Engagement

So I got engaged! Turns out that each time I tell the story it changes... I feel like its very similar to my God story. You know, its not the same for each person you tell it to. It becomes more relatable to different people, theres also the choice of the 5-minute, 2-minute or 30-second story... Anyways, heres the story tailored to a blog:

So I started talking to my parents about engagement back in February... It turned out that I had been thinking a little bit more seriously or rather a more quick timeline than my parents were initially. The conversation that started February became a continual conversation all the way till April. My parents have always been supportive of my relationship with Jera and have always loved her. They gave me their blessing officially on April 13th...

Up to this point, I wanted to make sure to protect my heart, so I really hadn't done that much planning. But, the next day I went with my mom and got a ring. By nothing short of a miracle it came in at 4 that Friday, and I had a date set up for 6 with Jera. We went to Petersen's Pit and grilled some burgers while we played catch. We got to talk about our summers ahead and what God is going to do as we head to East Asia. Once it got dark we headed to and old abandoned school and looked at the stars from the roof (awesome!). From there, it got a little chilly and so we went to Jera's place, where she thought the evening was over...

But, I convinced her that it was Vieshea and that we should go be social... So, I told her I wanted my car to be safe so we started to walk toward campus, but we took a detour to an abandoned railroad bridge by Brookside Park. She actually was the first one to show me this place, and we both absolutely love it! So, our friends, Jase Rohde and Jessica Schmeckpeper, had put down a table top with some candles, flowers, cheesecake, and made it all look really nice. At this point, I was pretty nervous, so I pulled out my journal and gave her an entry from a year ago from that night. That was a prayer that I wrote in response to a conversation with Jase after he had set me up on a date with her... At that point, I told her from that point on there were many things I didn't know, but the one thing I did know was that I wanted to spend my life with her, and then asked her to stand up and asked her to marry me. She said yes and then cried and Jase and Jess came out from their hiding (with Brian Jones) and helped us celebrate. Later on we went to Vieshea stuff to celebrate with more friends...

So, I'm marrying Jera Lee somewhere around January 2, 2010... Couldn't be happier! Below is a pic the next day (notice my right eye scar... Thanks Kent Spray!)



Another cool note about this date we had that I forgot to mention earlier... While we were grilling and chatting at Petersen's Pits, we had the amazing blessing of watching an eagle fly around for a good 15 minutes and then sit across the pond from us perched and watching over us... It reminded us of Mark Arant's love for eagles and his parallels of God's goodness, look at: http://metropuritan.blogspot.com/2009/03/eagles.html

And it reminded me of the Eagle Song by Go Fish in their Out of Breath acapella CD (2003)
"I stood and watched an eagle glide, spread his wings, and soared across the sky. So gracefully he flew. Rising effortlessly. I wanted to know just how to be free." ~"The Eagle Song" Go Fish

It was awesome to have the assurance of God watching over us... How good He is, and how He will be our guidance that as we take this next step, He will be the focus of our eyes and that all our joy and pleasure would be found in Him. Praise You Father for blessing me beyond what I could ever ask or imagine!