Engagement Story!

Friday night Julie and I got engaged!

Here's the basic story of how things played out:

April 4 my dad and I drove down to Vincennes, Indiana to see my cousin-in-law, Travis Piper, who happens to be a jeweler. Julie was going to see a Carrie Underwood concert with Emily, and then was going to come over to my place Saturday morning for some kayaking that weekend. Travis helped me pick out a ring, and my cousin Andrea was there with their new baby. My dad was happy to get to hold baby Dayton. While Travis was sizing the ring, I get this text message from Julie that says "Why do I have a feeling that you are being sneaky? :)" My dad and I realize that we are busted and we work on a cover story.

Fast forward 2 weeks, Julie is supposed to spend Saturday and Sunday with her best friend, Michelle, who is getting married in October and Julie is maid of honor. So Friday I drive down to Newport, Kentucky (across the Ohio from Cincinnati) and we spend the afternoon at the
aquarium and just hanging out. Afterwards I was supposed to drive back to Indy just to chill at home for the weekend. However, Julie didn't know that I drove to Dayton so that Saturday I could meet with her parents, her twin brother, and her house church leaders to ask for
their blessing in asking Julie's hand in marriage. I had wonderful conversations with each of them and went home feeling very blessed and encouraged by them.

So by this time Julie is getting excited and thinks she knows something is coming, and I'm excited and have had a ring burning a hole in my pocket. But before I even bought the ring I had already picked out the time and the place. We were to go whitewater rafting on the Lower New River near Fayetteville, West Virginia on May 3. That just seemed like a great time for it. Then after getting home from Dayton the weekend before I bought the ring, I remembered
something. Three years ago I had spent a week out in West Virginia as a vacation/spiritual retreat. I had gone out to a place called Diamond Point to watch the sunset, and while there I had spent some time with God and had journaled some. God reminded me about this time
and I knew that this journal entry was meant for this moment. So West Virginia it was.

So getting ready for going to West Virginia I had to figure out the best way to get her out to this place and set things up. I decided to avoid making it complicated, we had a couple of friends ride out with us. I filled in Steve on the plans, but I didn't fill in Jaime. I also asked one of our kayaking friends to join us for the moment. I stressed all week about whether we were going to get to West Virginia before it was dark. Plan B was to take her out there Saturday night, but there was a 70% chance of thunderstorms. Plan C was to take her out there Sunday morning for the sunrise. So I got off work at 11:15 on Friday and drove over to pick Steve up. We took off for Dayton and got there early. It took a bit to load up, but we took off for West
Virginia and I'm praying we get there in time. We made really good time to West Virginia and got there at about 6:30. For the most part I was managing to play it cool, though my worry came out a few times here and there. We met up with Barry, our kayaking friend, at the
trail head and took off for Diamond Point. We arrived and all took time to enjoy the view. Barry and Steve knew the plan, so they wandered off. It took a moment to get Jaime to give us some time, but she joined the guys and we had a moment alone.

We sat on a rock overlooking the New River Gorge and watched for a moment. Then I pulled out the paper and asked if I could share with her something I had written 3 years before. I read it to her, and my voice was pretty shaky. I finished and she said she loved it and asked if she could keep it, she didn't realize what was going on. I ignored her question and told her that I had known she was the one I wanted to spend my life with since our date at Splashin' Safari, and that her parents, her brother, and her house church leaders had given their blessing. I pulled her to her feet, and away from the edge of the cliff, and got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes! We shared a moment of hugging (we're saving our first kiss
for our wedding day) and just held each other. After a while the others joined us, and Julie and Jaime went nuts. We took some pictures, tried to recreate the scene for the camera, and just
celebrated for a bit. Then we hiked back and went to dinner.

Some fun things that don't really fit in the story, but are worth sharing:

A couple of weeks before I asked her, she had mentioned that she might pass out when I asked her. So I had to make sure she was away from the edge of the cliff when I asked.

I was worried that it would be impossible to get the ring off her finger for rafting, so I bought her a fake ring to wear on the river. This was Sarah's idea, and a good one.

I think my favorite moment of excitement was on the river she's asking me whether I liked candy apple red or sage green for her colors, right as we're coming up on a Class IV rapid.

Conclusion:

I am so blessed that Julie is going to be my wife. She is an incredible woman of beauty, intelligence, character, love, mercy, and grace. Most of all I see that she is a godly woman who lives out her faith in a way that touches the life of each person she meets, especially me. I am unworthy of her love, and I pray that God will teach me how to love her well. I am excited about our future together and I look forward to knowing her more each day.

I also want to say thanks to all the people who have been such a blessing to us. To all the people who have helped shape Julie into the incredible woman she is, and who continue to encourage her and support her as she continues to grow into who God created her to be. Also, to all the people who have supported me and blessed me as God has continued to grow me and shape me. The most important people in our lives, after Jesus Christ, are our friends.

Above all, we pray that our relationship is a testimony to Jesus Christ and His work in our lives. That He is the foundation of our lives and our relationship. God has worked in each of our lives in ways that has transformed us, and we know that He has authored our love story. Our prayer, and we ask each of you to pray, that He would continue to be the center of our lives and our relationship until we go to be with Him some day. We also pray that our lives can be used to show all those we love, those who believe and those who don't, that Jesus Christ is real, that He loves us, and that we have a Hope that is greater than anything this world has to offer.

We love you all!