Last Saturday was one of the most exciting days of my life...
I had to work in the morning at the clinic and Trevor was in town to say goodbye to my brother who left for school in Nac Saturday afternoon. I was completely clueless because nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Apparently Trevor talked to my parents when he got in town on Thursday, but somehow they managed to act totally normal. So when I left for work early that morning Trevor offered a silver lining to my day by assuring me we could have a pic nic in Landa park when I left work.
I have told many of you about this park before- it is my favorite place on Earth. It is in New Braunfels and it's a surprisingly green area with lots of huge trees and grassy areas, a river and "lake", a few wooden bridges over water, pic nic tables and walking trails. It's very peaceful and quiet and serene- a great place to go andingy admire God's creation.
It rained most of the morning and by the time I got home and changed, Trevor had checked the weather at least 10 times saying he really hoped things cleared up so we could be outside. I kept saying it was ok if our pic nic got rained out and that we could just pack sandwiches in case we ended up having to pack up in a hurry. He was persistent in convincing me that he really wanted to grill and make the extra effort. Despite my best efforts to convince him it was a lot of trouble, he prodded enough so we went to the grocery store and bought chicken to grill and corn on the cobb and I made a big salad. By the time we reached the park, the sun was shining, and luckily the rain had scared off most of the saturday mob of kids that flood the park. We had an entire site under some huge beautiful trees to ourselves. We brought our ipod player and listened to Jack Johnson and I made up the pic nic table while Trevor grilled our "gourmet" meal. :) He was unusally quiet, but I still didn't suspect anything. We talked about how relaxing being there was and how we wanted to do this all the time. And I took pictures and videos, not knowing I would be so thankful for them later. It turned out to be beautiful and I thanked him for pushing us to make the extra effort.
After we ate and cleaned up Trevor suggested we take a walk down the trail. We've done this several times before and I quickly agreed. He said to go ahead and he would catch up. This was the first real suspicious sign, but he was so calm that I convinced myself this could not be 'the moment.' So I headed down the trail and started taking pictures of the gorgeous water and trees and flowers. When he followed me, he had one hand behind his back and by this time I was fairly certain.
He walked with me to this first wooden bridge, canopied by trees and asked me to tell him again why I loved being in the park. I started telling him memories from when I was little, memories I have of my whole family being there together, memories of taking Hannah and Grace there, times that just my parents and I strolled the park for some peace and quiet, and my happy memories with him there over the past couple of years. When I finished, he said those were all the reasons he had decided to bring me there that day and that he wanted to add one more memory.
He got down on one knee and held out a single stem rose and with tears in his eyes and a shaky voiced asked if I would spend the rest of my life with him. :)
I said yes and we both cried and hugged and only then did I see my BEAUTIFUL ring hanging from the white ribbn tied around the rose. I put it on before we could even cut the string! :)
It was a wonderful moment and if I could have asked for a place to hold that memory, that would have been exactly it.
(He even took me to get a manicure after so that my nails looked pretty when everyone started looking at my fingers the next day!)
I am so proud and so excited... and so overwhelmed. These are the moments you want to relish :) I am blessed beyond words.
awe, what a wonderful proposal!! How sweet. That is so sweet that he took you to get a manicure. So thoughtful. Yall are such a wonderful couple!!! I'm so happy for yall. I hope you have so much fun planning the wedding. :) It's such a wonderful time in your lives!!!!
my cousin is coming next weekend... then we'll be in College Station oct 11 weekend... then in lufkin the first weekend in november. let me know when a good time for you will be :)
Friday night, 5/30, at O Connor Road. 7:30 I think (check w/ Cara Moseley, she's bound to know more than me). Wayne Moody is personally requesting as many as possible and any song leaders to call him if they want in on the service. I'm sure it will be great, edifying, wonderful, etc.
