On the evening of January 26, 2018 Derrick and I went out for a date- little did I know, it was going to be the greatest date of all the hundreds of dates over the past 6 years of our relationship- this one, he had planned a surprise proposal! For some reason there was such beautiful weather out that day for January in Indiana so we decided to go on a walk around monument circle before dinner to soak in the rare January weather. When we arrived at the circle, Derrick grabbed a photo book out of his car and told me that he got me this gift bc he felt like he didn’t get me very good gifts for Christmas and my birthday this year. At this point, I didn’t really buy the bad gift excuse, I definitely thought something was happening. I remember thinking to myself, “he’s either proposing or this is a fake proposal and that would be a sick joke!” So, with mixed emotions, I walked over to the steps of the circle and sat down with Derr. I opened up the book and quickly came to realize that these were pictures of some of our favorite memories throughout our 6 years of dating! After we finished reminiscing, laughing, and even a little crying (mainly just me) I flipped to the last page. This page contained the sweetest handwritten letter that Derrick wrote me. The letter expressed so many things- his feelings for me, why he wants to marry me, etc. My favorite part of the letter is the part that he wrote praising God for saving and redeeming us in Christ and how the Lord so graciously brought the two of us together. At the end of the letter came my next favorite part, which read, “will you marry me?” With eyes full of tears and a heart full of joy, I look up and there’s Derrick down on one knee with the most beautiful ring! Of course, I said YES! As if that wasn’t so sweet enough, he had another surprise up his sleeve! When we arrived for our dinner reservation, our families were at the table waiting to celebrate with us. It was a night I will never forget!