~Read Our LOVE Story (Part 1) and Our LOVE Story (Part 2)~
Sweetest Day, Saturday, October 18th, 2014 was coming up! Andrew said to save the day and that we would do something together. I couldn’t wait! I knew that our relationship was headed toward marriage, but I had no idea when Andrew was going to propose – though, I thought it wouldn’t be for a while. Andrew had just gotten a new job, and I knew he probably wanted to get his feet under him and save for a while before we started our new life together. However, that didn’t stop me from wishing he would propose sooner rather than later. I didn’t think I could survive a long wait, and I was secretly hoping that getting down on one knee was what Andrew had in mind for Saturday. 🙂
To say the least, the week before Sweetest Day my heart was on a roller coaster ride. One minute hoping till my heart hurt that Saturday was the big day. The next moment preparing my mind for it not to be and to be content with whatever the weekend held.
Friday night I received a text from Andrew: “Ready to hang out tomorrow?!” Hang out? Andrew only wants to hang out?! My heart dropped.
My heart dropped even lower as my sister told me that evening, “I think you’re hoping that Andrew is going to propose tomorrow; I know Andrew has something special planned, but I don’t want you to be disappointed.” The little stinker. My sister knew Andrew was going to propose the very next day, but she noticed that’s what I was hoping for and was trying to throw me off track. It worked. I shed a few tears as I went to bed and tried to prepare myself for just a good day of “hanging out” with my best friend. I was in love with this dude from Colorado, and I just wanted to marry him for goodness sake!!!
Sweetest Day, October 18th, arrived. I woke up, had some time with Jesus, and started getting ready for my date. Just then my sister came in the door, said something like, “I hope this day is amazing for you, sis!” and handed me a letter. The letter was from Andrew and was filled with some encouraging verses for the day. He told me how much he looked forward to the day ahead together.
After getting ready, I found Andrew waiting for me in the kitchen. My stomach filled with butterflies as it always did when I saw him and both our eyes twinkled as we gave our “good morning” greetings. We headed off to Tim Hortons, our frequently visited coffee spot in Grand Blanc. After we had purchased coffee and found a cozy spot to do some Bible study together, I looked down to find that my coffee sleeve had been written on. Since the time we had “officially” started our relationship, I had been saving my coffee sleeves from every coffee date we had been on (which were many!). One morning a few months before this day, Andrew saw me slip a coffee sleeve into my purse. Realizing I was saving them, he started “stealing” them from me and writing sweet notes to me on them – giving them back to me to save when he was done. Well, that day, while I was looking away, Andrew had slipped an already written on coffee sleeve onto my coffee. There were hearts drawn all over the coffee sleeve. That’s interesting. He doesn’t normally draw hearts. But after a minute, I dismissed it. It’s Sweetest Day, and Andrew just wanted to draw hearts. Nothing wrong with that. I figured it was just another expression from Andrew of how much I meant to him.
Ok, pause, a little background information. Why were hearts out-of-place to me?! Andrew and I had decided to not tell each other that we loved one another until we were engaged. We wanted the words “I love you” to mean something very significant, something deeper than words that could just be hastily spoken. We wanted each other to know that when we finally said those words it meant we were there to stay; when we said “I love you” it meant forever. So though I know we had drawn random hearts on notes to each other before, even hearts weren’t a regular occurrence because of their lovey dovey meaning. 🙂 Maybe a little extreme? Maybe! 😀 But it also made for an extremely special, fun memory as well, and made those three little words carry oh so much more value when I finally heard them from Andrew’s lips for the very first time…But I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself!
After praying, Andrew asked if I would want to go on a walk. Of course I wanted to; I loved walks with my man. We headed for one of our favorite parks with a beautiful walkway and bridge where we had often gone to watch sunsets and had made many good memories. As we walked and talked we made it to the bridge, and I jumped up to sit on the ledge. Just then, Andrew stepped closer to me and took my hand. I immediately knew then what was happening. Andrew had never held my hand before. I jumped down off the ledge just as he was kneeling down on one knee. He read a letter to me he had written. Then he said, “Susanna Catherine DeSota, I love you. Marry me? Be my wife?” Tears were streaming down my face. I had always imagined giving him a happy, confident “yes,” but all I could get out was a squeak that hopefully resembled “yes.” As we looked at each other and I shed more tears, I put my arms around his neck, and he lifted me up off my feet, spinning me around in the perfect Cinderella moment! Then, it was Andrew’s turn to start crying! We were both so overwhelmed by God’s goodness in bringing us together.
Andrew designed my ring himself! Every time I look at it to this day, I think it is perfect! The two marquise diamonds on the side are from my mom’s engagement ring from my dad! I absolutely love that meaningful touch!
Andrew’s plans for the day weren’t done. After what seemed like blissful hours on the bridge, we walked back to the car, and Andrew pulled out a dozen roses from the trunk and a picnic lunch with little love notes hidden in different places throughout the picnic basket. He stole my heart with every detail. 🙂 Then, we headed for Grand Haven where we were going to spend the rest of the day on Lake Michigan!
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change! ~James 1:17
Being together all day, saying “I love you” a million times, holding hands and each other tight, dinner reservations at a restaurant on the beach, watching the sun set over the crashing waves (God brought the sun out just in time for sunset after an all day cloudy sky), singing and praising God under a beautiful starry sky, and writing sweet nothings in the sand were just a few of God’s gifts to us that day. Our engagement day story wouldn’t be complete, though, without telling you about the giant wave that almost swept us away and, for Andrew and I, added to the romantic adventure and happiness of the day.
Can you tell that I am happy?!
Early in the afternoon we walked out on the Grand Haven pier. We found a nice spot close to the end of the pier where we talked and enjoyed the waves sloshing up close to our feet. We started tossing around ideas for when we could get married and stopped to pray about it. What’s funny is that most of the time when Andrew and I would pray together we would just leave our eyes wide open and talk to God like he was right next to us, but this time for some reason we both closed our eyes. In perfect timing as we closed our eyes, we were suddenly drenched; water washed over our entire bodies, head to toe. I swung out over the edge of the pier as Andrew grabbed my arm and pulled me back in toward the concrete wall we had been standing in front of. My hero! 🙂 The wave had come out of no-where!!! Seeing that it was a chilly October day and we were freezing, we had to make a run to Meijer for some new outfits, including shoes for me that didn’t squish out water every time I took a step. We ended up with some outfits that turned out to be rather funky, and I still had wet hair when it was time to go to dinner; but to say the least, it added to the adventure of the day and made a perfectly perfect memory for Andrew and I to tell and retell. I think God sent that wave Himself to celebrate with us in our kind of crazy way! 🙂
The story wouldn’t be complete either without telling you of how loudly we sang “Love Is an Open Door” from Frozen all the way home that night, and thus, why we had to have this song played as we were announced husband and wife four months later! Andrew and I were just meant to be…Forever!
In love! <3 This picture was taken shortly after the giant wave attacked us! Can you tell that my hair is still wet?!
“Love Is an Open Door”
*If you want to see pictures of and hear about our wedding, read A Magical Wedding!