Hey Julia! Hope everything is going well; Mr. Tant has been wanting to get in touch with you about Jamaica this summer. He asked is anyone knew of a way to get in touch with you so I told him I would pass the word along that he was looking for ya. His email is jdtant3@juno.com or his home phone is 770.993.7157. Hope you and Trevor are doing well. Talk to you soon.
Is the sing for the whole congregation or for a certain group? I will most likely be in Burleson this weekend, but since I love to sing, if you would let me know, I might could go...unless I'd be "crashing"...lol
I thought this was really cute, but I posted it late and I don't want to do anyone the disservice of missing out on it cause I think it's sweet and a great reminder of childhood innocence :):
I had a conversation about creation with my six-year-old neice that ended in this:
Hannah: "AJ, do you know why God made us?"
Me: "Why?"
Hannah: "Because someone needed to play with the dinosaurs."
That is awesome! This is Ginger by the way (George Slover's daughter). Your conversation reminds me of a comment one of the little girls I taught in bible class said one time. She said, "When we get to heaven, we're not going to have any bones and we'll be all squishy!" Kids are great, aren't they!
Tonight at bible class we talked about the schemes of Satan and ways to be aware of them and therefore, to better battle them.
One member made the analogy of the Devil's strategies to chess. He said something on one side of the board may steal your attention, while Satan is steadily sneaking up on the other side. And what is he after? To take our King from us.
We talked about how when Jesus was tempted, He quoted scripture. He was ready with an answer. He "fastened the belt of truth." We also talked about how Eph. 6:11 states to "Put on the WHOLE armor of God," not just parts of it, because the Devil sees the holes and knows our weaknesses.
(I also thought about the purpose of Jesus fasting. This is something I have been reading about lately and experimenting with. I feel we should really teach more on this.)
We considered what our own weakneses are and how they can be hidden, even from us.
My (brilliant) dad pointed out that when Peter zealously professed that he would allow Jesus to go to the cross, Jesus's words were "Get thee behind me, Satan!" (Mt. 16:23) Peter had good intentions, as we often do, but they were contrary to the will of God. How crafty of the Devil to even use our good intentions such as giving hasty advice or failure to act in a time of need so as not to "bother" anyone... He truly is our Enemy.
Or small things, more like ideas or feelings, can really get us trapped in tough situations: 'white' lies, jealousy, materialism, overly-competitive spirits, idleness... All of these I have been guilty of and must remind myself to guard against.
By the end of our discussion, we concluded that the best ways to guard against Satan's designs are to:
Know the Word - Fill our minds with the "lamp unto our feet"
Put on the Whole Armor of God
Know our Lord - Build a relationship with Him through prayer and study
Pray constantly - It is hard to sin in the middle of a prayer :)
Know our own weaknesses and resolve to make a change
I thought these were all thoughts worth sharing. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week :)
marketing fasting is gonna be tricky tho. we can't really make it look like a new popular trend, a la matthew 6:16-18.
perhaps we could play up the aspect of not making it noticeable. like "can you tell which one of these men are fasting? neither can we, cuz telling would make it pointless!" and stuff like that.
Lately, the sad condition of the world has become more apparent to me than ever...
We have some members here in Bulverde who came from South Africa. The are truly inspiring people- great Christians with great life stories. They are trying desperately to be granted citizenship but have been denied several times. The wife told me some really disturbing stories about their lives in Africa and loaned me a book of the history of their home area over the past 20 years or so. It was fascinating. Some of it was hard to comprehend, and I realized as I read that my mind was not computing that these are RECENT events, things that happened during MY short lifetime- I think of wars as being "out-dated." All of the info sorta sat dormantly in my brain until a few nights ago when I watched the movie Blood Diamond. That movie scared me more than any movie I've seen. It scared me for this family and the possibility that they may ever have to go back to that country. It scared me for the victims of the haness crimes going on there. It scared me knowing the love and even acknowledgement of the Lord is totally absent in so much of that area. It scared me that Satan can have so much power over a people. And it scared me that sadly, more of the world is that evil than I realize.
