now you say yes.

here's a little story for you all ...

HE SAID.
Well, my story started several weeks ago, calling Jacqui’s dad as asking him for his daughters hand in marriage. He said yes, so that was good! The ring was ordered (thank you receding American economy for providing a great deal) and it was wait time.

Ten days later, the ring was shipped and it was time to put a plan into effect. I had budget a most generously provided my one of my supporters so I had some recourse at my disposal. My biggest wish was for a surprise, a complete surprise.

After thinking about the last 15 months of our dating, I had a plan, for a surprise, and hopefully for something romantic.

I put out some calls for help to Mark, Hillary and the Pallisters, who were all delighted and excited to be a part of the occasion.

You see several weeks ago (before I had even called Jacqui’s dad) we had organized to try and get Wade (Pallister) into heroes. Heroes just happened to be the beginning of how me and Jacqui stared to spend a bunch of time together as well.

I got Mark and Hillary to shoot some footage of me, and proceeded to edit up a little declaration of my love to Jacqui. I then spliced it into heroes at an opportune moment about 5 minutes into the show.

I’m almost bursting with excitement as we hop on our bikes and head over to the Pallisters to watch some ‘heroes’, at this stage, Jacqui is completely in the dark, I’ve been misdirecting her all week about a fancy date on Friday night (tonight is Thursday) and she’s bought it, she had no idea what was about to happen.

We settle in and heroes comes on, after five minutes the screen fades to black and a song fades up, words start to appear and my plan is in full swing. I go grab the ring from my bag as Jacqui’s excitement builds, and then drop to one knee and ask her to marry me.

In the midst of her excitement, Jacqui actually forgot to say yes, and had to be reminded by Wade that ‘yes’ was the word I was waiting for… she said yes.

Now the pressure was off, I’d existed a week in the planning and execution of this, it just about killed me with the anticipation. It was all worth it, Jax was delighted and surprised, which is exactly what I was aiming for.

Out came the Aussie champagne, the chocolate covered strawberries, the chocolate cheesecake and the ‘engagement wings’ (check out DIY Gourmet for the wrap up of that one) and tim tams. Some phone calls and general celebration began.

thanks Jacqui, for being amazing, for loving me and for saying yes! I love you.

We did go out for our fancy date on Friday, it was one of the most mind shattering dinner I’ve ever had, and that will be the subject of our next blog post. The best bit about that dinner was I was not nervous any more, this was a celebration!

SHE SAID.
Last week as we wrapped up our work week and looked at what the schedule would hold for the following week Stu said to me, "We should go on a nice date next Friday night." You may think that Stu asking me for a date on Friday night would be normal, but this particular date felt a little different from that moment to me for a couple of reasons.

One - Stu doesn't usually ask me out that directly or that far in advance. Usually sometime around Wednesday or Thursday one of us will say maybe we should go for a date on the weekend and then we'll talk about what else is going on and squeeze something in.

Two - About a month before Stu and I had spent a Saturday afternoon looking around jewelery stores downtown talking about settings and carats and cuts and fire and ice ... something special was bound to happen very soon.

So the following week went on - here and there Stu would drop some kind of hint about how special Friday was going to be ... one of my roommates, Hillary, even seemed to be in on something as she helped me think about what shoes to wear and what to do with my hair. I knew that something was up but as more attention was drawn to Friday, the more I thought it would be just another dinner out because Stu had made it clear that whenever he was going to propose he would try to make it a surprise.

By the time Thursday rolled around I had done everything in my mental power to eliminate the expectation that I would be engaged on Friday. We were planning on hanging out with some friends to start watching Heroes in preparation for the coming new season ... so we went over to Wade and Jo's to start Season 1, Episode 1. We all gathered around the TV and settled in for a little "save the cheerleader, save the world."

About five minutes into the episode the normal fade to commercial happened but suddenly "Don't Wait" by Dashboard Confessional winds up and I start thinking that one of our favorite songs is a strange soundtrack for a commercial. As the words "it all started with ... and then there was ..." with the ...'s clearly describing moments in my relationship with Stu, I started to get on the clue train. Stu then came on the screen and delivered a beautiful little speech about how captivating I am and how rich he is to have me in his life.

THEN - the following words came on the screen:

JACQUILYN BROOKE FABER
WILL YOU ...
(very dramatic pause)
LET ME ASK YOU THIS QUESTION?

So Stu asked me to stand up and he said, "Jacqui, I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, (then he got down on one knee in Wade and Jo's living room) will you marry me?" To which I giggled and said, "I love you, you are amazing, I can't believe it, ect ..."
Eventually I said yes.

And then there was much rejoicing including the most amazing teriyaki "engagement wings" (thanks Wade!), Yellow Tail Bubbles, hand made chocolate covered strawberries and cheesecake (thanks Jo!).

for a whole lot more pictures check out Stu's blog

things i've been reading.

i was a "book kid" ... like i would stay up way past the time my parents would tell me to go to bed reading most things i could get my hands on. what was usually at the end of my fingertips was some form of nancy drew or the babysitters club (i also read some more stimulating things, but that's beside the point). somehow i lost that love of reading among the pages and pages of uninteresting things i had to read for my high school and university education (i also read some engaging things but that's beside the point). anyway ...

i have recaptured a desire to read lately and have found myself reading some wonderful stories and paradigm shifting, affirming advice. i thought i'd give you some brief reviews:

prince caspian, cs lewis: yes, i did read it before i saw the movie. and it was beautiful - i cried and thought to myself "this is what children's books should be like." if you don't read it you're seriously missing out.

beautiful boy, david schiff: an amazing biographical look at a meth addicts' life through the eyes of his father. true story, heart breaking, life giving, informative ... highly recommended.

friend raising, betty barnett: practical and encouraging advice for people who live on "faith based support" ... has confirmed some shifts in views that i've been thinking about lately in my life as a missionary in relationship with friends near and far. recommended if you are interested in finding out what "faith based support" means.

maybe i'll write some more reviews later - that's just a little peak into my recent reads.

tears.

at church we've been going through a series called "nothing's too hard for God" and a couple of weeks ago our pastor touched on something in a sermon that really altered my perception of how God walks through life with us ... the title of this particular week's message was 'no loss is too devastating.' one of the first references to the Bible that was made is psalm 56.8 which reads as follows:

you keep track of all my sorrows.
you have collected all my tears in your bottle.
you have recorded each one in your book.

i learned the contextual significance of this verse that morning in church ... apparently there is a tradition among mothers that they keep a bottle in the house that comes out at especially emotional moments. in the bottle mom collects tears every time some are shed for or by her children, all those tears - of pain and joy and grief and laughter - as a little memorial that not one of them is insignificant.

it is thought by some that this could have been the kind of tears that were used to anoint Jesus in luke 7.38

incredible. it brings fresh tears to my eyes to think that God was crying alongside me when my friend died, and he collected our tears - recording each one. and what deep joy that He will cry in recognition of better times that are coming.

i am humbled and comforted.