We are so excited you are here!

Ben and I met at church and had a couple great conversations, but he wasn't really on my radar. Then one day, one of my friends told me that she could see Ben and I together. When I asked her 'why?', she said that we just fit well. We want the same things and I can follow his thought pattern. And we talk easy. She paused a moment, thought, then nodded. "Yup, I can see you two together. I'm going to make this happen." I laughed but it was in my head. She knew me and knew him and his family well, so I began to wonder if we would. The following Sunday, he sat with his family behind me, and we talked again after church. We talked for hours, our conversation rabbit trailing down numerous topics with ease. Hours passed and we had to go our separate ways. The following weekend he asked me to lunch after church. We sat at the restaurant for hours before I had to dash off to close my apartment windows because it was raining. That night I had been invited to a game night from people at church. Coincidentally, Ben was there. After a fun evening, he walked me to my car where we talked for another hour or so. At the end he asked me on a date. He later said he hadn't planned on asking me that night but it had just felt right, so he asked. The following saturday he picked me up at 7:30 am and took me to Stony Creek where he made me a full from-scratch pancake breakfast on the beach. The park was quiet and the sun was shining. It was beautiful. We went hiking in the forest and I hiked up my long skirt and stomped through the mud. We laughed and talked easily. Even after hours together, we didn't want the date to end. Since, we have enjoyed many days tromping through the woods and kayaking on the lake while still talking about everything under the sun. I love learning about this Godly man I'm blessed with and living life together. He was right, it's just felt right.

For Christmas we received two tickets to see the Russian Ballet perform "Swan Lake" for January 30th from his parents. A week before, Ben decided he was going to propose that night and quickly prepared. He looked through my Pinterest board at ring designs I had pinned and chose one he liked. He took the design to a local jeweler to have it made. The jeweler rushed to create the ring and completed it an hour and a half before Ben was supposed to pick me up for dinner before the ballet. He had reservations at Roast in Detroit where we were given a cozy, candle-lit booth nested into the back wall of the restaurant. The food was amazing and the service was wonderful. But for Ben, it wasn't the right place. We walked down to the Detroit Music Hall where we watched the ballet. It was lovely. Again it was wonderful, but to Ben, it still wasn't the right place. During intermission he told me that he knew what he wanted to do for dessert. He wanted to have a mocha or hot cocoa and walk down to the pond in the park across the street from my apartment. My heart leapt and apparently a look fluttered across my face but I tried to play it off and just agreed. After the ballet, we went back to my place and made hot cocoa. I slipped sweatpants on under my dress and changed my shoes. We walked into the crisp, clear night to the still and just frozen pond across the street. All was still except for the river rolling in the distance. We sat on a frosted bench and sipped our hot cocoa. He played me a song by Peter Hollens on his phone, and after he told me that he loved me and loved getting to know me these past eight months. He told me he didn't want our time together to end. Then he stood. I quickly set my mug down and waited with joyful anticipation. He got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. I squealed and said "yes yes yes yes" and jumped on him in a big hug. We knelt there on the frosted ground giggling and crying tears of joy. It was the perfect start of forever.