Engagement Story

This weekend I was asked to share our engagement story to some of our friends that are on JR's softball team. They loved the story and so do I of course, so I thought I would share it with all of my blogger friends too.

Tuesday, December 27th, 2005, I was awakened by my younger brother Mason telling me that I had a package I needed to open. Keep in mind this was 2 days after Christmas, so I totally thought it was something i had forgotten to open but was unsure as to why he was waking me up at 8am to tell me. So I got out of bed and opened the box to find a dress and a pair of shoes to match. The letter inside told me to get ready by putting on these clothes because today was going to be a special day. After shock and immediate suspension (we had been dating for 7 years at this point.. cmon you would think it was time too ha!) I got out of bed and got ready. A few minutes later my brother brought me another letter. In this letter JR wrote about my father's house (where I was) and how special it was to both of us. This whole time my friend Missy, who had stayed the night with me, both brothers and Sue and Dad did nothing but smile. And when I asked, "What is going on?" they responded with well we dont know. Yea right they didn't know haha. At 8:45am there was a knock on the front door. I looked outside and saw that a white limo was in the driveway and they had laid out the red carpet for me. "This is going to be a great day" I thought to myself :) JR's brother Phillip got out of the limo and handed me a scrapbook that JR had our friend Liz help him make. Inside was everything you could think of: old letters we had written to each other in high school, movie stubs, receipts from when we worked at Cracker Barrel, and of course A LOT of pictures from our many years of dating. At the end of the scrapbook, the last page said Man and Wife and a lifetime together, and so from then on I knew without a doubt that would be that day I was getting engaged. Phillip and I took off in the limo and went to our next stop. At each stop there was one of JR's best friends and groomsmen there waiting for me with a rose and another letter about why the place we were at was so special to us and how it played a role in our relationship. The limo took me to: our favorite spot on the lake, my mom's house, our high school, the football field where we had many of discussions about our future together, his parents and my grandmothers. At the end it was me and 8 guys in the limo, but still no JR! Finally about 12:30 we made our way to the church that JR and I grew up in. Everyone got out in front of me and Phillip waited to escort me down the aisle. As soon as the doors opened I saw all of my family and friends sitting in the pews.. and at the front on stage was JR.
He began to play a song that he had written for me as I walked down. Of course at this point I was balling :) The song was absolutely precious and once I get a copy of the words I will share those too. Everyone in the whole place was crying I think haha. You can also see in the background he had set up a slideshow of pictures of us together.

(to listen to the song that he wrote for me, follow the link on the left for "engagement video")

After his song he proceeded to tell everyone why he knew God had called us to be together and spoke of the journey He had brought us on together. He shared several Bible verses and also washed my feet.

Finally the moment I had waited for and I wish I had a picture of what my face looked like once I saw the ring. He did very good!!! :)

We were both so excited that this was the start of our future life as husband and wife.

I was so thankful to have my very best friends there with me. Missy, JD and Jessica had been right there with us all along our relationship, so it was only fitting that they were there to share this special moment with me. JR was so sweet to get Katie in town from Pittsburg too!

All of the guys were so excited to be a part of our day. It was so funny hearing all of them trying to play it off like nothing was happening, even though we were all in a limo and dressed up. :)

Can you tell I was a little excited to have my ring? :)

Afterwards we all gathered in the fellowship hall for a small reception and then went ice skating. It was a perfect day. And that is the end of our engagement story. Thanks for reading!