Daniel had been acting weird the whole plane ride. I kept asking him what was wrong to which he would reply, "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." Yeah, ok. But, I shrugged it off because I was determined that we were going to have a fun weekend at the beach. We land and head to our condo where my family was waiting for us. We had a great time catching up and playing games long into the night.
Saturday morning we got up early and headed out for a fun-filled day at the beach. As we came inside later that afternoon to shower and get cleaned up, Daniel told me he had a surprise waiting for me. I absolutely LOVE surprises, so I hurried and got ready so I could see what it was! He took me out onto the balcony of the condo and told me, "I know you're birthday is still a couple days away, but I want you to wear this to the wedding tonight." He pulled out a beautiful, sparkly bracelet and clasped it on my wrist. (Being the sly fox he is, he was distracting me with this gift so I wouldn't have a clue that he was going to propose to me the next day). A huge grin broke out on my face and all I could think about was how thoughtful and romantic he was. We headed down to the beach for the wedding, which was absolutely beautiful, and then we danced the night away after eating wonderful seafood at the reception.
As we were saying goodnight to each other, Daniel asked me, "Since we leave to head home tomorrow, do you want to go for a walk on the beach at sunrise with me?"
"That would be great!"
"Ok. How about you meet me outside about 6:15 or so? Sunrise is at 6:30 so that gives us time to get down there to see it."
August 2, 2009. My mom and my sister got up at 6:00 telling me that Hannah wanted to try out her new camera on the sunrise. Now, that SHOULD have tipped me off that something was going on because my sister is NOT a morning person! But, I honestly think God just pulled a veil over the logical part of my brain cause I totally went with it. I got up to go meet Daniel so we could head out for our walk.
"How did you sleep?"
"Uh, not good. I tossed and turned all night long."
Again, another clue that I should've picked up on. He is a light sleeper though AND he was on a pull out couch, so I didn't think anything else of it. We got down to the beach and as we started walking I was just talking about stuff that really didn't matter and he was being extremely quiet. (Another clue. See the pattern developing here?) We turned around to head back and he started talking about sunrises and how they symbolize a fresh start to a new day and a new chapter--getting all philosophical on me. And then he lightened up with our joke, "Are you sure you want to marry me?"
"YES! For the thousandth time, I am absolutely sure I want to marry you!"
The next part seemed like a dream. He immediately stopped and dropped to one knee and my mouth dropped open. He pulled out the most beautiful ring I had ever seen (way more than I was even expecting) and asked me those words every girl dreams of hearing from the time she is five years old. "Will you marry me?"
I was so stunned and disbelieving it was actually happening that the first words that came out of my mouth were , "Shut up!"
He laughed. "I'm being serious! So is that a yes?"
"Yes!" I hugged him so hard I almost knocked him over. He stood up, took my left hand and pulled my purity ring off my finger to replace it with the beautiful diamond. I still couldn't believe this was real life. "Your mom and sister and aunt are down there taking pictures of us." What? I hadn't even noticed anyone else on the beach. I was in my own little dream world. We walked down and gave hugs to everyone and then headed up to the condo to break the news to the rest of the family. We were engaged!
On the 12-hour drive home, we made a lot of wedding plans. We looked at our calendar and decided our best option for the wedding was Saturday, June 19, 2010. It was the day after Daniel's birthday, but we really didn't have a choice. He told me he would agree only if I made them separate celebrations for the rest of our life! The months flew by as we both started back to school and continued with wedding plans. My parents had two stipulations for us to get married--Daniel had to be graduated and he had to find a job to support us that also provided health insurance. He started looking for jobs in January 2010. We continued to pray and nothing was happening; doors just continued to close right and left. He graduated in May and STILL did not have a single lead to a job--we were starting to get anxious as the wedding was only a month away!
May 31, 2010. We were running errands that morning when he got a phone call from his home church in North Little Rock, AR. I knew something big was happening, because this was totally out of the blue and he was sitting there with a stunned look on his face. As soon as he got off the phone, he looked at me and said, "They just offered me a full-time job with benefits." All I could do was sit there and cry. The Lord had heard our prayers! We quickly called our parents to spread the good news, which resulted in even more crying.
Crunch time! Over the next two weeks I wrapped up my first year of x-ray school, we found a duplex to rent in North Little Rock (which Daniel immediately moved in to), and we completed last minute wedding details. Before I knew it the week of the wedding was upon us!
to be continued...
click HERE for Part 6
As we were saying goodnight to each other, Daniel asked me, "Since we leave to head home tomorrow, do you want to go for a walk on the beach at sunrise with me?"
"That would be great!"
"Ok. How about you meet me outside about 6:15 or so? Sunrise is at 6:30 so that gives us time to get down there to see it."
August 2, 2009. My mom and my sister got up at 6:00 telling me that Hannah wanted to try out her new camera on the sunrise. Now, that SHOULD have tipped me off that something was going on because my sister is NOT a morning person! But, I honestly think God just pulled a veil over the logical part of my brain cause I totally went with it. I got up to go meet Daniel so we could head out for our walk.
"How did you sleep?"
"Uh, not good. I tossed and turned all night long."
Again, another clue that I should've picked up on. He is a light sleeper though AND he was on a pull out couch, so I didn't think anything else of it. We got down to the beach and as we started walking I was just talking about stuff that really didn't matter and he was being extremely quiet. (Another clue. See the pattern developing here?) We turned around to head back and he started talking about sunrises and how they symbolize a fresh start to a new day and a new chapter--getting all philosophical on me. And then he lightened up with our joke, "Are you sure you want to marry me?"
"YES! For the thousandth time, I am absolutely sure I want to marry you!"
The next part seemed like a dream. He immediately stopped and dropped to one knee and my mouth dropped open. He pulled out the most beautiful ring I had ever seen (way more than I was even expecting) and asked me those words every girl dreams of hearing from the time she is five years old. "Will you marry me?"
I was so stunned and disbelieving it was actually happening that the first words that came out of my mouth were , "Shut up!"
He laughed. "I'm being serious! So is that a yes?"
"Yes!" I hugged him so hard I almost knocked him over. He stood up, took my left hand and pulled my purity ring off my finger to replace it with the beautiful diamond. I still couldn't believe this was real life. "Your mom and sister and aunt are down there taking pictures of us." What? I hadn't even noticed anyone else on the beach. I was in my own little dream world. We walked down and gave hugs to everyone and then headed up to the condo to break the news to the rest of the family. We were engaged!
May 31, 2010. We were running errands that morning when he got a phone call from his home church in North Little Rock, AR. I knew something big was happening, because this was totally out of the blue and he was sitting there with a stunned look on his face. As soon as he got off the phone, he looked at me and said, "They just offered me a full-time job with benefits." All I could do was sit there and cry. The Lord had heard our prayers! We quickly called our parents to spread the good news, which resulted in even more crying.
Crunch time! Over the next two weeks I wrapped up my first year of x-ray school, we found a duplex to rent in North Little Rock (which Daniel immediately moved in to), and we completed last minute wedding details. Before I knew it the week of the wedding was upon us!
to be continued...
click HERE for Part 6
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