The first big event that I would definitely consider "blog worthy" was my engagement!
During the summer of 2011 George and I began to talk about marriage. We had been dating for about 2 1/2 years so of course thoughts about our future together were starting to surface! Thank the Lord we were on the same page. :) As we began to talk, I began to search. I knew that I wanted to be a big part of the "picking out a ring" process and George was more than glad for that.
By nature I am very decisive. I'm the girl you call if you can't pick a restaurant or movie! If you need me to, I can make a decision! I am so thankful that George loves and respects that about me, and I am so thankful that I could narrow down the choices for him! Once I began my search for my rings of choice I quickly noted that I was most attracted to circular cut stones which really helped me narrow the search! After weeks of searching I settled on 2.
This one....
I had given George a time frame in which I wanted to be engaged. I know that sounds terrible, but I knew he was going to ask me and I really wanted a specific amount of time to plan! I told him I wanted to be engaged no later than October because I needed a year to plan, and I had my heart set on a fall wedding. He exceeded the timeline, of course, but only by a few days!
George was scheduled to preach in the Sunday morning service on November 6th (Little did I know...he was the one that scheduled his preaching just to ask me to marry him in front of the church...tender!). This was going to be his first time preaching in our church so I decided to invite my family. They have always been so supportive of the both of us so I wasn't surprised at all when my Mom told me most of my family would be driving down to attend the service! Soon I realized that George's family was planning to attend as well. In the back of my mind the little seed of suspicion was starting to grow!
On Saturday my family arrives and agrees to take me shopping. It's no secret that I am a shopper and I enjoy getting clothes but when my grandmother insisted on getting me the rather costly sweater dress I had had my eye on for weeks the little seed of suspicion started to grow larger. I know my grandmother and Momma hate to see me not have a new outfit for important events. So, you can't blame me for being a little bit sceptical!
I have to hand it to The Fam, they did a great job of keeping their cool on Sunday morning. I was way less suspicious than the day before...BUT...that little sliver of hope was still there!
Once the service began my little stomach started to feel the butterflies! I was so nervous! As George stood up to begin his sermon my heart was pounding in my throat. I thought to myself "this is going to be perfect! All of our families are here and we are in one of our favorite places...church! I just know he is going to ask me here!" He begins speaking, and my heart sank. I immediately felt deflated. He wasn't calling me up to the front, or asking me to stand. He wasn't even talking about me. I just knew I had gotten it all wrong. He would never ask me after he preached a sermon. That would be too stressful for him. It took all I had not to cry. I was so disappointed inside. I had told myself not to get my hopes up but unfortunately I had!
The deflated feeling didn't last for too long. I quickly became intrigued by what George was speaking on and I lost myself in the sound of his voice and wise, teaching words. He is just so handsome when he speaks.
After he wrapped up his AMAZING sermon he asked the congregation to bow their heads for prayer. Once he was finished praying he spoke the words to dismiss everyone, but right before everyone was standing up to leave he interjected.
He asked everyone to sit back down, and my little heart started beating SO fast! I kept thinking "please let this be our moment...its perfect!" As I listened to his voice, I could understand that he was talking about me. This was really happening! He asked if I would join him up front, and of course I nervously walked in front of everyone. Then, he said the sweetest words to me. "Laurin, you're the girl of my dreams. Will you marry me?." You would think those would be the words I would hang onto, but they're not. I will forever remember the words right after that because they are the three sweetest words my ears have ever heard. He said "I love you," for the first time. (We wanted to save the words "I love you" for when we got engaged. We wanted there to be a bigger commitment behind the words! SO glad we did!)
It was wonderful. Amazing. Perfect in every way. The people we love were surrounding us and we were finally engaged! We actually had a receiving line after the service! I loved it!
I am pretty sure we must have said "I love you" a million times that day, and we meant it every single time. That's the beauty of waiting to say it. To most I am sure it seems that we over use it, but I don't care. It's still new to us :)
I love you George. I can't wait to be your wife. I didn't think I could ever be this happy. You're the man of my dreams!
Here are some photos from the engagement (A big thanks to George's Mom for so beautifully capturing these priceless moments!)
Part of our receiving line after the service!
My baby brother, Momma, and myself! (Can you tell we are criers?)
(One of my favorite moments. Everyone in my family knew I would be getting engaged...except my baby brother. He can't keep a secret, especially from his nosy sister. So, they didn't tell him and his reaction caused this horrible cry face you see above. He was bawling when he came up to hug me! It absolutely melted my heart! I love that (not so) little boy so much!)
Both of our families after the service! I can't wait to be "officially" all family in October!
So happy, and so in love.
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