Engagement

Monday night, January 26th, 2009, Ben proposed to me; he asked me if I will spend Forever with him One Day At A Time, and of course I said yes!

You can't see the ring real good from this picture but it is beautiful: very Victorian with all the intricate details engraved on the side and band of the ring. It has a diamond enclosed in a circle on top with three diamonds on each side before moving into engraved leaves on the band. From the side it has engraved swirles and a flower.

So how did the proposal go you are probably wondering?

Well, Monday I had to work and so did Ben, although Monday's we usually have lunch together, so I waited for him to call. When he finally did he sounded frustrated and kind of irritated because he was working on hanging some drapes at work and he said that he would stop in an hour or so and go get lunch at Serious Texas. So I got off the phone with him and thought well I have to have lunch so I will just go to the Serious Texas by my work and pick up two tacos and surprise Ben with them, so I even prayed for a parking spot in the little cramped parking lot and I got one and there was no line at all to order so I got out of there really fast and on my way to surprise Ben. Well on my way my Mom (who was in on the whole proposal as well as Dale) called and was just wondering what I was up to; I didn't think anything of the call because she usually calls just random to say hi and find out what I am up to. Well I tell her my plan to surprise Ben as I'm driving to go see him. Little did I know that Ben and his whole office were trying to get him out of the office by 12:00 so he could go shopping with my mom for the stuff to decorate my apartment. So as soon as my Mom gets off the phone with me she calls Ben to let him know I am coming to surprise him with tacos and to act surprised, now that he knew. I also called him and tried to see if he had left for lunch so I could still catch him. Once I arrived I took my time because I had an hour so I was like, I'm good I have a hour, while everyone was trying to get me to leave so Ben could leave. Cathy the office Secretary at Ben's work, had said while I was there that she saw my mom at Wal-Mart. She had made it sound like she saw her that morning and when I had talked to my Mom not to long before that, she made it sound like she was at home in her PJ's with wet hair, you know that kind of thing. So I said to Cathy, " This morning you saw her?" that's when Cathy said no a couple of weeks ago with Debbie, who also works in the office,(Debbie's daughter dated my brother at one point so she would know my Mom). Ben told me later that Cathy almost slipped, she had actually seen my mom on Saturday when Mom and Dale went to the office to help Ben paint the treasure chest he had built(you will find out about this later in the proposal). So when Ben told me this I was like Cathy lied to me! But Cathy felt bad and she called the next day to tell me she had lied and apologized.

Finally I left the office only to find out that I lost my keys and it wouldn't have been so bad but a freak snow storm had broke out and I parked on the other end of the parking lot as well as the entire office couldn't wait for me to leave so Ben could leave. I found my keys and left and I guess when I finally did they were like she's gone its clear Ben you can now leave. So I was completely oblivious to all that was behind the scenes, my Mom, Dale, Ben and his office plotting a proposal.

About 4:45pm, just 15 minutes before I was suppose to get off work (which rarely happens on time), Ben calls to see when I will be done, I told him I was planning 5:00pm and that he could start dinner. Ben and I don't live together, because we believe that is what God intended, you come together both in housing and body once you say "I do, kiss the Bride, announced as One" on your Wedding day, but we eat dinner together every night if we can and I have been experimenting with my crock pot and grill ( I have had so much fun cooking with it) he answered me by saying I've got somthing in mind. At that point I began to think he has something in mind! Up until that point I had no idea that he was going to propose! I started to get nervous thinking about it and the worst thing was, I like to look cute everyday but this day I hadn't put much thought into my outfit, so I thought oh great the one day he chooses to propose I'm not even dressed cute! I was still a little nervous so I took my time getting my mail and walking up to the door. When I got to the front door of my apartment there was a pink card taped to the door inside it read something like follow the kisses and rose petals and that he had used my stationary and I hope that was ok. lol. I walked through the door to find that the inside had been decorated with white cheese cloth like fabric, candles, rose petals, Hersey kisses, arrows drawn on note cards to direct me on this Mini journey, and in the background the Josh Turner song Will You Go With Me (Ben and my song because its really good and at the end of it it talks about tying up the ends of a dream) was playing. It had been snowing that day so I had to take off my jacket, put down my purse, mail, bag and take off my shoes-the whole time I was wondering if he was watching and if this really was what I thought it was or another day before the actual engagement. I began to tip toe on the rose petals while reading the notes he had put on different things in my house. Each note said something he loved about me. I do have to admit I was also thinking I probably look like an idiot tip toeing on these petals walking in circles around my apartment. I had to walk around my coffee table into the dinning room and then around the dinning room table-on the table he had Cherry flavored Sparkling(non-alcoholic) drink in an ice bucket with two glasses and lit candles. the atmosphere was so romantic and special and quite besides the music playing. Then I went into the kitchen on the wall was another card that read Happy Anniversary. It then occurred to me that it was the 26th. We had started dating July 26th, 2008 and it was our sixth month anniversary! I then followed the petals down my hall way to my bedroom the note on the door said I could let the cat out first, who was in the bathroom, (Moses our adopted cat can be a little brat and he would have pulled down the decorations before I even got there) I thought he was in the bedroom so when no cat came out i proceeded in. Inside to the left of my bed was a large treasure chest that looked like it came from Pier 1 Imports- I thought to myself where did he buy that? Another note was on the chest that said to read first--I could feel myself tearing up as I read Ben's love for me in words but I held the tears back as I opened the chest to find Ben on one knee with the ring box in his hand. I was so distracted with the ring that as he asked me to Marry him I didn't even look at his face-later I asked him if we could rewind and re-do that moment so I could look at his face. I of course said yes and the story just gets better from here as we plan our Wedding and take this journey together.

After the proposal we had to call Mom and Dale and let them know how it went and that I said yes (Mom and Dale helped decorate and catch Ben's vision for the whole evening--they were in on it from the beginning!! Ben, Mom and Dale even spent the Saturday before together and I invited them over for dinner that night, not once did they give away that they had spent the day together) We called Dwight and Linn (our pastors, my boss and Ben's adopted parents) they were so excited for us that I could hear them in the other room yelling hurray!! Ben text everyone on his cell list , "She said Yes!" some were like what? Benjie our worship pastor who has known Ben for a long time was like who? What? Megan his wife had to tell him Ben just proposed to Kelly and she said yes. It was then he got super excited!! A lot of people have been so excited for us!! We made a lot of phone calls that evening to my Dad and Step Mom and of course my Wedding Planner and very good friend from grade school, Rachel. So the journey continues--Forever One Day At A Time!!

Stay Tuned...