Nancy Is Now My Lovely Fiancé

I got engaged Saturday! :)

I knew I was going to back in January when we moved from friends to serious. I have had a few girls I was hoping would be the one, but now I really know the feeling people talk about when they just know. There is little anxiety aobut it. It is someone you can be totally honest with, and also somebody you can call on stuff, and be called on stuff. It is when everything you do is for that person, and you don't have to even think about it much. I do know that it takes work to keep this up, and I hope that I don't fall into selfish mode. But the way that Nancy loves me and loves others, it is a joy to lift her up. We do think about things differently (like all males and females) but we share the same goals. We complement each other in our strengths and lift each other up in our weaknesses. I am excited about our life together and the ministry we can share.

Here is the proposal story, then I will give some of the background:



I kept waffling between proposing for her birthday (today, July 1: happy 30th sweety. Oops, she didn't want me to say that) or at church camp. She is going to be a counselor at Western Kentucky Youth Camp where Parkway goes. I originally figured this would be more sentimental since we met at church camp (Camp Pettijohn in OK) in high school (and have been friends ever since). She was visiting June 26-29 and I knew we were gonna have a birthday party for her. So after going back and forth, I finally decided her birthday it will be. This is mostly due to coming up with a really good idea, which only happened after looking at proposal stories online and realizing they were almost all incredibly boring. I think better when the pressure is off. I already got the ring in May, and I just didn't want to wait till camp, besides it wasn't the same campground.

Saturday night we had a nice dinner with my family. I had apricot chicken, lemony green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and a spinach cranberry salad. She helped to cook of course. We ate (it was all yummy) and then had the birthday pie that she made. After that I announced it was time for gifts. My family gave her their cards, and I went downstairs and brought up a big heavy box. It was loaded with all kinds of fun and good stuff, as well as three large rocks (real normal boring rocks, not diamonds.) When she opened it three happy birthday balloons popped out. Then she started rummaging through the newspaper and bubble wrap to find all types of assorted goodies. I had three really good smelling candles, some lotion, bubble bath, a teddy bear (to hug when I'm not around) and a pin saying "birthday girl." I also had some silly gifts like fart putty, bubbles, a voice warp toy, and a pen in the shape of a pig (yes, a pig pen). The best joke gift was a lollipop that said "30 sucks." Then under one of the rocks was an envelope which had written on the outside "open this and give it to Tim. This is an interactive gift." It was a song I had written her. I went and got my autoharp and put on my fingerpicks, and concealed the ring in my hand under the two fingers I was not picking with. Perhaps I will post the song in another post. The last line of the song I played was "Nancy I really love you" then set the harp down, accidently dropped the ring on the floor and picked it up quickly. She never noticed I dropped it :). Then I got down on one knee and said the last line of the song "Will you marry me?" She said yes without even seeming to have to think about it :). She was totally surprised that I did proposed this weekend, but she figured I was going to as I was playing the song. We did have my mom and sisters and their families there for an audience. Most of them knew it was going to happen.

What she didn't know until afterwards is how I knew what ring to get her and how I knew her ring size. In a conversation in January we were talking about things we liked and she mentioned her favorite gem was blue sapphire, and that she liked white gold or silver. She had no intention of hinting anything but I was paying attention. I found out the ring size when I visited for Valentine's Day (that post is here). She had to go to work so I was left at her sister's house. I went through her jewelry drawer and found a ring, took it to the mall, and got it sized. She never knew. I can be sneaky when I am up to good.

Here is the ring as best as we could get a photo of it. It is a blue sapphire surrounded by little sparkly diamonds in white gold and it is beautiful:


I am thrilled, and I can't wait till camp to see her again. Hopefully she will be able to get a teaching job and move to the area :).

I'm not kissing her cheek, I'm giving her a raspberry. Ok, I'm kissing it, I don't think she would have that smile if I gave her a raspberry.

P.S. I have a youth ministry job interview at Troy Church of Christ in Troy, TN on July 12th. This is unrelated, other than she might be out for the interview.