As I'm sure every girl does, I have spent much time looking at wedding dresses for the past several years. What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic, just waiting for my own fairytale to unravel.
Thursday, December 16th I drove down to spend the weekend with Austin and his family. I got there in time to pick up his sister from the airport with them. I hadn't seen her since she left for London in September, so it was a
very exciting night for us! Since we were up so late, I was looking forward to sleeping in until my tired body woke itself up :)
Around 11:15 a.m. Friday morning, Austin came and woke me up.
"Come on, babes! Time to get up!" I dragged myself out of bed and got ready. Austin wanted to show me something. When I got in the truck, he had a cooler, rubber boots and a shovel in the back.
Oh no... we're going fishing... I was dead set that he was taking me fishing up in the mountains, and he was going to make me hit them on the head with the shovel. Needless to say, I was not exceptionally ecstatic about the trip. Of course I LOVE spending time with my boy, but I didn't know exactly what to expect- he offered NO details for me!
After about an hour of driving (half of it beinging up windy, bumpy, make-you-carsick kind of roads), we stopped at the top of the mountain. He pulled out a blindfold, put it on me, and asked me to wait in the car for a few minutes. At this point, I knew we weren't fishing...
When he came back and got me, he lead me down a trail, over a stream, and to the edge of the woods.
"Scan this in front of us. What stands out?" It took me a few minutes, but I finally saw a red ribbon on one of the tree branches. We followed the ribbons until I saw big tree set apart from the others. I could see a bouquet of red roses on the other side.
Inside, I had butterflies and adrenaline. I knew what was coming, but in the moments before it happens, what do you do?! You can't just shout, "YES! Of course!" You have to wait for your nervous boyfriend to say everything on his mind and ask you the question you've waited your whole life to hear!
Austin walked me around the tree, and that's when I saw he had carved out a heart in it.
"I need to show you something..." he told me. He pulled out his knife and carved an 'A' in the tree. "Now I need you to carve yours." It took a while, but I finally got a 'J'.
He turned me around started pouring out his heart to me. He told me he loves me, and he couldn't imagine his life without me. To be perfectly honest, I can't remember what exactly he said... It was all so surreal and happened so fast. Not to mention my mind was flying a thousand miles a second!
He got down on one knee, and told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life loving me, growing with me, and taking care of me. Austin teared up a little bit, so as you can imagine, I started bawling. He pulled the ring out and asked me to marry him. I couldn't bear it any more so while he was taking it out, I got down level with him on his knees (he was on TWO knees now because his one knee was "hurting" haha :p), wrapped my arms around his neck, and just held him close.
So, now begins all of the crazy, stressful planning. But my fairytale is finally beginning to unravel :) This boy absolutely stole my heart, and I love him so incredibly much. He brings me closer to God every day, and always reminds me and encourages me to stay close to Him. I am a very lucky girl. I can't wait to marry my love!
