Seven Years Betrothed

Seven years ago today, my wonderful husband proposed to me.

Tom and I had been dating for just over eight months. A group of our friends from church decided we would take a weekend trip down to Maryland to visit my best friend, Bethany, and her husband James. They lived between Washington DC and Baltimore so there was a lot we could see and do. Unbeknownst to me, Tom had swiped Bethany's phone number from my phone and called her to make a plan.

To this day, I still cannot believe she didn't tell me...we kind of tell each other EVERYTHING!

So, On March 2nd, 2007, we hopped in the car with some friends, Jeff and Heather, and drove down to Maryland.

Jeff and Tom in the back seat on our way down....I cannot believe how young they look! 

Now I know more details, of course, but the first night, Tom was sleeping downstairs with the guys while the girls were upstairs and he showed them all the ring he planned to give me. So...everyone knew what was coming but me!

The next morning, we packed up and headed into D.C. James and Bethany had sort of planned out our route. To be honest, I don't remember what we did first. I do remember walking down the street towards the Science Museum that we were going to check out. Bethany suggested that Tom and I separate from the group and head over to the Botanical Gardens across the Street. Her reasoning was that it was a beautiful place to have a picture taken together and then we could just meet them back at the museum. I hesitated...I mean...we were there to all be together but then decided it would just be for a few minutes and it would be nice to have a picture of us.

We walked through the Gardens looking for a nice place for a picture. When we decided on a spot, Tom handed the camera to a stranger and asked him to take our picture. I turned around to take off my jacket and when I turned back around, Tom was on his knee. OH MY GOODNESS!

Of course I said yes.

The best part was that the guy taking our picture had no idea so he started yelling to people, "Look what he's doing!" and a huge crowd had gathered around while he proposed.

Of course I called home right away to talk to my parents and sister while we walked back to meet our friends. We swore them to secrecy so we could be the ones to tell the rest of our friends and family when we got home.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur but here are a few shots of the rest of our weekend.

From Left to Right (Heather, James, Bethany, Jeff, Rachel, Adam (who is getting married to an awesome Girl next week!!), Tom and me!)

Never in our seven years together so far have I regretted marrying my amazing husband. I love him more everyday. The decision to marry him was easy. God  very obviously brought us together when we least expected it and has blessed our marriage abundantly.

As in every marriage, we have our ups and downs. We have things that we have to talk through and we have moments of frustration but with Jesus as the Center, it makes it easier to keep perspective.

I am so excited to see what God has in store for our next seven years....four more kids? haha....well...I guess you never know!

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