An excellent year's progress!

I love this line in Bridget Jones, the Edge of Reason.

God has blessed me beyond measure, truly He has! We are living in very uncertain times, yet God has blessed me with a stable & good-paying job, a loving family and many friends. I have always been someone who dislikes uncertainty and likes to know what is going to happen. When I was in college (even before then!) I had mapped out all of the courses I would take (and looked at their descriptions). Although I have always wanted to get married and have children, I have had a hard time trusting that it would really happen.

I jokingly posted my "ideal" man on my Christmas list last year here Well...I didn't get "it" (aka him!) for Christmas last year...but, better late than never!

It all started on Wednesday, September 9, 2009. A teacher at one of my schools came and talked to me. I am in the middle of my second year at my home school. I didn't know this teacher very well because she works part time and is the ELP teacher so we don't have a lot of contact. She poked her head in my room about 15-20 min. before my first class. She said she doesn't normally like to meddle in the personal lives of her co-workers but she had this nephew...

Needless to say I was a bit skeptical! I have been on about 7 different set-ups, none of them were remotely promising! Well, it didn't take long for me to realize this was different! I actually had a lot in common with this nephew (I'll call him "Jack" ;). We were both homeschooled, we both like Thai food and other spicy foods, we both had similar life goals, etc... Our first date was on Saturday, Sept. 12th. I gave his aunt my email address which she forwarded to him. I got an email on the 10th, I responded and gave him my phone #, he called me on the 11th to set up our date on the 12th. We ate at a local barbeque restaurant where I of COURSE spilled sauce on my white shirt... It wasn't love at first sight but I knew he was different than your average guy when he asked me how much I had in student loans on our first date!

We have spent EVERY weekend since then together (17 weekends total). Litmus test #1: meeting MY sister and her family (weekend #4). Litmus test #2: meeting HIS parents (weekend #5--we spent 5 hours together!). Litmus test #3: barn dancing!. Litmus test #4: meeting MY parents (weekend #9). We spent Thanksgiving together and still, everything continued to go well. It started to become apparent this was REALLY and TRULY going somewhere, but...what about church? It seemed that we had talked about every topic under the sun: little every day things, boring details about childhood, random but serious topics (debilitating injury, infertility, adoption, budgeting, life goals, etc.). We agreed on almost everything, including religious beliefs (not an easy feat!). We passed each test with FLYING colors!

We knew that although we hadn't been dating for very long, this was serious and moving quickly towards marriage. I knew that he had started saving for a ring in October as a precaution (just in case it went somewhere soon!). I was thinking he might propose around Valentines day...WRONG! He told me on Sunday, December 20th that he had the ring! I told him I wasn't sure how long I could way, that it might be nice around Christmas (we were going to my parents on Christmas Eve). Well, I started feeling crummy that night and woke up feeling sick (on the 21st, my birthday no less!). He came and kept me company, took care of me, but then had to go to work. After work he brought me some Thai food to help clear my sinuses. He had already given me one birthday present, then he surprised me with another one...an engagement ring!

I thank God each and every day for bringing this man into my life! He is a good man that loves me, loves God, works hard, and I can't wait to start our life together, tentatively on Saturday, July 31, 2010! More to come...