Right after Thanksgiving, I spent some time just praying and asking God for confirmation that I should ask Jenn to marry me.  I did find it after spending some time studying Isaiah 30, and so I felt at peace about asking her.  I spoke with my family about it and they gave their blessing.  Now I needed to find a ring.

Jenn had hinted a few months earlier that she liked unusual and out-of-the-norm, and she liked older antique styles for that reason.  I searched the internet first to get an idea of what was out there, but didn't find anything good enough - most of it is replicated stuff.  After taking another approach, I found what I needed: a friend of mine has a family-run jewelry manufacturing company in Roanoke, and he gladly gave me the connections to find a good ring (thank you Paul, Marie, and Rhonda!!).

I went with Marie to a jewelry store and looked at some antique and antique replicas.  The one I kept coming back to was an estate piece from Pennsylvania from around 1930 or so (according to people who have seen it since then).  The original diamonds were in it, and I could imagine it on Jenn's finger.  After careful attention, I decided this was the One Ring.

I got the ring in the second week of December, and hid it away so I wouldn't remember I had it.  As it was, I had a terrible time keeping the secret from Jenn.

I spent Christmas until December 29th with Jenn and her family, and we had a really nice visit together.  I warned her that I wasn't getting her a ring for Christmas.  I thought she might be hoping for it, and so I tried to let her know gently (originally when I told her that, I thought I wouldn't be able to get a ring until 2005).  In place of a ring, I got her some earrings for Christmas, in hopes that it would give her all the more reason to doubt she was getting a ring.

On Monday, December 27th while Jenn worked half a day, I asked her Dad for his blessing to marry Jenn.  He graciously (even gladly) agreed.  It was hard to do that even though I expected that her family would be supportive.  "How will I start this conversation?" ran through my mind over and over.  It's not something you do every day (or even twice in a lifetime).

Wednesday morning, Jenn and I headed to Roanoke.  Around 7pm, we got home and everyone was gone (as planned).  While Jenn changed clothes, I grabbed the ring and hid it on the mantle among the Christmas decorations.  I said "Let's get some Christmas pictures near the Fireplace before we go out."  We took about 5 pictures and it was like a flash to me; I kept thinking "I've got to time this just right."  Finally, I set the camera, went over and stood next to her for a second, then reached back and grabbed the box.  Classic story follows after that, except that I opened the box upside down and the ring was sticking out at the top instead of sitting up from the bottom.  Oops.  She didn't seem to care.  I guess she had other things on her mind. :-)

Being an intuitive girl, you'd have to expect that I thought a proposal from Colin was coming soon.  As my Dad said later, "When Colin said something to Jenn, I could see the gears start turning in her head."  There were a few subtle clues I picked up along the way:

Clue 1: Colin asked me a few weeks beforehand if I thought May would be a good month to get married. 
Clue 2: Colin had announced to me that I "was not getting a ring for Christmas" (we girls would read that as "you're not getting a ring for Christmas, but at least the word ring is in his vocabulary.")

Colin had visited me from Christmas Day through December 29th.  He told me on the 28th that we would be going out for a nice dinner in Roanoke the next night.  We drove back to his home together (almost a 7-hour drive) and we quickly got ready for an nice night out.  Colin set up his handy-dandy tripod and camera in the dining room by the fireplace.  We took a series of nice Christmas photos.  Meanwhile, I was thinking, "I bet he's going to propose tonight, but don't get your hopes up, Jennifer."  On about the fifth picture, he set the camera timer and ran over to jump in the shot.  I was so concerned with having my picture taken that I almost didn't realize that he had grabbed something off the mantle and gotten down on one knee.

"Hey... will you marry me?"

I guess at that moment I was quite surprised, because I turned to him and said, "Are you serious!?!"  Here is this guy on his knee with this beautiful ring and suddenly I realized that the answer was "Of Course I will!"

The ring he gave me is a beautiful antique and Colin, being the meticulous engineer that he is, put a lot of time and thought into picking it out for me.  That is truly what makes it so special.

We enjoyed a great dinner at the Hotel Roanoke.  The Hotel was beautifully decorated for Christmas.  We kept remarking to each other about how God had blessed us with each other.  When I think about how much Colin loves me, it makes me realize how immense God's love really is for me.

A verse that I always liked is Psalm 37:4 which says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."  I truly feel that as I've learned how to delight myself in, and deepen my relationship with Christ, that I found along the way someone whose deepest longing and purpose in life is to serve our Lord Jesus.