{And Then We Were Engaged}

A few days ago, I wrote about my relationship with Ben. I ended it with the idea that I cannot truly describe what it is to experience friendship. Real, raw, forgiving, adventurous, lovely friendship fraught with difficulties.

Since, I wrote that post, our friendship has stepped from “relationship” to “engagement”. Honestly, it is so relieving. Ben and I have both been serious about our relationship since the very beginning. Midway through our dating relationship, we talked about the best time to get engaged. And we waited.

Well, I waited and Ben worked hard on ALL those details that men have to figure out in order to ask the most nerve-racking question of their lives. Then one day, (on the 23rd of December to be exact), Ben wanted to take me to his favorite place. We walked behind his house and over the bridge. We strolled along the creek as we admired all those childhood tree fort ruins.

We spread out a blanket and sat down. Ben was pretty nervous and rightly so! I was making light conversation, enjoying the breeze, and waiting. After awhile, we took a walk closer to the creek and stood there for awhile. At this point, Ben was beside himself with nervous energy. I didn’t want to say anything, because there is nothing worse than a girl forcing a guy to say something that she wants to hear! I could see the outline of the ring box in his jacket pocket. So, I kept waiting. 🙂

And then, “Sierra, this isn’t my favorite place, you are my favorite place.…pause….I love you…” some other forgotten words…”Sierra, you are really important to me”...pause….fumbling with more words…and then…”OK….erase all that. Let me start over.” Then, he is on one knee and holding both of my hands, “Sierra Vaughn Brock will you marry me?”And I just exclaimed, “HALLELUJAH! YOU SPIT IT OUT! YES…..yes, I will marry you!”

Then, this beautiful ring was on my finger, and his arms were around me in complete relief. The tongue-tied boy of moments before was suddenly talking a hundred miles an hour. I had my Ben back!

After we took some pictures under a tree that was by the creek bank, we walked back to the blanket. Underneath the blanket was a storybook that Ben had written and illustrated. It was about a man and a woman who were traveling to his favorite place. Each picture was a place that Ben and I had been together. Each time, the girl would ask, “Is this your favorite place?” or she would exclaim, “This must be your favorite place!” Every time, the man would respond that no it wasn’t his favorite place.

The last page was blank, because this was the part of the story that Ben had planned on proposing to me and telling me that I was his favorite place, but we had walked so far from the blanket, and the nervous energy just couldn’t wait any longer. So, Ben ended up proposing to me before we read the story.

He now insists on putting the finishing touches on the book, so we can place it on a shelf in our home. He wrote it like a children’s story, because he knows how much I enjoy children’s literature. I am sure that our kids will read it one day, and gag at how I am his favorite place. But I’ll just be smiling!

And so, there we were…engaged.…happy….oblivious to the work we had voluntarily placed in our laps, but so relieved to have made the next right step in our relationship. Now for the planning!

We have 2 goals for our wedding:

• We get married.
• We glorify God in every way on the wedding day that He has so graciously & lovingly given us.

PS: Scroll back up to the picture at the beginning of this post. Doesn’t Ben look surprised that I said yes?! Silly boy. Of course, I was going to say yes! He should know that before he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife, I had already said yes a thousand times.