Erik had been assuring me that we would get engaged at some point this summer while I was living in Texas (i am here until the end of June) since we both knew we wanted a Christmas wedding and I had been reminding him- daily- that weddings take a long time to plan. (sounds like me, doesn't it?) Of course, I was constantly asking everyone I knew who may have known something about when he was going to do it, but I couldn't get anything out of anyone...no one seemed to have any ideas. So the first weekend after I got to Texas, I headed to Austin for the weekend to see Erik (i am living in Houston and he lives in San Antonio, so we decided to meet every weekend in Austin to be able to see each other). My brother had pretty much convinced me earlier in the week that there was no way that Erik would do it the first weekend I was there because that would be way too obvious, and he also said he hadn't heard anything about any plans of my parents coming to Texas (which I kinda assumed that they would come whenever he did it) and that he was going to be so mad if they came all the way to Texas and he didn't know anything about it. I totally believed him. So off to Austin I went....semi-pouting the whole way, and with no cute clothes packed- i didn't want to waste any of my cute outfits on a non-eventful weekend! The first night I got there, we went to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in Austin, but it was my idea to go there so I knew he wouldn't do it somewhere that he hadn't planned himself..so no surprise there, obviously. It had been raining all day and was supposed to keep raining all weekend, so we didn't really have any plans for the rest of the weekend....just chilling at his parents house and watching movies in the rain and then going to eat that night for one of his friend's birthday. I had known about that party for a while, because the last time I was in Austin I had met that friend for the first time and he brought up going to do something for his birthday that particular weekend. so no surprise there either. We slept in really late the next day, and while we were eating breakfast, the sun started coming out. We ended up going for a walk in his parent's neighborhood and down to the horse stables...I kept commenting on what a beautiful day it was turning out to be, and Erik seemed to be really surprised too but said he was kinda bummed because he had wanted to stay in and watch movies in the rain all day. After our walk, I wanted him to lay out with me by his parents pool so I could get some sun, and he told me we could, as long as we could leave the house by 4:30 that afternoon since he wasn't really sure how to get to the restaurant where we were supposed to be meeting everyone for Kevin's party. (He had been texting and talking to his friends on the phone throughout the previous week and all weekend trying to figure out where Kevin wanted to go for his birthday, and he supposedly just found out that afternoon what the plan was going to be) So i got myself ready, truly believing we were headed to Ski Shores for dinner. As we were driving, the thought crossed my mind that maybe, just maybe, he was actually taking me somewhere else and was going to propose. No sooner had that thought crossed my mind, I saw a sign that said "Ski Shores ahead"...the restuarant where we were meeting everyone. My heart kind of sank, but I was determined not to get disappointed, because after all, I knew it wasn't coming this weekend anyway, right?!
We were about 30 minutes early for dinner (because Erik "thought it took longer than it actually did") so we had some time to kill before the party started. There was a park nearby that I had heard about last summer when living in Austin that was right on the lake, so he told me he would just run us down there and let me see it. Again, I started to get suspicious, and my heart skipped a few beats at that point. As we pulled up in the park, however, I felt let down- again. It wasn't a very "pretty" kind of park...more like a party park, with people all camping out everywhere and loud parties going on all around the place. Knowing the romantic that Erik is, I just knew he wouldn't propose there, with all those people all around and no place to really be by ourselves. But we parked anyway, and got out to walk around a little bit and go see the boats go by on the lake (and you know how I am about lakes- just seeing a wakeboard boat will make me happy!) We managed to find one picnic table that wasn't occupied, so he wanted to go and sit down for a second since we were still "killing time"and he had paid $8 just to get in there anyway- wanted to get our money's worth. So we sat down on the bench (well, I sat...he wouldn't sit down but just kept looking down the lake alot) and then I started getting suspicious again. He was acting weird and checking his phone alot, and Erik NEVER gets nervous (or checks his phone!!) so I knew at that point that something was going on. He sat down on the bench and smiled really big at me, and started telling me that he had been reading a verse alot lately and that he was really excited about getting to live it out soon...so of course, I asked him what verse that was (we both were smiling really big at this point) and he told me that it was Ephesians 5:25 ("husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her") and that he knew God had blessed and ordained our relationship-from the moment we met up until that very day. He talked for a while about alot of other sweet things (i was crying at this point) and then just smiled at me. I finally asked, "are you going to ask me or not!?" he told me I had to wait though, because he had a surprise for me first. So we just sat there for a while, and he kept looking down the lake - which made me turn around and look down the lake to see what he was looking for, but there was nothing ever down there! After about 15 minutes, he finally took my hand and told me to come out by the lake and stand there with him. So I did, and when we were almost to the water, he stopped, got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and finally asked me if I would marry him! I immediately screamed "YES!", grabbed the ring from the box, and gave him a huge hug. As soon as I put the ring on, he told me to look out at the water....there was a HUGE party barge going by right then that started honking, with tons of people on the boat cheering and waiving....our friends and family had seen the entire thing!!! We walked down to the dock at the park and the boat came back to pick us up to join the party. (Erik kept saying over and over, "I did SO good!!") We spent the rest of the evening riding down Lake Austin on the boat, listening to music, eating BBQ, and hanging out with all of our friends. Of course, the weather was GORGEOUS the entire time- sunny and breezy....my favorite kind of day! My parents' flight had gotten cancelled that morning to get to Austin for the party, so the next one they could get on arrived right as the boat was docking....we went straight to the hotel to meet them and show them my new ring! We ended the night by going out downtown on 6th street with all of our friends, and the next morning Erik's parents hosted a brunch at their house for both of our families. My parents' first (cancelled flight) was supposed to leave really early on Sunday morning, but their new flight didn't leave until Sunday evening so we got to spend the whole day hanging out with both of our parents after brunch. Erik also surprised me by getting a flight back to Austin from Houston late Sunday night so that he could drive with me back to Houston on Sunday afternoon. It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend. :)
right when i saw the boat- so surprised!
some of my favorite people in the whole world.
the first meeting of the in-laws. a GREAT success!
the ring. obviously.
I could not have imagined a more perfect engagement....on a lake/boat, on a beautiful day, with so many people I love, in TEXAS! I haven't stopped looking at my ring since I got it, and I think I am still in shock that it's really happening! I'M GETTING MARRIED!!! AHHH!!!!! I must say, that God is truly amazing...I have prayed for my husband and this moment my entire life, and I have never seen the goodness and faithfulness of God in such great measure as in my relationship with Erik. People always say, "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is." I say, however, that if it seems too good to be true, it's probably GOD! I could not tell this story without giving the Lord all the credit for the wonderful man I get to marry in 7 short months!
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is GOOD!"- psalm 107:1
