WE'RE ENGAGED!!

Reenactment the day after :)

In it's simpliest form...Mark proposed to me on my front porch coming back from dinner on Saturday Oct 5th, 2013...and I said YES!!!

THE WHOLE STORY:
When did he ask my dad? Mark asked my dad for permission to propose the first week in September when we were at the beach with my family.  Mom and I had left to get our nails done and that's when Mark asked him.

Where did he get the ring? This same week of vacation, my mom gave Mark the ring that I wanted him to use to propose, its a family heirloom which was planned to be passed down to me.  I loved the diamond but wasn't crazy about the band so Mark was given their blessing to change the band.

The gorgeous ring with a family heirloom diamond and crafted by my MN dad!

Who reset the ring you ask? This is one of my favorite parts about the ring, other than the diamond being in my family for years, it was reset by somebody I know!! Over the last 5 years I've met tons of people on volunteer teams and one team from MN has adopted me as their daughter so yes one of my Minnesota dads who is a jeweler by profession made my engagement ring!! He gave me a card a long time ago to give to Mark if he ever decided to propose.  I passed it on to Mark and said hey if you wanna call him go for it.  So sure enough, Mark sent the ring and new band off to my MN dad and he reset it and sent it all back to Mark without me finding it!  How cool!! Who would've thought that my MN dads would play a part in my proposal! Thank you Lord for all the people you've put in my life!

So what happened on Saturday Oct 5th, 2013...the detailed version!

We started off the day with coffee and devos! I am so blessed to have such a Godly man in my life who loves the Lord, loves reading the Word, and makes amazing coffee!! (and yes I'm biased!) Then we went for a run around the city, again praising God for a man who loves to be healthy and active! After running, we started our Precept Acts study...I mean honestly, how did I get so lucky? Mark and I are doing the same Bible Study in Acts through a church in Georgia. I asked Mark what we were doing for our dinner date and he says I got it planned out so don't worry.  I should've known maybe something was up but instead my response was "sweet!" Mark then headed off to work at our friend Josh's house that is undergoing renovations to their kitchen, again he loves to serve!  In the meantime, I worked on some intern stuff and took a friend to get a TV from another friend of ours.  When we met back up, we spent some time watching TV shows..haha yes Duck Dynasty may have been one of them!

Now when Mark leaves to go shower at the place where he's staying in the city, that's only what I thought. Turns out, he was trying to find a place to buy roses (for later) only to get lost in the french quarter! So I'm back at home getting ready for our dinner date not knowing he's lost around the city. Thankfully he finds the roses and his way back to his place to shower and tells me he got caught up talking to Matt (the guy he stays with in the city)...can't believe he lied to me ;)

When Mark does come to get me, he helps my roommate Mariko carry in some furniture (again what a servant!) she had just purchased.  While outside, she asked him where we were going for dinner.  He replies "Jacques-imo" and Mariko's reaction is "Are you proposing?" haha she knew! But Mark told her to keep it together until we left since I had no idea.

So off we went to dinner, where we had a 45 min wait but again I didn't mind, I had no idea what was going on.  Mark was a little more jittering than usual but I didn't think about it.  After dinner, we strolled along Oak St (one of my fav's in the city) then headed home.  I asked Mark if he wanted to get something sweet like ice cream and he said No!! Again I should've known then, this boy LOVES ice cream and he was turning it down. haha unbelievable.

THE PROPOSAL

Once we're home, I get out of the car carrying all my stuff (remember that) and walk up the steps to my front porch with Mark behind me.  I notice there are roses (yes those same roses) in my mailbox! As I reached for them, again carrying now all my stuff + roses, Mark gets down on one knee and says "Katie..will you marry me?" and is showing me the ring! In all my shock and excitement I can only think to say..."I'm carrying too much stuff!" So Mark in his kindness, gets up and helps me put things down then starts again, which of course I reply a happy happy happy "YES I'LL MARRY YOU!!"  He put the ring on my finger and it fit perfectly! We hugged and in shocking situations I laugh a lot and if you know my laugh, its quite funny.

We then go inside my house where Mariko my roommate is waiting at her bedroom door for us to come in!  Mark says let me introduce you to my fiance!!  She heard me laughing for 10 min and didn't know why we hadn't come inside...she didn't realize it wasn't til we got on the porch that Mark proposed.  She said she was glad she hadn't made that "Congratulations" sign like she thought about!  One of the reasons Mark picked my house was because I had wanted a private proposal and not in front of a bunch of people and this is a house we've both worked on through the ministry.  It's a sign of our love for the LORD who by His grace called us into a personal relationship with Him and out of that love, we have dedicated our lives to showing Christ's love to those in need!

As I type this and stare at my left ring finger which is a little more shinier than normal, I want to give all the glory and honor and praise to my God who gave me the ultimate gift of eternal life by grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ!  We are nothing without Him.  May this stage of Mark and I's relationship only continue to grow our love for God and our love for one another.

Please keep us in your prayers over the wedding details.  We don't know the date or location yet so please be patient with us as the LORD leads us.  We are trusting Him to guide us as always!  Please pray for our pre-marital counseling as we begin to invest time and energy into preparing for marriage!

Oh and in case you're curious who put the flowers in the mailbox...it was Matt, the friend Mark stays with who just moved down here to New Orleans after serving as a volunteer with Crisis Response this past winter break! God is so good!  Who knew that when I met Matt back in January as a team leader he'd be an accomplice on my engagement day! Only God knows stuff like that! :)