No date yet...

I know that many people have been asking, but we still have not decided on a date. Cary and I are trying to get through this last week and a half of school (please pray that our test and practical go well)! Then we will be off to Mexico for a mission trip with MCG's Medical Campus Outreach. After that we plan on focusing on the wedding and nailing down a date and location. Sorry to keep you in suspense, and thanks for the well wishes.

We're engaged!

Who knew that a fun trip to Athens, GA would result in a sweet engagement, beautiful ring, and one very happy couple?! I've been asking Cary to go to Athens for some time....if you went to UGA then you know you just can't resist the charm of Athens and you always love going back. So since it was our spring break (a.k.a. Augusta is crazy due to Masters Week...everyone get out of town), we thought, what better time to get away? Of course, I had no clue he was going to propose!

We started the day off with lunch at Marti's at Midday. If you haven't eaten there, you must. It is off of Prince Ave and has the best sandwiches, salads, and cookies...everything is homemade by Marti herself. Next, we went to Jittery Joe's, a coffee shop, to study. Yes, study. In grad school, the studying never ends, not even for spring break and an impending proposal. After a few hours of studying, we headed downtown.

We walked around downtown and did some window shopping. It was such a beautiful day and it was definitely your average Athens afternoon with lots of students bustling around the town with their dogs, books, and friends. All of the restaurant and bar patios were full...ah, memories. At this point Cary told me that he was cold and needed to go get his jacket from the car. Cold? How could he possibly be cold? It was beautiful and warm and sunny that day. I was wearing a sleeveless top, as you can see. But you see, he needed to go back to the car to get the ring. The ring box was too big to fit in his pants pocket!

After returning from the car, he suggested that we go and walk on North Campus (which for you non-Dawg fans, is the most beautiful spot in Athens besides maybe Sanford Stadium). We eventually made our way to Herty Field, a green space located on North Campus that is full of benches and lots of beautiful flowers and a fountain. We went and sat on a bench...well not just any bench. This was the bench we sat on when he first told me he loved me, over a year ago.

I know you are thinking that I should be suspicious by now, but I really wasn't! Cary had convinced me that the proposal was going to be later, probably in May, because the ring might take up to 6 weeks to come in (while that was true, it COULD take 6 weeks, it ended up being ready in 3 days!).

Cary then recited I Corinthians 13:4-8, the love chapter, and we discussed how we had done over the past year and several months with the Bible's definition of love.

To prove how oblivious I was to what was about to happen, I decided that I needed to go to the bathroom. I'm sure Cary was freaking out a little at this point, since I was interrupting our perfect moment. I went to the library and quickly came back. By that time, Herty Field had cleared out and there was no one around....so it actually worked out well to take a little bathroom break.

When I returned, Cary picked up where he left off, and explained how he wanted to act on that love we had discussed. He got down on one knee, pulled the ring out of his jacket pocket, took my left hand, and asked me to marry him. And of course, I said YES! We quickly called our family and friends and celebrated by ringing the chapel bell (a UGA tradition) and eating a delicious dinner at Porterhouse (my favorite restaurant in Athens).