April 2003
We wake up on Easter morning to go and pray on a mountain lookout near Charlottesville. Yeah, I thought it was stupid, too.
We leave before sunrise with a sleeping bag, thermos full of hot chocolate, two winter hats and a Bible. So if we get stuck up on the top of the mountain, we would most certainly die. Unless we brought the edible Bible.
We hike the mountain just as dawn and my lungs are breaking. About twenty feet from the outlook, praise music breaks out from above. SERIOUSLY. As we round the last corner of our trail, a group of college students appear singing praise songs. Which is probably a GREATER miracle than the Heavens opening up in song. In college, I didn’t see sunrise unless I’d stayed up all night. And I can PROMISE you that I was not singing about loving Jesus those nights.
And unbeknownst to me, Scott is thinking: Oh no, now me and twenty college kids are going to have to propose to Alex!
But the college kids all leave within five minutes of our arrival (I must’ve had the MORNING LOOK), and we are alone looking out over the valley. We read and pray for nearly an hour, and when we finish, Scott says: I wrote you something else, too.
I had a crush on you before we were ready. God made me pray for you before I ever knew you. I fell in summersault-ing love with you after you made room for me. I knew you were the one after only one night. You are my new Chicago sunset. You are a compelling argument for God. And you strengthen my faith every day. You are half of a team that makes me better than I am. I feel like God put us together to bring us closer to Him. I want to spend the rest of my life being awestruck by the way you touch people’s lives. I want to watch you be an amazing mother, wife and friend. And I want to spend the rest of my life working with you to see ourselves better.
And now I’m thinking: That was so beautiful. He should have saved that for when he was going to ask me to marry him. (My instincts are like UNREAL.)
Then Scott asks me to open to Proverbs 18:22: He who finds a wife finds happiness, it is a favor he receives from the Lord.
Scott gets down on one knee: Will you marry me?
And while laughing (but not AT him), I say: Yes.
I'm pretty sure Scott said: SHOW THE BLING.
I love you even more today, Scott. Thank you for asking me to marry you.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
What a great story! I actually got engaged that same year, the week before you on Palm Sunday in front of my entire church. I’m surprised you still remember all the words Scott said to you (or maybe he was smart enough to write them down and save them for posterity). So eloquent!
We got married that April… and our engagement story is not half as good.
Beautiful.
My engagement story involved beautiful, picturesque scenery, but I can assure it wasn’t as lovely as this.
It did however involve the words “Are you sure?” and one intoxicated and offended proposer.
I think it’s great that you got a little concert along with your proposal!
I am weepy like a school girl. What a GREAT engagement story. I LOVE everything about it. Truly a work of art orchestrated by God to all the finer details. And YAY GO LATE ENOUGH! Off to vote…I still want my sticker.
Scott deserves MAJOR props for this. That’s quite an engagement story. Every great story has a wonderful beginning I think, and that is certainly true in your case.
My engagement story includes a trick pig that danced for treats. At a place called Heavenly Acres, that was not, as the name might imply, a cemetery.
And yet, I still said yes and 13 years later we are still married. Apparently dancing pigs are good luck.
Your story is movie-worthy. So sweet!
If I were not still hungover from SATURDAY NIGHT I’d totally be crying right now, but I’m just too dehydrated to make any tears. So beautiful.
That was so sweet. I have a similar Easter story. I also got engaged on Easter. But my ring was giving to me in an easter egg that was hidden in the house, that I had to go find.
Now why the sportsman picked easter to pop the question I do not know, he is not even an overly religious man.
and here we are almost 9 years later. Wow where does the time go.
I’ve been married three times, and still never proposed to. Dang.
Poor hubby number four is going to have a lot to make up for.
We got engaged over the phone on surgery call. You wanna get married? Sure.
That is so sweet! :)
Congratulations to your friend!
Thanks for sharing the story of your engagement with us. What a great post!
Wow, I so remember being on David and I’s second date and finding out that you guys got engaged, it was a beautiful story then and now! Especially since it seems that everything he looked forward to seeing/doing then with you has come true.
This is a great story! And I want to know, did you invite the college kids to sing at the ceremony, you know, just for serendipity’s sake? Or maybe hand out edible Bibles as wedding favors? =>
PS: Love the new header!
oh wow, open up even more space in a person’s heart. what a story!!!
How sweet. He must have been planning that for a long time. I still haven’t gotten over what a mess my proposal was. After being married 13 years I keep telling him he owes me a good one.
That us, without a doubt, one if the best proposal stories I’ve ever heard (or read!) Congratulations on your (long ago) proposal :) sounds like you found yourself a wonderful guy.
That is the most beautiful story ever! Lucky you!
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