Engagement Photos

Last night I got to flirt with Jeremiah for an hour and a half…and there wasn’t anyone rolling their eyes or telling us to stop being mushy! 🙂 Our sweet friend Debbie Riggs did our engagement photos, which happened in two stages. First we dressed up in snazzy black and went downtown to the street and alley by the Grace Museum; Debbie’s husband, Mark, came along to assist and play traffic-watcher (he occasionally shouted “Car!” so Debbie could get out of the street). Then we drove to the Langfords’ house (near ACU; they go to Highland), which has a big, beautiful backyard complete with gazebo, park bench, roses and two cats who were mildly interested in the proceedings. We changed into jeans and casual shirts, and Debbie took some more photos while we flirted and J gave me a piggyback ride. It was SO fun!

This is the sample shot  Debbie posted on her blog last night…I’ll post the link when there are more.

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Have you heard what they’re saying on the street?

Some of my favorite reactions to the engagement…

My mom (crying): “Ohhhhhh, Katie, I’m so excited for you!”

Jacque (via email): “AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Steven Moore (stunned look): “He finally did it! Jeremiah finally proposed!”

Calvin (hands raised above head): “Whoo-Hoo!”

Ron Morgan: “Wow! Hurrah!”

Janine Morgan: “Whooo-hoo, calloo, callay!”

Mimi Barnard: “Congrats, Katie and Jeremiah. It’ll be a great life.”

Dan McGregor: “All right!” (high five)

Julie Sosebee: “The future Katie Gibson?!?!?!”

Simon (via email): “WELL DONE – ABOUT TIME! He is a very good egg indeed!”

Bev (crying): “You guys! I’m so happy for you! I’m so glad you called! It makes me feel so special!”

Grace (on voicemail): “Katie Noah, you call me back right now! Facebook says you’re engaged and I need to know if it’s true!” (In my defense, I had tried to reach her earlier, before putting it on Facebook – but she was out of town.)

Bethany: “WHAAAT?!?!” (squealing, more squealing) “Jeremiah was supposed to TELL me when he did it! I’m coming to Abilene tomorrow!” (She was in Dallas for the weekend.)

Jana Beck (my very favorite, at church Sunday): “Oh! Oh! I’ve been sitting here going on about my HAIR! I’m so excited for you!” (beginning to sniffle) “Oh, that’s so sweet! That makes me cry! Why does that make me cry?”

Thanks to everyone who has shared in our joy, at work, church and home; over the phone, via email and in person. I’m sure I speak for J as well…we love you and are SO thankful for your support.

Oh, and that picture of the ring I’ve been promising:

And stealing a kiss afterward:

Happy weekend, everyone…happy graduation, Jeremiah and Betsy!

*title from “A Rumor in St. Petersburg,” from the movie Anastasia

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almost…almost…almost…

I have another article up in this week’s Radiant newsletter. For the record, I would like to say that I sent this in BEFORE I got engaged…and it’s not a declaration of how life is all the time; simply a snapshot of how it was recently. It does still feel a bit like we’re stuck in neutral in the department, waiting for the school year to end (tomorrow!) and summer to begin. But having this wonderful sparkly ring to gaze at helps. 😉 And so does telling the news to alllll the people who love me…via Facebook, email, the blog, the phone, and (my personal favorite) face-to-face encounters. (A list of my favorite reactions is coming soon.)

We actually have blue sky at the moment after days and days of rain. I usually love rain, but it’s time for some Texas summer sunshine. And my Betsy and my Jeremiah are both graduating this weekend…I don’t want it to rain on their parade.

The first wedding detail is in place! Jeremiah and I had lunch with Mike Cope today, and he agreed to officiate. 🙂 I promise this blog won’t become a wedding-planning journal, but as this particular detail is kind of a big deal, I thought I’d share.

The lovely Julie S. heads to Oxford on Sunday, and she’s a wee bit worried, as her latest post attests. Go leave her some comment love and encouragement.

It’s almost 5:00…and almost Friday…and almost graduation weekend…get excited!

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Love and marriage

As many of you have heard by now, I am engaged! Jeremiah asked me to marry him on Friday night after work, at Erinshire Gardens here in Abilene (one of our favorite places). It was impeccably planned and beautifully executed – I am so impressed by him (again) and so wonderfully, incredibly, deliriously happy.

He picked me up after work and took me home, and we hung out at my flat for a bit, then went on a walk down to Erinshire. (I thought I spotted a video camera through the trees when we passed the little chapel there, but he shrugged it off and tried to act nonchalant.) We walked around for a while and then “randomly” ran into our good friends Tim and Julie Danley from church, with whom I lived for a while. They hugged us both and then talked to me for a bit while Jeremiah ran off through the trees to answer a phone call. By this point I knew something was up…

He called me a moment later from the chapel and said, “Come to the chapel. I have a surprise for you.” When I reached the chapel, I heard guitar music and saw Kendall Massey (director of Sing Song and Jeremiah’s good friend) sitting in the chapel, playing. Jeremiah sang Josh Groban’s “When You Say You Love Me” (one of our special songs), then dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him…and I said, “Of course.” My sister was there, taking pictures, and our friend Robert was taking video (I had seen the camera through the trees!). We took lots more pictures and I called my mom; then we headed to some friends’ house for what I thought was a surprise birthday party for Jeremiah, but turned out to be a surprise engagement party. So everyone was surprised in some way. 🙂

We’re planning to get married in Abilene, sometime next summer (’08) after I finish my coursework in Oxford. I’ll keep you all posted, don’t worry. But for now, I just wanted to let everyone know.

There will be LOTS of pictures forthcoming, but most of them aren’t on my camera, so for now I’ll just leave you with a couple:

Jeremiah singing to me, and Kendall playing

Here’s us smiling afterward. Check out Julie’s blog for a close-up picture of the ring. More pictures to come!

*title from “Love and Marriage” by Frank Sinatra

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