Engaged!

Today, 2 years ago, Chad and I got engaged! So fun to think back on that special night! I am so much more in love than I was then and fall further each and everyday!

Here is the story of our proposal that I wrote just a few weeks after Chad popped the question!

Chad and I had been dating just over 11 months and had seen quite a bit! We had done alot of praying in the previous three months and after a short break we came to terms with the reality, we didn't wanna live without each other!!! I must admit it took me the longest to realize the obvious but when your talking about forever, you've gotta take your time, it was a big decision, the biggest of my life and I wanted it to be perfect!! Finally, it was fast Sunday in March and I knew it, I wanted to marry Chad. I couldn't wait to tell him, he had waited so long! I had planned to take him on a picnic the next night and tell him there, it was a big deal for us. but when I got to church and saw him there waiting for me I couldn't wait any longer, i ran to him and we said our hellos and out of no where i just told him I was ready to go for it! He was so happy, we both were and even before we got engaged we were making plans, by the end of the day we knew what day we wanted to get married, May 22, the weather would be just nice enough to do in my parents back yard and 22 is chads favorite number, win win situation.

The week flew by, I looked at rings and looked, and looked and looked! I couldn't find anything I really loved and by friday I was so burnt out! I realized that even if I got the ring and was engaged the same day we would still have less than three months to plan this wedding! We could have moved back the date but I wanted my backyard reception, a church just wasn't an option for me. The next few days, the pressure continued to rise, I knew I had to start getting things done but its really hard trying to plan a wedding when no one can know because your not officially going to get married yet. I was stressed to put it lightly. On St. Patricks day, March 17th Chad and I were going to find the ring! I was determined, I had prayed all day that I would find something, amazing and in the price range that night! We met up at the jewelers and looked for 2 hours, yes 2 hours, I was so determined to find something but as the first hour passed I realized, even if I find it, they have to size it and order it and it'll still be at least two weeks before I'm engaged! I was so frustrated with myself, i couldn't do it all fast enough! I walked out of the store with chad and started to cry. I was at a breaking point. Chad was stressed but like the angel he is, just took care of me and assured me that everything was going to be just fine. To calm me down, he suggested we go on a walk together. We drove back to his house and started walking down the street to a little park.

Chad knows exactly how to calm me down, we talked and laughed and yes, we played on the kids playground together. We started talking about how stressful the past week had been and how we wished we could just get married. I was completely unprepared for him to take my hand a get down on one knee. I was definitely caught off guard I didn't know what to think. This wasn't at all like I had imagined, I was wearing jeans and one of chads big sweatshirts, my hair was a mess and we were standing in the sand at a park?! I never imagined getting proposed to like this. But as soon as he started to talk I knew this was that moment I had always dreamed about! He poured his heart out to me, I've never felt so much love and devotion from him than I did at that moment. We both cried ( mainly him) and he pulled a ring box from his coat pocket? what?! A ring!!? He opened it and there it was, a HUGE cubic zirconium ring. He had bought it at the mall that day! We laughed at that for a while and it quickly came to my realization how ignorant and blind I had been, its not the ring that makes you engaged its the immovable commitment that you make to one another! I apologized for being so worried about everything being perfect and started focusing on what I really wanted, to be sealed to Chad Merrell for time and all eternity!!!