The Proposal: Jamie and Rachel Style

Newly engaged at Multnomah Falls, December 2010

So I know many of you are curious to know the story of "The Proposal". I must say, I am thrilled to share it with you all as it is a lot of fun to "re-live" and to tell. It brings a smile to my face every time I remember it (which is often). It was truly the most awesome, wonderful, unexpected, yet perfect moment of my life thus far. For a moment, the world stood still leaving just the two of us: in love, committed, and focused on the One who brought us together in the first place, God. The joy of that moment exceeded any joy I can recall ever feeling. It was different. So special, so surreal, yet so life-changing. Now, I know there will be many more significant and life-changing days and moments to come in the future, but for now, this is the moment that I am holding onto, re-living, and praising God for. And not just the moment, in fact, the man in the moment is what made that evening so incredible. The man of my dreams asking me to marry him-to be his and no one else's as long as we both shall live. Wow. Such excitement with such responsibility as well. What is truly exciting and incredible is not just the engagement, but the whole getting married and being together and sharing our life, struggles, joys, and faith together until death do us part. I'd say that getting to share THESE things with Jamie is what pretty much trumps everything :) Life with him is just right. It is simple, it is fun. It is sweet, it is real. It will be challenging at times, but always...ALWAYS...worth it.

Okay, okay, okay...The story: Let's start with when Jamie first arrived into the States!

Jamie flew into Portland airport on December 23. I arrived at the airport about an hour beforehand to pick him up and was going crazy inside. I'm sure I must of looked so funny to the others sitting around me in the "international arrivals" section of the airport, shaking with excitement, fidgeting in my chair, checking the time and arrivals board every 3 seconds, but hey I didn't care. I smiled all the more and tried my best to contain my excitement, failing miserably to actually hide the emotions exploding inside of me. I'm sure I let out a few giggles outloud, but so it goes :) I will never forget when I saw him in the airport. It was the first time in 5 (long) months that I had seen him...since our last emotional goodbye in the summer. Nothing can describe what I was feeling as I watched him walking towards me and hurried to meet him and give him a hug and kiss! Nothing could diminish or hinder our love for one another at that moment, or any other for that matter.

Jamie had been awake for more than 48 hours straight with his crazy travelling schedule, but nevertheless, his smile was bigger than ever and he was the same Jamie I had always loved and longed to spend time with. He hadn't changed a bit. We drove from the airport up to my dad's where we spent the night and Jamie recovered a bit from his crazy couple days. There was nothing like going to sleep knowing that Jamie was just down the hall, sleeping, IN THE SAME HOUSE AS ME!

The next day was Christmas Eve. We spent it with my mom and siblings, and had a great evening with them! We ate great food, had sweet fellowship, and just enjoyed one another's company.

Fast-forwarding now to "The Actual Day"...

Christmas morning Jamie and I drove my mom to the airport, then headed back up to my dad's house to spend the day with my family up there. We had a wonderful morning together, laughing and opening presents, and just enjoying the day. Personally, I was thoroughly enjoying the fact that Jamie was there next to me to share it all together!!! The day went by rather quickly. We ate a delicious meal together and then just hung out. I was super tired, however, and was really struggling to stay awake despite the excitement of Jamie's arrival. Before he got to Oregon, I had worked a few opening shifts in a row at work so had hardly had any sleep. Jamie, realising how tired I was, encouraged me to lie down for a bit and take a nap. Reluctant to sleep on Christmas day and miss out on anything, I proceeded to tell him I didn't need to and that I would be ok. But being the amazing and convincing man that he is, he somehow talked me into the idea of a short nap and made it seem so appealing. So, naturally, I caved and gave in. He tucked me in and assured me (as I asked him to) that he would come wake me up in 30 minutes. I fell asleep instantly and don't even remember him walking out of the room.

About 5 minutes later (apparently), Jamie came back in the room to check on me and to make sure I was asleep before he went and asked my dad if they could chat outside. (I had no idea any of this was happening!) I was asleep, so Jamie found my dad and asked him for my hand. My dad, thankfully, said yes! :)
Little to Jamie's knowledge, my dad was actually cleaning a shot gun when he went to ask him! (no joke!)

After Jamie got permission from my dad he came back into the room. But this time, not to check on me or wake me up. The ring was in the room with me (had no idea!!) and he wanted to get it before I woke up, just in case there were any opportune times for him to ask me. (This is coming from him). To Jamie's surprise, this time when he came into the room and turned on the light I began to wake up! He was a little startled and quickly switched off the light as he saw me moving. He began to speak quickly, saying things to reassure me that everything was fine and I should go back to sleep because I was still tired. Ha :) Well his convincing charm didn't work so well this time :) I asked him how long I had been sleeping for and he told me it had been about 40 minutes. Instantly I was awake and aware that I "needed to get up" and couldn't sleep any longer, as I was so set on only sleeping for a half hour!!! I couldn't believe it had been longer and didn't want to go back to sleep. Jamie tried to convince me one more time by saying, "You're still tired Rach, you should go back to sleep", but I wasn't buying it. I wanted to be awake at this point. (Remember, the light is still off and he's looking for the ring, whilst we're having this conversation). He then says to me, "Well you should go back to sleep, but before you do...I just have one question for you..(gets down on his knees and pulls out the ring)....

"Will you marry me?"

Nothing could've prepared me for that moment! I thought it was coming at some point soon, but had NO idea it was THEN! I could tell Jamie noticed the look of surprise on my face. I don't know how long it was, but I felt like I had my mouth open forever just in total shock. I couldn't even speak. He then began to say really sweet things, whilst still on his knees holding the ring box open towards me. (the light was still off). Due to my lack of response still, he prompted me....haha. "So I'll take that as a..._ _ _?" Immediately I exclaimed, "YES!" and gave him the biggest hug. Then I realised that I still hadn't even seen the ring because of the light being turned off. So I lept off the bed, turned on the light, and he put the ring on my finger. It was gorgeous! I loved it! For the next 5 minutes I don't think we let go of eachother. We just smiled and laughed and smiled some more! It was awesome!

Jamie knew I had been trying to figure out how he'd propose, so he did a great job in keeping me surprised! He told me later that he hadn't meant to propose then, it just happened. We had been a part for 5 months, my dad gave him the permission he wanted, he walked in and saw me sleeping, found the ring, got down, and popped the question. It was so sweet and precious to me because I knew he couldn't wait any longer. His face and smile said it all. I've never seen him so excited! It was so awesome! We then told my family, made phone calls, took some photos and continued to smile loads! :) (I actually told my dad first and was so excited that I ran outside in my slippers to find him! It was a funny sight I'm sure)

So there you go! Spontaneous and simple, yet perfect and totally us. I'll never forget Christmas day, 2010 when Jamie asked me to be his wife!!!!! I am so excited and couldn't be more thankful to be marrying a man of God like him. He is perfect for me in every way.

We just got...engaged?!!

Now, we are apart again, but we rejoice in the fact that we will be together again soon. The distance is hard, the missing sucks...but God has got us and we are trying to trust Him every step of the way. The plan is simple really. We wait on God's timing and the governments blessing, we stay focused, we listen, and be as obedient as we can to all that God has in store for us. His love for us both is what drives our love for each other. I'm so excited for the rest of our lives. Nothing could be better.