Yup, she said “Yes” last Saturday when I popped the big question. For those who are only interested in the photos, here they are. I’ll have a little video of it posted in the next day or two, as well.

THE STORY
I guess the story officially starts with my phone call last Monday to Dana’s father to schedule a time to meet with him. We settled on Wednesday at 11:00 AM in his office at the church. So, Wednesday morning I got up early and made the 3-hour drive up to Texarkana and asked for his blessing on marrying his daughter. Thankfully, he gave his blessing and we enjoyed a good talk afterwards. Dana’s mom also came in a couple minutes later and gave her blessing for us to marry, as well. We prayed together for Dana and me and then I returned home before Dana had a clue I was gone all day.

With Monday being Dana’s birthday, what better time to propose than the weekend before she turns 23 years old? The plan was to get her to Sylvan Beach in La Porte, TX, the site of our first kiss, without suspecting a proposal. Since our schedule for the weekend was pretty tight with different people to see at different times, there really was no good way for me to just suggest that we stop by and walk around a little. So Wednesday I stole the phone number of Dana’s friend, Brianne, from Dana’s phone when she wasn’t looking and gave her a call. Thursday night Brianne and I planned that she would call Dana on Saturday and decide on a place for the three of us to have dinner that was somewhat close to Sylvan Beach. Then, on our way to meet her, Brianne would call Dana, say she’s been delayed, and thereby give Dana and I some unscheduled time to kill close to our special spot. The plan worked perfectly, except that Dana and I arrived at the beach to find it very crowded, not exactly the setting I wanted for a proposal. I insisted on giving Dana her birthday present in a more private area, so we drove down the road a couple miles to a private area where she used to go running when she lived down there.

Since her birthday present required a little assembly, I told her to go on ahead without me while I prepared it. She did so with my camera and took a couple random pictures that are included in our engagement photo album. While she waited, I took a little treasure chest I made earlier in the week, placed the ring upright in it, poured in a little sand, placed some tiny sea shells, and gently closed the lid.

Doing my best to hide the chest behind my back, I walked over to her and waited patiently for her to finish her photo shooting session. I then extended the treasure chest and she read aloud what I had painted on the lid, “Your heart. My Treasure.” She thought it cute and proceeded to undo the latch and lift the lid. When she did so, she saw the writing beneath it that said, “Will you marry me?” Her eyes immediately glanced at the ring and then at me as I got down on one knee.

I said, “Dana, I love you with all my heart and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” She did nothing. Not a flinch, a movement, nor gesture of any kind. After a little bit of silence she slowly nodded her head but her expression remained unchanged. I figured a nod was good enough for me, so I got up off my knee, took the ring out of the box, and put it on her left ring finger. It was then that she finally moved by giving me a big hug, instantly crying and saying, “Oh my goodness!!” and “Are you serious?!” for about 15 minutes straight (no lie), as if she couldn’t believe this was actually happening to her.

After the initial shock wore off, I told Dana that Brianne wasn’t actually delayed at all and was probably waiting for us (that obviously took a little explaining), so we went to meet her right away. The three of us then went back to our engagement spot and took several more pictures that are also in our engagement album.

We ate some dinner together at an old favorite restaurant of Dana’s, Joe Lee’s, and then got snow cones at Dana’s favorite snow cone place. After saying goodbye to Brianne, Dana and I drove to my brother and sister-in-law’s house in Katy and enjoyed a little celebration with them. We also went to church with them in the morning and helped in their children’s ministry.

THE RING
My life-long friend’s husband made the ring for me. I won’t post the ring’s specs here so no one is tempted to steal it, :P but know that Jason Mister did an excellent job making the ring and selecting the best diamond for me. Thanks, Kym and Jason, for all your help in putting together the right ring for Dana that she’ll have for the rest of her life! I love you guys!

Posted on April 24, 2006