I'm engaged!!

I am so proud to be the fiance of the finest woman on God's earth for me. She is adventurous, independent, smart, tactful and altogether lovely. I praise God's work in her in her past, her present and her future. She was the woman of my dreams, so that's why on November 22 - Thanksgiving Day - at 8:08 AM, I asked Charisma Andrews to marry me.
My proposal is a story many months in the making, when on August 10, I visited a place I go to every time i come home to Bloomington. It's a little gazebo and deck next to a water fountain and pond, secluded within Hawthorne Park. Just as i had done for several years, I sat next to the water fountain and bowed my head and prayed for my future wife: that God is preparing her, protecting her and providing for her. In this case, I had someone specific to pray for! So I asked the Lord that, if we were to be married, that I might bring her to that spot and ask her to marry me right there.
Our relationship developed, I had a ring custom-made for her by my friend Dan Howerton, and a plan in place, and three months and twelve days later, I brought Charisma to that very place where i had said that prayer. It was a sunny, chilly and brisk morning, and i wrapped her in a blanket while we sat together next to the fountain, which was still running despite the cold. I explained to her how that very place where she sits was where i prayed for my future wife for the last several years. I held her close to me as i savored the moment of having her here with me now. I told her next that this Thanksgiving day was also a very significant time to have her with me because she is the blessing in my life that I am most thankful for, and I want to be thankful for her throughout the rest of my life - "I want to be Always Thankful for you."
Again, i let the moment sink in as i held her tenderly.
Then i said, "Charisma, there's something on my heart that I want to share with you..." I reached inside my inside coat pocket and captured a small wooden box with my fingers, and brought it out for her to see. I opened it to unveil its precious contents: a small metal key, two pennies, and one beautiful ring. I took the ring out, set the box aside, looked her inthe eyes and spoke softly and surely, "Charisma, you are beautiful, and i Cherish you, Honor you, Adore you, and I love you very much. Will you marry me?" She smiled back and leaned forward for a hug as she replied, "I've wanted to tell you for so long; I love you too! Yes, i'll marry you!" That was the very first time we said "i love you" to each other, and the words came out of my mouth carefully and articulately pronounced. Soulful words. Intentional words. I felt them flow out of my soul like water from a well.
I showed Charisma the ring up close, and pointed out the inscription inside the band that said, "Always Thankful." I asked if i could put the ring on her, and Charisma took her Purity ring from her wedding finger, and i slid on her new engagement ring. A feeling unlike any other came over me, the concept that now I am committed in my heart to this beautiful young woman for life. I reminisced how this is my final decision on the woman i want to marry, and there's no turning back now. That is, in God's eyes, turning back is acceptable, but i would sure be a fool for doing so!!! I have a thousand reasons to ask Charisma to marry me. One of those reasons is that I will have a thousand more reasons to be thankful for her when she is my wife.
To follow the first question of "will you marry me?", i asked her my second question: "Will you dance with me?" I took her hand and led her away a few steps under the gazebo roof, got out my MP3 player with headphones attached to it, and gave her one earbud for her ear while i put the other in mine. I switched on a song that has deep-seated significance to us both, Jessica Andrews' "I will be there for you." As we danced to this melody that we had last danced to together in DFW airport the day I last left her, I sensed God was affirming to me in words, "You have my favor now; I will bless you and be with you. Some hardships you faced before are now over. I will favor you and bless you." The song ended, and we looked at each other with sparkling eyes and beaming complexions. I then asked her my third and final question: "Will you kiss me?" She nodded 'yes', as i had hoped for, and i reached up and cupped her face with my hands, pulled our lips together and kissed her for the very first time. This was a different kiss than i had experienced before. This was a tangible language from me exclusively to the woman i had determined to marry. When we kiss, that is another conduit of the invisible, indescribable substance of committed love.
Will you marry me? Will you dance with me? Will you kiss me? -- These are three questions to be affirmed in different forms every day in my relationship with her. Every day i ought to be telling her in other words, "You are the right one for me, and i'm not going anywhere. Will you be with me too?" "I adore the way you are and admire you in every way. Will you live in front of me and allow me to enjoy you for who you are?" "You are desirable to me. Will you want me and desire me too?" Three affirmations to a woman: You're beautiful, I believe in you for who you are, and I desire you. I wanted for our engagement to set the pattern to my life with her.

Our engagement event continued on when i brought her back to sit down again where we were before. I gave her back the Thankfulness Journal in which she had catalogued what she is thankful for about me. I took it, and starting on September 23 - her birthday - I wrote several things i was thankful for her each day up until November 22. For that day, I wrote "Thank you for saying YES!! I love you, Charisma!" The journal had a small padlock to close it up, and it was the key in the ring case to which that lock belonged.

Next, i pulled out from underneath the deck a bowl with a cup of white grape juice and a couple crackers, the elements for the Lord's Supper. I read 1 Corinthans 11:23-26 from my small Gideon New Testament, broke one of the crackers for us, and held the cup of grape juice. I told her how that i wanted to have communion with her then, for the first time as a couple in a committed relationship, to serve as a reminder, from that day forward of how, just as Christ committed his life to his church that night, to die for her, so i will serve Charisma even unto the point of dying for her. So when we take communion together in the future, i will be remembering Christ's vows to His church and my vows to Charisma.

Finally, i opened the ring case for the third time and took out the two pennies there, giving one to Charisma and keeping one for myself. We continued on our tradition of throwing a 'hope' into a wishing well or water fountain. So my 'hope' was, " I hope that i will love you for the rest of my life as Christ so loves the church." And her hope was, "I hope that I am as thankful for you the rest of my life i am thankful for you now." Both of our pennies dropped into the water at the same spot, and we both agreed that we were cold enough to need to get indoors, so we scurried back to the car and returned to my parents' home where I made breakfast for us two and presented the new future member of our family.