As Josh and I continued our courtship it began to be abundantly clear to both of us that God had ordered the events of our lives so that we could be together.  As we continued our courtship we found ourselves not just discussing everyday things, but deep things.  Talking about the reasons behind choices we had made, realize how different we were, yet how God had put the desire for Him in both our hearts as the most important thing.  Since we had been friends for over five years, there was much we already knew about each other.  Thus, very soon, I knew this was the man I wanted to marry.

Because things were happening fast I had no idea when we would be able to get married.  I was challenged to really trust God in a new way.  The desire to spend the rest of my life with Josh was strong....but I had no control over when those events would unfold.  Little did I know what God had in store!

The week of March 21st, Josh told me that he had asked my dad for permission to take me out.  Since it was Easter week, he had good Friday off school and asked if I wanted to go to the zoo.  I said "Yes!"..... So, we planned a whole day.  Go to the zoo, then go to dinner...

Here are some pictures of our zoo day :






We left the zoo and decided to go to Sonic and get some ice cream.  We had my little brother and sister with us so they were all for it!  Josh and I love driving backroads and watching the scenery.  It was a beautiful day, so we rolled down the windows, turned up Josh's cowboy music (not to be confused with country) and enjoyed the drive.

When it was time to eat dinner, we swapped out my little sister for a brother and Josh took me to Carrabba's Italian Restaurant.  He had gotten permission for our "chaperones" to sit at a different table so I was excited!  I got some time with him all to myself....  We had a wonderful dinner and a great visist.  All too soon, dinner was over and we were packing up the food to leave.  Josh asked me if I was ready to go...of course I said no, but I knew we had to.  He surprised me by saying my dad had given us permission to stay out a little longer.
As we pulled out of the parking lot, he said he missed the campfires we used to have at his old house.  (That is where we got to be good friends...visiting around a campfire).  Then he asked me if I wanted to drive by his old house and see where we used to have them....I said okay. 

When we pulled into the driveway, my brother, (Josh's best friend) was there and had built a campfire!  It was the most perfect fire I had ever seen.  I remember thinking that if Josh would so something so special on our first "date" he was sure to make it special when he asked me to marry him!

I stood by the fire waiting for Josh to bring chairs over, and I was speechless.  I couldn't believe he would do something so special....as I stood there I remember the thought going through my mind that when he did ask me to be his wife, that it would be next to a campfire!  It would be so romantic and special because it was a special place for us.

By this time, Josh came back with chairs...and I noticed all my brothers (there were three there at this point) had disappeared.  I figured my dad knew about everything else so it must be okay.  We sat down and Josh began to tell me a story.  It was the story about the first time he met me, how we got to be friends, how he fell in love with me sitting in front of a fire just like the one we were by... Let me pause here and say I was getting sad.  Everytime I had heard this story before, it would end with "and someday I am going to go to your dad and he is going to give me permission to marry you".  So as I listened to Josh finish up the story, I couldn't believe it when I heard him say, "....and earlier this week I went and talked to your dad.  I told him that I loved you, and would take care of you, and he gave me permission to ask you to marry me."

I so romantically said "What?"  The to my astonishment, Josh stood up and pulled me out of my chair.  He dropped to one knee in front of me, pulled a ring out of his pocket and asked me if I would marry him!  Of course I ..... burst into tears!  I stood there crying so long he said "is that a yes?"  I said "yes" and he slid the ring on my finger.  What a joyous moment!  Totally worth the wait I have had for so many years.  After I looked at the ring on my finger we knelt down in the grass next to the fire and asked God to bless our lives together.

Then my brothers came back and hugged us.  Here are a couple of pictures: