Our Engagement Story: December 18, 2011

To start off I want to give some back history on how this all came together.  Like any couple that has been seriously dating for awhile there is a lot of pressure from friends and family about when you’re going to take the next step.  It puts a strain on any relationship, including ours.  This whole past week I had been thinking and praying about being patient and listening for God’s voice in all of this.  I knew everything would happen when God wanted it to.  So after Scott and I had a wonderful time at Aubrey & Phil’s wedding, we stayed after just to talk and relax since we hadn’t seen each other in over a week.  I poured my heart out to him as I always do and made sure he knew we were on the same page and that I was willing to be flexible with everything we decided.  Basically I said its okay if we have to wait longer.  On top of that, Sunday morning at the altar I asked the Lord for guidance and clarity on my relationship with Scott.  I find myself constantly surrendering my plans and dreams with Scott over to the Lord.  With that being said, this was all on my heart on December 18^th.

So my very best friend, Kristina Higgins, who probably knows me the best other than my family and Scott, came over for lunch after church.  This is a usual thing and I love it when she comes over.  I know my parents do as well.  Kristina had told me earlier at church that she wanted to go to Mentor Headlands Beach to take pictures of the lake for her mom for Christmas.  If you know me at all, you know how much I love going to the beach.  It doesn’t matter what season, I just love being there.  I was planning on working on my painting I have planned for Christmas Eve but of course I bailed on that because I’d much rather have fun taking pictures.  This is also a usual thing for Kristina and me to do.  We love going out with our SLR cameras and taking creative shots, build up our portfolios, and practicing.  We get to the beach, all bundled up because it is the coldest by the water in the wintertime.  I don’t know why, but the beach during the cold seasons is so peaceful and beautiful.  So I love being out there and taking pictures.  So we get out by the water and I am facing the lake with Kristina in front of me facing the sand.  She’s taking shots of me and I’m just being dumb as usual because those pictures are the best (little did I know that Scott was also in these pictures, running behind me).  So as I’m being silly making faces at Kristina, I am completely shocked to have someone behind me grab my shoulder and turn me around.  It takes me about ten seconds to figure out that it is Scott in front of me.  I literally couldn’t breathe and I kept looking at Kristina trying to process what was happening in those ten seconds.  He immediately got down on one knee, got straight to the point, and asked me to marry him.  I definitely said yes and then my emotions kicked in and I lost it.  I started to cry because I was just so overwhelmed and filled with joy!! He took the ring and placed it on my finger and I just didn’t know what to say.  If you know Scott, when he’s nervous he laughs.  So along with being nervous and wanting this moment to be perfect, we are standing there just laughing and smiling and not knowing what to say. 

While all of this is happening, Kristina is working her magic getting every shot and angle her creative mind can think of.  After I got myself together, and after I told Kristina I hated her for keeping this whole scheme from me, I ran over and gave her a hug and with tears in my eyes I said, “I’m so glad you’re here.”  It’s so nice to have friends that know you for who you are, but it’s so awesome to have friends like Kristina that can capture a special moment.  She did it because Scott asked her to do it, but also because I know she loves me and I would not trade anything for the gift of capturing a moment so special and being able to share it with all of you.  I am so thankful for her and I cannot express that enough! 

To make the story even better, my dad proposed to my mom at Mentor Headlands Beach on a cold wintery New Year’s Eve in 1984.  It meant so much to me that Scott remembered that detail.  Little things like that are so important to me and I am so thankful that I get to share this memory with my mom.  Mentor Headlands is by far my favorite place in the world. 

After I tried to get a hold of my emotions, we decided to take a bunch of pictures and just enjoy the moment.  It was really cold but I was wayyy distracted.  Kristina made me switch coats with her because her coat was way cuter than mine.  I am thankful she did that once I saw the pictures because I loved how they came out.  We went around to different parts of the beach and took a lot of fun pictures and the whole time I was trying to piece how Scott planned all of this.  I hate not being in the loop with things so I am very impressed that he kept it a secret.  

Once we decide we got enough pictures, all three of us went back to my house to see my parents.  Scott told me my parents already knew so I didn’t call them.  Scott came up the Sunday before (while I was out with my cousins) and met my dad.  He took the time to spend an afternoon with my dad and I thought that was so special.  When I got home I couldn’t even get word out.  I went straight to my mom and cried in her arms.   We also went through all of the pictures Kristina took so my parents could see how the surprise went.  That was really fun and special to share with my parents.  I tried calling as many people as possible without making anything “facebook official.” 

Scott and I were so excited to share with all of you the great news and wonderful story.  Thank you so much for all of your support so far!  We are already so thankful for the blessings the Lord has poured over our lives.  We are also so excited to start this new chapter in Summer 2012.  Exact date is to be determined.  Love you all!

If you haven't seen pictures yet, here are a few that Kristina got. She did a wonderful job!

Within The Storm

I love my Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest devotion.  I learn something new about God and His grace every day.  I haven't blogged/written in a while but I wrote these thoughts down when God revealed them to me.  I wanted to share what was on my mind because I have been hearing the same message from God through different people these past few weeks.  Other than my devotional book, my art professor and certain speakers in chapel have been speaking to my heart.  


I've never used grapes as an analogy to describe the faith and lifestyle we should have but Chambers did.  It kind of went along with the story of Jonah.  In order to become wine grapes have to be crushed, not just by God but sometimes by other people if God so chooses.  Fulfilling the call of God is a journey.  How many times have you heard that? Doing what God wants isn't going to be on a huge sign in front of your face and recognizable for you to follow.  It is a process through the storm and sometimes that process can be 'crushing'.  Like Jonah, who from the outside looking in was set to die.  If you think about it, what was the perspective of the others with Jonah during his journey? First of all, they threw him off the side of the boat.  When is that ever a good idea? But it gets better. THEN they watched him get eaten by a whale! Of course if you were on that boat and watched all this happen you wouldn't doubt that Jonah was going to die.  But God had other plans.  God did this to Jonah on purpose.  He was using Jonah even if Jonah decided to make his own plans for the time being.  Jonah was within the storm, getting through it, and fulfilling his call but still stumbling. 


God may choose to send you to the depths of the sea and then spend some time in the belly of a big fish.  The purpose of Jonah's story is not that he told the Good News to the Ninevites.  The purpose was about Jonah's journey within the storm.  God's plan will be fulfilled even if we choose to rebel but that doesn't mean God won't choose to teach us something.  Like that wonderful Casting Crowns song, we will praise Him in this storm.  The call isn't the goal but getting there is what matters.  We have to be broken in order for God to shape us.  And grapes have to be ripe in order to be squeezed into delicious wine.  If we are not ripe and get squeezed, well, then the wine is bitter.  


1 Corinthians 4:7-12
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."