Proposal Story!!!!!

Ok, here it is, finally! The story of the night BL asked me to marry him, and I said YES!

The weekend of our one year anniversary was the first weekend we had to spend together, with no plans, and BL wasn't scheduled to work in a long time. So I packed Brody in the car and headed north. We talked about just enjoying the time, not making any big plans or anything (!).

We both love Pei Wei, so I thought we should try PF Changs on Saturday night since BL had never had it before. We had a great dinner. We talked about life and our relationship over lettuce wraps and shrimp and chicken. I admitted to him that it's been hard not having the future all planned out in front of us, and that it can be a struggle for me at times. I said that I was working on trusting God and trusting him. He said, "I hate to see you worry, what can I do to help you trust me more?" I said, just to pray and keep me updated if things change for him. I didn't feel a ton better after that, but it was a relief to be even more open about my feelings than I had been before. I was trying to protect him from increased pressure if he knew that I was struggling. He's already stressed enough... but he was glad that I talked about it. He kept asking if I felt better, and if I was ok. I was ok, just thoughtful and a little ashamed that I wasn't strong and confident despite the uncertainty of the future. I told him that it was just something that I was going to have to work on.

Then we went home and listened to music and danced and got all romantic- just talking about the last year and how blessed we feel to have found each other. We started telling each other things we love about each other. After winding down a few minutes later, he said "You know what else I love? your ring...."

I was confused, but assumed he was talking about the ring I wear all the time on my right hand, and started to talk about that, and he interrupted me and said "No, this ring..." and pulled out a big sparkly ring from his pocket!

I was stunned. I was completely speechless for about 30 seconds. I cried and laughed at the same time, and then he said, "Will you marry me?" and I said, "Of course I will marry you!!" At that point I remember thinking that my voice didn't sound like my own and I felt like I was floating. He put the ring on my finger (it fits perfectly) and we hugged and kissed and laughed for a few minutes before we finally had to sit down and take it all in.

We didn't call anyone until the next morning, it was nice to just revel in the moment and tell each other over and over how happy we were. I couldn't put my thoughts into words and I was glad that he hadn't done in a huge, extravagant way, because then I would have known it was about to happen. This way, I was totally caught off guard, and I will always treasure those moments when I was truly and genuinely surprised.

Looking back on the night, I feel silly about out conversation we had at dinner. But most of the concerns I had shared are pretty much gone now. (imagine that...) I still need to work on being content in each day and stage of life, but there's something about being engaged... I feel like it gives me a new sense of security, and it gives me permission to plan and dream about our wedding. I kept myself from doing that too much before then because I didn't want to get ahead of myself.

Now we're wedding planning and I'm loving every minute of it! My pinterest page takes forever to load because I've pinned so many pictures in the last few weeks.


P.S. If you'd like a Pinterest invite, let me know!