There and Back Again: I'M ENGAGED!!!!!!

I'm Engaged!!!!

I cannot believe that I am ENGAGED!!! This past week has been so great! Not just because I got to spend time with my FIANCE (ahh that is so much fun to say!!!), but I absolutely loved getting to spend time with my parents as well! It was so encouraging to have them here and was such a restful time for me. Rob and I finally got to show my parents around Salerno. It was so great showing them why we love the city and the people so much. After spending a few days in Salerno, we spent the rest of the week in Florence and Rome. Getting to travel with them was so much fun!

At the Castle in Salerno

Mom and Dad at Dinner in Florence

As exciting as the trip was, I know most of you want to hear about the proposal! I honestly had NO CLUE! Rob and I had talked about getting married for a while and had even thrown around a few dates that might work, but I had no idea when he was going to propose. Of course everyone was asking me, “Do you think it’s going to happen while he’s here in December?” In the back of my head, I definitely knew it was a possibility (I even made sure my nails were painted!!!), but I tried not to dwell on it. Neither of my sisters seemed to have any idea, and this was definitely not due to a lack of investigative effort.

Lauren, my older sister, even grilled my mom and dad on the way to the airport before she dropped them off for their flight over here. My dad reassured her that nothing was going to happen by saying things like “no, they don’t need to be talking about all that” and “she is in Italy, and he’s in America” and “well he hasn’t asked me yet.” For those of you who do not know my family really well, we are not the best at keeping secrets from each other. Nevertheless, my dad was so convincing to my sister that it was NOT going to happen. As soon as my parents went through security, Lauren called me and told me all about what my dad had said. That pretty much convinced me that he was not going to propose anytime soon. With that in mind, I had to block the thought of him proposing out of my mind completely.

Regardless, I was so excited that Rob and my parents were coming. I could not stop talking about it! The morning they were flying in, Valerye (my roommate of two years) and I were talking about all the fun plans we had while we were getting dressed. She was definitely wearing nicer clothes, (and if you know Val, she likes to be comfy) but I never really thought twice about it. She even asked me if my camera battery was charged…still I was not putting it all together! Finally, around 11:00 am, we met Rob and my parents as they pulled up in front of the hotel they were staying in! I was so excited! After I got all of my mandatory excited squeals out of the way, we settled my parents into their hotel and took some “special orders” from America that they brought me up to my apartment. I was so excited to finally have Rob here with an entire suitcase of different odds and ends I had requested from home! My roommates and I went through the entire suitcase! Rob seemed so excited to see my apartment and could not wait to go see my terrace.

In the meantime, I just wanted to explore the treasure trove of American goodies I just got! Did he not see how excited I was about the 300 packets of propel and the 15 jars of peanut butter?!?! Finally, he convinced me to put down the peanut butter and take him to our terrace. The view is not so great, but I could tell how excited he was to see the view. We spent a while up there just talking about how great it was to actually be in the same place and how unbelievably excited I was! I probably said it a million times! At some point in time, I definitely hit his pocket and I heard something break…looking back it definitely sounded like a ring box, but I was so oblivious. Scared I had broken his phone or something else important, I asked him if everything was ok? He non-chalantly told me not to worry about it. The next thing I know he is down on one knee saying, “Will you marry me?” At this point I am shaking, screaming, and doing who knows what else! He then got up and showed me exactly why I was so excited to marry him.

He was so sweet and affirmed me through Scripture about why he wanted to marry me and what kind of husband he promises to be. He walked through verses like Proverbs 18:22, Proverbs 19:14, Proverbs 31:10-11, Ephesians 5:23-31, 1 Peter 3:7. Through the past three months, Rob has continually pointed me back to Hosea 2:14, 19 -20 to reassure me of how not only the Lord loves me, but how he (Rob) strives to love me as well. As great as it has been to hear that over Skype, it was incredible to hear him tell me in person. After all of this, he pointed out that I never actually gave him an answer so I finally said yes! I later learned that Rob had planned on walking me through all of the scripture before he proposed, but he told me that he went completely blank right before he dropped to one knee. Rob is normally very very good with words, so it shows how wound up he was! He claims it was nothing but excitement, but I definitely think there were some nerves mixed in!

A few minutes later, I heard Valerye and my other roommate Elizabeth scurrying up the stairs taking pictures! They definitely caught me in the moment right after I said “WE FINALLY CAN SET THE DATE!” Val had known for about a month that he was going to propose. A Month!!! Apparently everyone here knew but me! I talked to them about it all the time! I still cannot believe that they kept such a good secret! After we took some more pictures, we all went to tell my parents (who had known for 3 months!!!), and my mom’s reaction was great, of course! We finally tried to relax and grabbed some pizza to celebrate with my parents and then went home to call Rob’s family and my sisters. My team was so sweet. They threw us a fun little party that night to celebrate with us! This past week has been so much fun and I just want to say “Thank You!” to everyone who has sent me messages! I cannot tell you how excited I am to be marrying my best friend and how blessed I feel to have a man like Rob in my life. For those of you that do not know him, I truly hope you get to meet Rob soon to see exactly why I cannot wait to marry him. We could not be more excited to be getting married on August 11, 2012!!!