well it's official- after nine (other) weddings, and 408 days of dating, courting, whatever you want to call it. Amy and I are now engaged to be married sometime in october.. The third of october would make it a solid seven month engagement, however working with venues and chef's and all that can be a bit tricky.
Anyhow, since it didn't quite happen on our one year anniversary picnic on the cliffs over looking la jolla beach and God's sky scrapper paintings -- with cheese, crackers, and the ninja squirrel and my first draft engagement sweater that we used as a blanket...
and it didn't work the week prior with our mammoth mountain trip with fifteen of her friends and a few days of snowboarding.. that was actually her birthday weekend in which i thought the greatest gift to give her was the gift of becoming a wife.. it's kind of neat to think that I am the only one in a position to give her that gift... instead i gave her some new DC boots, burton bindings and a wool sweater.. along with other nick nacks like long arm glove warmers and a handful of my favorite shirts... from mickey made in Japan (printed live on my first outreach in tokyo), to maps of the world (in which i want to travel - bought at uniqlo), to vintage church graphics.. bought at my great friend taku's vintage clothing store in which i helped him open.
all this to say that i gave her all those gifts then said in the enormous hallmark card that i had twenty nine more gifts waiting at home.
So we got home monday night.. then tuesday we had cancelled our bible study and went to the Chris Tomlin concert together at the Rock Church in Point Loma. We had about eight people from our bible study go and another dozen or so friends sitting all with us in the same section..
Originally i had some graphics that were going to go up on the screen however the tour manager had their guys do the audio visual for the concert and my friends couldn't pull those stings.. needless to say after a night of worship i thought.. what can be more romantic than worshipping God together.. that's really the first benefit i felt from having her in my life as my girlfriend.. in fact it was so cool to stand next to one another and sing to God in unison at our church's chapter and verse weekly study..
After singing the medley started with Amazing Grace i realized just how amazing God's grace is.. to spare each of us from our past lifestyles and put us together as broken individuals only to find a completed heart between the three of us.. God, Amy, and I...
then we sang this song singing "i love you Lord, and i lift my voice, to worship you, Oh my soul- rejoice.. take joy my King in what you hear... may it be a sweet sweet song in your ear..." and then it goes "i love you Lord and i lift my hands..).. and as she lifted her right hand I was holding down her left and as we held hands singing to our king; I slipped her last 29 gifts on her finger... twenty eight diamonds which made up the ring represented the 28 years of my life without her and the 29th diamond represented the last year of my life with her..
so that's our story in a nutshell. hope you enjoy and i look forward to sharing more stories from a dual perspective.. peace + Godspeed.
seek first the Kingdom of God and He will give you the desires of your Heart.