Well most of you know this, but I am engaged to PHIL!!! He propsed last Thursday. I would love to call all of you but it would take forever so I thought I would tell you all what happened here...
So last week, Phil asked me to go on the "BEST DATE OF MY LIFE!" So I knew we were going on a date last night. He picked my up at my door at 7:00 and we walked outside. I didn't see his car anywhere but I DID see a guy standing with his arms folded against this shiny black car. He was wearing all black, a bright orange tie, and had stunna-shades on! Low and behold, it was our chauffer for the night - ONE OF PHIL'S YOUNG LIFE GUYS!!! I got in the car and was like, "Phil, what is going on??? What are we doing? Why is Chad driving us around?" He just told me it was a special date...
We drove around downtown a little and then drove back towards East Campus (where we all live). We stopped at Phil's house. As soon as we parked, 2 guys dressed up came and escorted us to the balcony of Phil's apartment. (Yes, the guys were 2 more of Phil's YL guys...) We went up there and there was a cute little table for 2, lime green dishes, bright pink daisies in a vase... It was just CUTE! We had water and rolls and salad. (All of which were served to us by the "waiters" aka young life guys). After salad, Phil asked me if I was ready to go and I was like, "What? Ok, we just had salad though..."
We get back into our chauffeured car and drive around downtown some more, then head back again to East Campus and wind up at my best friend Erica's house. Same thing - 2 different Young Life guys come out to the car and escort us up the side steps and to the balcony at Erica's house. There was another table for 2 out there, but much fancier and more romantic. There were candles everywhere, a bottle of wine, Christmas lights all around the room, it was unbelievable... (and yes, by this time, I was thinking, "Ok this is either one incredible date or this is THE date!!!") We were served again and had a wonderful chicken with tomato basil pasta dish! It was incredible. After eating, Phil said it was time to go again...
Chad picked us up again and drove around downtown one last time and then we drove back to East Campus AGAIN and wound up at MY HOUSE!!! (Keep in mind, I had just been there about an hour before this!!!) Chad said this was the end of his job so we told him goodbye! The house looked amazing! It was beautiful!!! There were candles all the way up the front steps and we went inside to a dark dark house, all filled with candles and stuff. We walked through the kitchen and then were met by 2 more of Phil's young life guys who were all dressed up, holding up a dessert menu. They sat us on the back deck, which looked INCREDIBLE! Candles EVERYWHERE!!! More wine, rose petals covering the table, red table clothes, it was unbelievable. Our servers brought us out these incredible strawberry cannoli parfait things! Unbelievable! And chocolate covered strawberries! We just sat and talked... (By this time, it was dark outside...) After dessert, the servers brought us coffee to finish off our meal!
We were finished so Phil asked me if I wanted to go on a drive! I said sure! I asked him if we could go out to the river (We have this little spot on the Missouri River that we ALWAYS go to, like once or twice a week!) Since we didn't have his car, we had to walk to his house (which is just 2 blocks away.) So, we got in his car and headed towards the river... (About at 15-20 minute drive.)
We get there and he asks me if I want to get out! I say yes (which, I keep thinking, what if I WOULDN'T have!?) It's really really dark by this point so we get a flashlight and walk onto the bridge. We look down on the bank which is where we wanted to walk to, but we see 3 guys fishing and stuff. I asked Phil if he wanted to stay and he said, "Yeah, let's stay a little bit longer. Maybe they'll leave soon." Low and behold, 3 minutes later (no kidding) they packed up and left. So, we walked under the bridge and down to the bank.
The bank at night is AMAZING! On the bridge everything was covered by trees and really dark. But on the bank, it was incredible! It was much farther out, so the trees cleared out and you could see the sky! The moon lit the water up and lit the sky up! It was awesome looking. At this point I am being my normal nerdy self and looking around with the flashlight at stuff.
Then, Phil says, "Ah! I've got a bug bite! Ah!" (He bends down to "itch his bugbite.") Then he says, "Lace?" And I said, "Huh?" (Still kinda looking away at stuff...) "Will you marry me?" ...........
I looked down at him and (yes this is all a blur sort of right now. All I know is that I screamed "YES" and kept saying, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" "We're getting married!!!" Haha! And yes, there were tears, the happiest tears of my life!
So then he shows me the ring... A long time ago we decided we weren't going to do diamonds or anything too fancy. We want to do mission work in the 3rd world or in a poor inner-city somewhere, so we want to be very careful about what we have (possession-wise). I mean, how would it look if we lived in a poor slum in Africa or something and I had a huge rock on my hand? Not good. So he tells me about my ring...
It's my wedding band. Not an engagement ring. But right now, it's on a necklace. And I have to wear it as a necklace until we are officially wed! It is silver and has Hebrew writing all around it that means, "I am my lover's and He is mine." Yes - this is our favorite verse from Song of Solomon. So that's the ring story. Pretty great. Very different from the "normal" way of doing things, but a true testament to our love and our faith in glorifying Christ.
So then we leave... smiling from ear to ear. I can't believe it. I freaked out about every 2 minutes or so and it was just really great. I called my mom and dad. It was so great! They both cried and were really excited for us! Then, we're driving back to Phil's house. We said we were just going to hang out, watch a movie, and celebrate with each other.
We get to his house and it's pitch black. (Which is pretty odd for his house too!) We go inside, turn on the lights, and no joke, about 80 of our friends jumped out and screamed "Congratulations!!!!" It was amazing. I was screaming! I was SO surprised! I still can't believe it. I was shaking and crying and it was just incredible! We had a huge celebration party! It was just wonderful!!! Ahh! So the party lasted till about midnight and we all went home.
Phil and I got breakfast this morning. We wanted last night to be our celebration and celebration only so this morning we talked wedding logistics! We went to Cracker Barrel and talked about everything. We'd like to get married early in the summer so that we have 2-3 months of being married before school starts next fall, so that most of our friends will still be in town (because lots of people do internships, summer missions, etc.) and that way we'll have a free summer and not have to do "wedding stuff". Anyway, we looked at dates and so far thought that May 24th would be the best. We'd really like to save the date and start looking at places. (which will be either in KC or we thought about trying to find a sweet place along the river.)
Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know! I can't even believe it! This is such an exciting thing!
LOVE!
Lace
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