In Other Recent Events

Well, yesterday I had a post looming over my head- one that involved a trip to Michigan to visit one of my favorite friends, Martha, and her new family. Amber and I flew into Chicago Thursday morning and spent the entire weekend with Dr. and the Mrs. as well as their 5 month old twin boys, Ethan and Garrett. The thought of posting about so many fun things we had done and choosing from tons of pictures to post- and then writing about them....it all seemed overwhelming.


Until last night....and then I had yet ANOTHER very exciting "thing" to blog about.

NATE AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!

Here's the brief on how it went down:

We went for a picnic by a lake- the lake where we went after our very first "date".......the place where we first started asking those questions like, "so where are you from?", "how many brothers and sisters do you have?", "What do your parents do?", "What do YOU do?".....

We watched the sunset. We read through a book about dinosaurs that we've both helped write and illustrate- and laughed and recalled fondly some of our favorite memories. He said some of the most wonderful things to me. I was standing. He was kneeling. I said yes. Nate let out a huge sigh of relief. I wrapped my arms around his neck and planted a big wet one. Then we freaked out. I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down and talked 800 miles per minute.

We walked back to the car and it took every ounce of myself to not tell every passerby what had just happened. I thought they should know. I thought I was so excited that I might jump out of my skin and the only thing I knew to do was to tell everyone I could see. Nate held my hand- my left hand, and for the first time, I walked to the car with my fiance. Fiance.

We drove for a bit- just glancing at each other with grins and wrinkled foreheads....and then we each called our parents. They, of course, were in the know the entire time. After that, it was a whirlwind of phone calls and glances, and laughter and wandering around a cool spring evening with exciting news to share with people we love most.

A dear friend wrote this about the photos of my ring- I think she's nailed it on the head:

I like how the photos have three kinds of flowers in them - completely closed with the ring around it, starting to bloom with the ring hanging on to it, and fully blossomed with the ring being held by it.

- a beautiful metaphor for the way the Lord is present in our relationship. The ring will symbolize our marriage....the preparations....the excitement, the way we won't get through without clinging to the Lord.

As we "start to bloom", Nate and I understand the term "through thick and thin". We're aware of the fact that things won't always be easy. We're ready to delve into and push through disagreements and difficult situations that are inevitable in life's storms. We expect these but are not overwhelmed by them because of the promises we have in God's goodness. We confidently "hold onto" our Lord and will strive to serve Him as we begin our journey together as Team Eigsti. And this flower portrays the way we'll be held so tenderly by the one who loves us more than anything we could ever experience here on Earth.