[NOTE: In celebration of my upcoming wedding anniversary, this week will be a bit different post wise. I'll be sharing stories and pictures of how my husband {Jimmy} and I met and got married. Normal blogging schedule will start next week!]

June 6th is going to be my two year anniversary of being married to the most wonderful guy ever. When I met Jimmy a little more than eight years ago, never could I have imagined that he would be the one that I’d spend the rest of my life with.

The story, you ask? Get ready to read a novel:

I was fifteen; Jimmy was eighteen. His best friend fell in love with my cousin and friend, and due to that, I saw quite a bit of him in the next several years. We became friends and eventually started dating when I was seventeen. After a couple of months of dating, Jimmy and I ended up going our separate ways due to my immaturity. I wasn’t interested in having a relationship at that time and wanted the freedom of doing whatever I wanted to do. My whole attitude towards the situation was rude, blunt, and careless. Jimmy, on the other hand, didn’t stop liking me. He was quite the determined fella, I say. Everybody knew that he liked me and wanted to someday marry me, but it drove me bonkers. I was Jimmy’s girl when I didn’t want to be Jimmy’s girl. And the more people talked, the more I grew to dislike Jimmy. The freedom that I wanted? It definitely wasn’t there.

And then the Lord saved me. It was a long process of continued disappoint and red-eyed nights. The God that I tried to believe wasn’t there was revealing Himself to me in everything. Millions of questions were asked and only a few of them were answered, but in result, the Truth that I had been avoiding unfolded and became clear. God is Lord — and always will be. My atheistic worldview came crashing down.

Even though my anger towards Jimmy didn’t die right away, over the next year I grew to understand what was truth and what were rumors. Many of the things I found annoying about Jimmy were actually things he had never done. And for the next few years, my anger was slowly replaced by admiration and respect. Even though I was heartless in my approach towards him in the beginning, Jimmy took it in stride and still remained a faithful friend. It was this kindhearted, caring, compassionate, sensitive, unwavering soul that I was slowly starting to love, even though I didn’t know it.

On June 6th, 2008 we met up for coffee {I think it was coffee…}. We decided to give our relationship another try. And yes, we both cried {I think}. We had already overcome so much, and even though my earlier stupidly saddened me, I was grateful that God had given me another chance with Jimmy. What joy! We dated for three sweet months. When my father and pastor allowed Jimmy to propose to me, he didn’t wait very long. Not even a week. On September 4th, I had a dazzling ring on my finger and a wonderful fiancee. Yes, the day my husband proposed to me is a wonderful memory I will always treasure. And rather funny too…

On a previous date to the Papa Haydn restaurant, we decided to make a trip up to Pittock Mansion in Portland. It was dark by the time we had finished eating, but we really wanted to go up and look at the brightly lit city lights. The gate was already closed, so we parked in the neighborhood and decided to hike up the road to the mansion. Yes, probably illegal, but we didn’t think about that then. I had put on my fancy LBD and black heels for this date, so you can image how cold I eventually became and how sore my feet felt. We ended up walking all the way to Pittock in pitch black darkness and bare feet {forest noises seem to grow louder when you’re nervous}. But the view on top? Breathtaking. And did I love it? Completely.

I think the wonderful-ness of my first time at Pittock with Jimmy was the reason he chose that place to propose. I can’t remember if I asked him that, but I guess it doesn’t matter. It was a regular Thursday and a normal date. It was now our second time at Pittock. Upon arriving, Jimmy took a little stroll with me with around Pittock. I was used to always taking the short cut to places, so I found it strange that we just had to go “that way” today. But I humored him, and he was grateful because that was part of the plan.

We had brought along the book we were reading together. And I had brought along our constant companion: a blanket we had bought together for our picnics, which I had dubbed Blankey. I wrapped myself up in the blanket {it was a chilly day}, and we sat down on a bench facing the city and started to read. In time, he got a text. It was code text between him and his sister, and I can’t remember exactly what the texts were about, but the “it’s a go” code text was received, and me and Jimmy got up to leave. During this whole time, Jimmy’s sisters and brother-in-law were setting up the proposal site.

Evening had come upon us, and the wind seemed even colder. I wrapped my blanket tighter around me as we took the long route around Pittock again, and the whole time Jimmy was trying to peel the blanket off of me. I was confused as to why he wanted me to freeze to death.

Towards the end of the path, I suddenly saw a pathway lit up with candles and strewn with hydrangea petals. That wasn’t there before I said to myself. We were headed right towards it. I started nudging Jimmy away from it and told him, “Wow, somebody must be doing something really special. We better move so we don’t get in the way.” Jimmy just laughed and pulled on my blanket to steer me back towards the candlelit walkway. Halfway down the walk, it dawned on me. Oh my goodness. He is proposing!

At the end of the walkway, there was a pedestal with a bouquet of flowers, candles, and ring box on top. And then I looked at Jimmy. He was on his knee. There was one heart that was definitely a-fluttering!

{rustle, rustle}

My attention was suddenly on the trees behind Jimmy. There was someone in the bushes and they were making so much noise. Who could it be? I totally forgot that Jimmy was even on his knee. All my attention was on those rustling bushes. Yeah, I know. I’m such a dork. When I finally looked at Jimmy again, he had this look on his face that said, “Ummm, I’m trying to propose here…” And then the wonderful words came: Stacey, honey, will you marry me? I can’t remember if I said absolutely, of course, or yes, but I do know that I didn’t even bother looking at the ring, but just kept my gaze on Jimmy. He was all that mattered to me at that time. {He later told me he was rather bummed, because I didn’t look at the ring once while he proposed or even slipped it on my finger. He had tried so hard to pick the perfect one and I didn’t even look at it? Guess I’m not your average lady.} So both me and my blanket were now engaged. No wonder Jimmy had tried so hard to get that blanket off of me. I totally look like a bum in the pictures now.

And the next thing I know, Jimmy’s two sisters, his brother-in-law, and his cousin {the photographer} jump out the bushes yelling congrats. So that’s who was making the bushes rustle, haha.

Us with Jimmy’s sisters and brother-in-law:

Us with Jimmy’s cousin, the photographer:

And that’s when I finally looked at the ring. “I’m getting married! That’s for sure!”

{All images by MAXM Studio}