trip to Boston. It was finally “warm enough” to be the first day of the year to go canoeing. As usual, I was running a bit behind schedule in preparing to leave for the lake. Richard mentioned he wanted to “swing by” REI on the way to the lake (which was not on the way to the lake) to buy the Gorillapod (bendy camera tripod) he had been wanting for quite some time. “Maybe it will come in handy on our trip next week.” So, we “swung by” REI and picked up the Gorillapod. We had previously talked about having a romantic little picnic at the lake before we hopped in the canoe, but since we were running behind, we picked up some Chinese takeout at 888 (we call it Ba Ba Ba, or 888 in Chinese) – romantic, I know! We got to Beaver Dam and enjoyed our lunch. Richard was totally itching to use the Gorillapod, so we snapped a few pics during and after lunch. He was especially amused by me “holding his place” while he set up the camera and tripod. Finally, we drove over to the boat launch and put the canoe in the water. We were feeling pretty good after our big lunch and before I knew it we were at the bridge at Old Weaver Trail. I couldn’t believe it, I always seemed to get too tired before we got that far.

We paddled under the bridge and I suggested that we rest for a few minutes. Richard suggested that we paddle a bit longer before resting. So we paddled a little ways longer to a little wooded cove and stopped along the shore. There were two fallen trees laying in a V-shape that looked like a perfect spot to rest, so we hopped out of the canoe and sat down on the logs. [This is where my memory starts to get all jumbled up…]

We chatted for a bit. I’m not going to lie... it was kind of awkward, which was strange because after almost 2 years of dating, the awkward stage was long gone. Next thing I know, Richard says something about it being a perfect day. I think he used that phrase more than once. Before I knew it, he had me stand up, and then he got down on one knee, pulled out and opened a box with a diamond ring in it, and asked, “Will you marry me?” I was in such shock – I’m not even quite sure how I reacted at that very moment. I think I freaked out a bit and said “YES!” in there somewhere as he slipped the big sparkling diamond ring on my finger. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking something like, “Oh my goodness, this is happening! Like NOW! The only time this will every happen! Aaaahhhhhh!” It was all very surreal.

As you can see, Richard was quite successful in surprising me. You can also see why he was so persistent in us going to buy the lovely Gorillapod. After we snapped a few photos using the new toy, we hopped back in the canoe and paddled back to the boat ramp. I couldn’t stop smiling. I was also quite worried that the ring was going to slip off my finger and sink to the bottom of the lake, so I made sure to clinch my paddle with a death grip. I’m proud to report that I did not lose the ring on the way back to the boat ramp.

Once we loaded up the canoe and were leaving, we started calling our families. It was a great afternoon. I love it when Richard can completely surprise me, because I typically think of myself as the kind of person that is difficult to surprise. This was definitely the best one yet!

And to put a little icing on the cake… we left the next morning for an amazing mission trip to Boston with a big group of friends from the Singles Ministry. We had the opportunity to serve Redeemer Fellowship Church (a fairly new church plant of ~60 members) by helping them distribute flyers for and host a block party the day before Easter.

It was a fun and challenging trip. We had over 200 people attend the block party at the church and lots of new faces at the worship service on Easter morning. Richard and I enjoyed getting to spend our first week of engagement together serving the Lord there.

Stay tuned for more...