Tuesday, August 12, 2003

I'm ENGAGED!!!!!!!

Ok, so I've got 10 minutes to write about my engagement but I've been practicing my spiel to my friends. Here goes.

On Thursday afternoon my parents arrived at the airport however they didn't know where my gate was. Fortunately they were able to find me :) Anita's parents then graciously took us to the hotel (Wyndham suites in Addington), and then we went to Anita's favorite Japanese restaurant Tokyo One. I made sure I had a full plate with sushi, tempura, beef teriyaki, all the good stuff before I talked to Anita's parents (Definitely can't ask for a blessing on an empty stomach :). When I was almost done with asking Anita's parents, my parents piped in and said "We support our son." Then Anita's parents gave us our blessing.

Friday, I had to fix the fiasco that is Sam's club. They promised to have the ring resized in 2-3 weeks, but they reneged on their order, On top of that they threatened to have a 25% surcharge. DON'T BUY JEWELRY AT SAMS'S CLUB!!!!! So I went to Zales and got a really good deal on a cute princess cut diamond on a Tiffany setting. Alright, so I still had to figure out where I had to propose. My initial plan was to go to a gondola ride in Minnesota, however since I was planning on surprising Anita in Dallas I had to nix that idea. The good news is that there is a gondola ride in Irving Texas approx. 15 minutes from the airport. Usually the gondolas are booked 2 weeks in advance, but I was able to book it for Saturday night :)

Saturday is the big day, but it was raining all day long. At noon, my future in laws and I went to meet a missionary couple. We prayed together that God would stop the rain for us. Meanwhile, Anita still has no clue that I'm in Dallas because she went to a conference in Atlanta. At 7:45 pm, I surprised her by putting my hands around her eyes. She wasn't able to scream because she was eating her dinner (her parents' delaying tactic :). We then spent an hour just talking with each other by the docks. The gondola then arrived at the scene and we had a very romantic serenade in Mandalay canals. I thought it was a good moment to propose. However I put the ring on the right hand instead of the left. Anita started laughing hysterically and I was wondering what I did wrong. She told me, and the best part was that she said YES!

I'm completely overjoyed! It was definitely a weekend to remember!


John