My time last summer in Jamaica taught me a lot about this. About the rest of the world's "reality." For so many, the main objective of everyday is getting food or shelter- surviving. A friend of mine recently returned from a year in Peru, and she said even marriage there is more of a business transaction than an emotional committment- a woman needs a man's support and a man needs someone to have his kids and keep things in order, and it's not much more than that.
Everything I look forward to, and everything I worry about, are really trivial to most cultures. What a blessing we have to choose a spouse, fall in love, enjoy our children and parents... When we lose a loved one, the world stops and we are allowed to mourn. When an African woman loses her husband, she is quickly drowned in worry about how to raise kids on her own, or where to live or how to eat- nothing slows for her. It is not realistic to take a vacation or need a day off, or even to make sure you have "sit down" dinners or need marriage counseling... These things are luxuries.
Most of my generation has never really experienced war. Our soldiers take the brunt of war-time reality and it's violence. We have such security at home, knowing that we have a right to what we have. Can you imagine having no government enforced rights?
Knowing all of this does not make me feel guilty for living in the US, but so blessed! It does not make me feel ashamed for my concerns (school, jobs, marriage..) because I am grateful that I get to make those things a priority. I only feel more motivated to take advantage of my situation and to not make excuses for doing the Lord's work. He gives us so many opportunities! So many blessings.
Thank God for this reality. Let's make the most of it :)
***On a lighter note, on Saturday I had a conversation about creation with my six-year-old neice that ended in this:
Hannah: "AJ, do you know why God made us?"
Me: "Why?"
Hannah: "Because someone needed to play with the dinosaurs."
GREAT words, Julia. I agree with every bit of it. And I know what you mean about Jamaica. What an experiance. I loved going there as well! :D You always have words of wisdom. Love ya!
it truly is amazing how fortunate the lives are that we were born into...seeing other cultures reminds us of this. we take a lot for granted. its good to slow your life down like that and to realize how we are blessed in every second of our lives. sometimes we are so busy and our lives move so fast that we forget all the things we can do or things that we have that are luxuries to others...like toilet paper. or water... good post. i love you cousin
This is very true, Julia. Not sure if you're aware of or you've been keeping up with the starvation problem in Zimbabwe, but I think that to me has forced the same awareness of "reality." I'm sorry that your friends are being denied citizenship. Wondering what can be done to help with that...
Unfortunately too many in this country are all too willing to surrender more power to the government for promises which, when the government gets that power, they are no longer obligated to keep.
when you first posted this i was in a rush and i didn't really read it i just skimmed it. but i just now read through it and it really put life in perspective for me. those are some really good thoughts and some things i definitely needed to hear. :) it was good seeing ya last weekend. hope to see you again soon!
Hey, it's Crystal, we met in Jamaica this past summer. I just saw a post on george's blog by matt and then I saw where he linked your name and anyway, here I am. :) It's funny how many stinkin' people are here on the 'nast and it takes so long to find some that you know or even just acquaintences.
Hi! I found your blog on accident & read that you live in Bulverde. My husband & I have visited the congregation there before (it's been at least a couple of years!). My cousins (not Christians) actually live on Bulverde Road. ha!
oh dear stars...yes, yes I am. (Should I even admit that?) ha! Do I know you? I can't tell by your picture...sorry! There's a house on Bulverde rd....you can't see it really from the road, but at the entry there's a tree right in the middle of the little drive...and that's where my cousins live... It's a cute little place out there!
My husband reminded me that I've met your dad and who y'all were. Brandon & JD are very close. Poor you...cousins of JD & Daniel.. ;) So what are you doing in the big town of Bulverde?
So true...we get so wrapped up in our own lives, we forget how truly blessed we really are, especially compared to other cultures. Thanks for the thoughts! And that is so cute about the dinosaurs! haha
