Up to this point, I have not shared a big part of my life with ya'll. I have alluded, I have hinted, but I have never come out and said anything. Well, that is about to change!
Because ....
I'M ENGAGED!!
Oh yes, yes I am.
And I'm getting married Jan 2!!
That's one month from today for those of you wondering. 31 days to be exact!
So, since I am excited ecstatic and would love to share this part of my life with you, here is our story:
I met Luke at camp. The first time we met was when he came to TER for our Labor Day Family Camp in 07 with a friend of his, who was a friend of mine. We actually did not communicate much at this point, mostly because I knew that he was the ex-boyfriend of a good friend of mine and that made him off-limits. However, I did think he was pretty cute! He thought I was pretty, but also a little strange.
Such is the story of my life.
Fast forward to spring of 09. One day I retrieved a voice message off of the camp phone that was from a certain young man who was looking for a job for the summer and he was wondering if it was too late to apply to be a counselor. Of course I immediately flashed back to my mental picture of this rather good looking man and admittedly got a little excited. Normally I give messages like that to our Director who is in charge of hiring, but I made sure to be the one to call him back!
After calling him and sending him a couple of emails and watching the mail for his application and making sure his contract was in the mail, I decided that this could not be the man for me. After all, he was still the ex-boyfriend of one of my friends and it just seemed like a situation that would not work.
However, when the day came for him to come for staff training, I must admit to dressing up a little bit nicer than I might have otherwise and really wanting him to notice me. During meals I would manuever to sit by him and made sure to sit in testimonies until he gave his (which he took his sweet time about I might add!). I struggled with not wanting to like him and thinking him off limits, but enjoying times spent talking with him and looking at him ;-)
As time went on, I became more and more impressed with him. His mature faith, his quiet spirit, his ability to converse, his beautiful GORGEOUS blue eyes and his sense of humor became more and more attractive to me. Soon I could not deny that I had fallen and fallen hard. So, after fretting about it for awhile, I finally talked to my friend (she was not at camp this summer but we talked via Facebook quite a bit) and told her what I was dealing with. She was really great and told me to go for it!
I wish I could say it was that easy and happily ever after from that day forward, but life doesn't quite work that way!
I spent the summer wondering if he did or he didn't like me and whether or not I was crazy. We spent every weekend but one hanging out, sometimes one on one, most of the time in a group. He seemed to enjoy my company, but there were days where he would not give me the attention I thought I deserved. There were definitely some tears shed and some sleepless nights spent, but it all came together in the end.
He was heading home to SoDak for the weekend for a wedding and I
At that point he needed to spend some time talking with our ever wise Director to figure some things out, namely whether or not we would work for the long term. I had sat in chapel watching him run to catch her before she left and just knew that he was talking about to her about us. After we were dismissed, I nonchalantly walked by, straining to hear the smallest morsel of good news. I knew I couldn't linger, because it would be really obvious, so I made my way up to the Snak Shak. During their
I had hoped that he would find me when he was done, but because of how long they talked, he was late for the night game. I was sitting on the porch, chit chatting with a lady from town when he came walking up to get his assignment, but he just smiled at me and walked off. My frustration and anticipation levels went a little high at that moment!
So, I did the only thing I knew to do. I went walking around and around camp and tracked him down. It's a bit hard when it's pitch black out but never underestimate the determination of a girl in like!
We sat on the hillside while the campers played Mission Impossible. The spot we were in was pretty quiet, so we only caught a couple of campers the whole time, which worked well for us! It was during this time that he told me that he had actually liked me all summer and had found himself to be quite distracted by me.
I didn't mind.
We continued to talk and talk and talk some more. There was a lot we had to figure out! Namely, if I did go home with him that weekend, what did that mean? Were we ready for that type of commitment?
So, while I sat there and stared up at the stars, he asked me what he called "a hard question"
To me, the answer to "would you marry me?" seemed to be the easiest and most natural in the world. As butterflies threw a party in my stomach and my palms moistened with sweat, a soft "yes" tumbled off of my lips.
No, we weren't engaged, but we definitely knew that was what we both wanted out of this relationship.
So, the next day we packed up his Explorer and headed down the road to his parent's house. It was during that trip that he officially asked me to be his girlfriend. It was a new term to apply to myself, but I was rather fond of how it rolled off my tongue!
That weekend I met his family, his friends and learned more about this man I had spent so much time admiring from my window. There were times of panic, of absolute freaking out because of the magnitude of what we were doing, but there was also a peace that went with it. It wasn't Luke I was freaking out about, it was the giving up of my freedom. The more we talked, the more I knew that we were pursuing the right path. Our life goals were lining up, things were meshing and it just made sense.
(I meant to write the whole engagement story tonight ... but this is way long and I have things to do! So, come back tomorrow for the rest!)
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