Once Upon a Time... Part Five

"Wednesdays at 8" continued without skipping a beat, even after that fateful November 24th conversation. Actually, our conversations didn't change a whole lot... except that we were both praying about marriage.

It was decided that Jonathan would come and visit on December 29th and talk with my Dad about possibly marrying me. He came up to visit me and we went to our favorite spot of all-- A&W-- and had our favorite foods, cheese curds and root beer. I remember that we were both "out of it" because we were so tired from the holidays, but frustrated about that because our time together in person was so limited. Jonathan also admitted later that he was a bit nervous about talking with my Dad. :-) So, he came and visited and talked with my Dad... and my Dad basically told him that if he wanted to marry me, he had my parents' blessing. Jonathan hadn't quite expected that carte blanche, but hey, he'd take it! :-)

The weeks went on... and occassionally we would have "special editions" of "Wednesdays at 8" on days other than Wednesdays. :-) We each wrote out our fears, our concerns, and our questions that we had for the other. We had very deep conversations about our convictions on many topics-- things we would need to agree upon in order to be married. Those conversations were difficult at times, but yet, because our emotions were not altogether involved yet, we could be objective in our analyses. We discovered that we were on the same page... and it started to become obvious that God was calling us to marriage.

Jonathan had said, "Let's pray about this for about 6 months." But, by the end of January, we had come to a decision-- God had very clearly said, "Yes" to our marriage, and we felt that God was asking us to move forward.

This was still a secret-- only our parents and a very few close friends knew that we were even contemplating marriage. And it stayed a secret... until February 25th, 2008. My parents and I took a "secret" trip to Missouri to visit Jonathan. They wanted to talk to him and have some deep conversations with him. Those conversations happened... and so on February 25th we announced our engagement to his department co-workers at CEF Headquarters. It was an amusing event... Jonathan had called together a "special lunch" in one of the classrooms, but wouldn't tell them why. In true "show host" style, he announced to them that there was a special visitor... and then I walked through the door. Most of his coworkers remembered me from when I was at CEF Headquarters 6 years before. Then Jonathan explained a bit of the journey God had taken us on, and then he announced, "And, so... we've decided TO GET MARRIED!" Cheers erupted and there were exclamations of, "I knew it! I just knew it!" It was a fun time... yet slightly surreal.

I remember driving home later that evening and texting Jonathan (something I had never previously done) and realizing that I was engaged to be married-- and that he was my fiance! (I can be a bit dense :-)).

So, I came home, and then the fun began. :-) We started making the announcement to family and friends... the priceless reactions were too many to recount here. :-) The most common reaction was, "Well, it's about TIME you two got together! What took you so long?!" Apparently they knew something we hadn't realized-- that God had made us for each other. :-)

The interesting thing about announcing our engagement on February 25th was that Jonathan hadn't had any opportunity to officially propose and ask me to marry him-- it was a mutual decision that we had both made to commit to marriage. So, there hadn't been a proposal or a ring... that, Jonathan assured me, was coming later.

But, it didn't matter-- we had made a commitment to get married, and THAT'S what mattered. But, I am, after all, a girl... and every girl wants a romantic proposal and a ring.

I was looking forward to getting mine. :-)