I am engaged!

I was driving down from Albany the night before in the rain, wondering just how am I gonna do this. The nice warm days are well behind us, and it's just going to get colder from here on. I had always hoped to propose by the water, under nice weather... but it didn't seem like a possibility. The weather report was very bad for the weekend. Then I thought to myself, doing this indoors might be just as nice. When I arrived at her house that night, I left a dozen roses and a small box on her porch. The box was just big enough to hold a ring... (it actually was the box the ring came in). When she found it, I told her to open it. To her surprise, it was full of Hershey's kisses.

I thought it might be more special to propose somewhere other than her house. Since the plan was to do this indoors, I had planned to take her to a nice museum in Manhattan. God had other plans.

DATE: October 28th, 2006. TIME: approx. 3:15pm. LOCATION: Central Park, New York City.
The rain ended in the morning, and it turned out to be a beautiful autumn day with a nice breeze. We never made it to the museum. Instead we went for a walk in Central Park, something I've never really done before. And we came across bow bridge, one of the most beautiful cast iron bridges in the world. It was overlooking the lake, with the 5th avenue skyline in the background. I thought to myself.. this has got to be the place. So I said "Glennis, I want to ask you something". I pulled out the ring, held my breath, got down on one knee and said... "Will you marry me?" ... And she said "Yes! I will marry you". This is all very special to me... the right place, at the right time, under the right conditions... and most definitely, the right girl. :) Below is a picture of us minutes after she said yes.

Glennis and I have known each other since childhood. We have been good friends for many years. I spent a good 7 years of my life praying for her... just praying. She has been, and always will be the most special girl in my life.

We started dating on August 13th this year, after some careful thought and prayer. Yes, after only 11 weeks, we got engaged. Dear friends... when you know, YOU KNOW. It does not require a set number of years of dating to know that someone is the one. The formula for a successful marriage includes... 1)having your lives focused on God; 2)being best friends with each other; 3)and being totally in love with each other! ... Everything else is secondary.

So, there's a wedding coming up, but I'm not sure when. I've never been engaged before, so this is all very new to me. But I do feel blessed. There are some things that I can only dream of happening... this is one of them... yet it's not a dream. God has been faithful in so many things. It is He who orchestrated everything, and it is He who deserves all the honor and praise. May it be so... for as long as we live.