Forever and Always. And then some.

A week ago, May 17th, a life changing event occurred that I will never forget.  Mr. Wonderful asked me to be his bride.  =)  Here's how it happened.

After a busy week of working late every night, this kid was excited to spend a relaxing evening with sir Tucker J.  I headed to his house where he was making dinner.  He ate quickly and, after he'd finished, proclaimed, "I need to grab a few things before we go" and ran downstairs.  I sat finishing my dinner, a bit confused.  When he returned upstairs, I asked him where we were going.  When my question was met with a sly smile, I said, "Guess it's a surprise then."

We drove to the beach, the place that Tuck had first asked me to be his girlfriend.  At this point, I was a bit suspicious as are evenings together are a bit more chill than this and, well, it felt like he was recreating our first date.  We walked along the shore making small talk, just as we had done 10 months prior.  As we walked, his friend Jason cried out from atop on of the stairs leading to a beach house, "Tucker!  Hey!  What are you guys doing here?"

"We should go say hey to them quick."

Now honestly, this threw me off a bit, as Tucker knows me better than to propose in front of a lot of people.  When we reached the top of the steps, however, Jason had disappeared (which I honestly didn't realize until Tuck told me Saturday morning; yeah, I was in a bit of shock =)).

We we reached the top of the stair, we were greeted by a bottle of wine, the same kind that I had gotten Tuck for his birthday and that we drank on Valentine's day, tiramisu, my favorite dessert, sitting on a plate that Tuck had painted inside jokes on at Naked Plates, a frequent date location for us, and a sketch artist.

Now, back story on the sketch artist a bit.  So, back before Tucker and I were dating, we planned on hitting up a jazz concert downtown only to discover that it's last showing was the week before.  Instead, I decided to show him the high life of the city; you know, the giant tire swing, button, that kind of thing  ;-)  We ended our tour back at Rosa Parks where we sat for a few hours simply talking about life.  As we sat talking, a man approached us, introduced himself as a portrait artist, and asked if he could draw us. I was a bit hesitant about it, and Tuck was all for it, so we let him draw us.  As he drew, we got to hear a bit about he and his girlfriend's (who later join us) life stories.  Toward the end of the conversation, I felt in my gut that I should ask if we could pray for them.  Feeling a bit silly, though, I didn't mention anything.  Tuck, on the other hand, after paying for the drawing, asked if we could pray for them quick (granted, I'd said nothing to Tucker about my prompting to pray).  They quickly agreed, and so he prayed.  They were ecstatic afterward, and thanked us for the best prayer they'd every heard.  I remember returning home that night and telling my roommate, "Screw dating this guy!  I want to do ministry with him!"

Flash back to Friday.  So we're greeted by thoughtful wine, tiramisu, hand crafted plate, and sketch artist.  Tuck pulls his phone and speakers out of his bag and starts playing some of our favorite tunes.  At this point, I'm suspicious but trying not to let myself jump to conclusions.  We make small talk with the artist as he draws, reminiscing about our relationship and what God has taught us over the past year, really the perfect set up.  =)  The artist shows us his drawing evidencing the evening, sets it aside, then rummages around in his bag as Tuck and I get lost in conversation.  When I looked back on the easel, I looked like a black frame had been placed on it, though I honestly couldn't remember if it was already there or not.

Then in a swift move, the artist flipped the easel around and booked it out of there.  I started to tremble as I saw what was on it: a drawing of Tuck proposing to me on the beach.  As I was distracted by the drawing, Tuck had slide out of his chair and onto one knee.  He held an open ring box that contained a ring that he'd made out of twisty ties (when we'd talked about rings earlier, I told Tucker that I didn't care about the ring; he could propose to me with a twisty tie and I would say yes and treasure it forever) and told me, "So, the real reason that we're here tonight is for me to say Sal jy my die eer van my vrou, which in English means will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

The details get a bit fuzzy for me here.  At some point in all of this, he slipped the twisty tie ring onto my finger.  I stood up and tackled him in a hug and whispered, "Always babe".  He stood up with me still in his arms, a grin the size of Africa on his face, slipped his hand in his pocket, and said something along the lines of, "Good, but I'm not that cheap" as he slipped the real ring on my finger.  =)

We spent quite literally all day Saturday going around to loved ones and announcing our news to them.  Here are a few of my favorite stories:

We tried to get a hold of my friend, Shiffra, but couldn't, so I left her a message asking if I could bring my finance along when we met yes.  She promptly called me back looking for an explanation.

We met one of my roommates, Mary Jo, at work where I announced to her that she was going to have another brother (cause the Clancy Clan is full of sisters =)).  It took her a bit to understand the news, but then was super excited for us.

We met my other roommate, Amy/Smelly, at our house.  I walked in the house initially without Tucker and announced to her that my fiance is a liar (she had asked him earlier if he was going to propose that Friday and he had told her no).  After it sunk in, she gave him a good amount of grief for lying to her.

We headed to the race track to show his folks the ring (they already knew about it) and to tell his grandparents.  They couldn't have been more thrilled.

We headed to my grandparents house, where I made the mistake of telling the about the engagement by saying they were going to have another grandson.  At first, my grandpa just kind of hung his head until I explained, "No grandpa!  It's Tucker!  We're going to get married!"  Haha! Dear grandpa, thanks for thinking I'm pregnant; my name is not Mary.

While we were there, my sister, whom I've been trying to get a hold of for months, called.  Naturally I took the phone, and when in our small talk she asked about grandma, I handed the phone to my grandmother.  While they were making small talk, my grandma nonchalantly mentioned, "And you know that your sister's getting married, right?" *facepalm* I could hear Darcy yelling on the other line: "What?  Give her the phone! Give Sharon the phone!"

"Well Darce, now you know why I called." =)

We went to Verald and Robyn's house to say hey.  While making small talk with them, I playfully kept punching Verald in the arm, our usual display of sibling love.  After a bit, I said, "Well, we just wanted to stop in and say hey and try out the new weaponry."  It took them both a moment to understand, then Verald grabbed my hand and they both gasped and congratulated us.

We went to my mom's house and waiting for Phil and Hannah to drop off my nephew.  While they were there, I kept talking to Ezra and referring to Tucker as his uncle.

"Tank, throw the ball to UNCLE Tucker.  Tank, jump to UNLCE Tucker."

Phil caught on, but Hannah didn't quite, so finally I took off my ring, handed it to my nephew, and said, "Ezra, show momma what auntie has."

He gleefully trotted over to her.  "What do you haaahhh!"  =)

We had a bonfire to tell a bunch of my friends.  Being her first time there, Breanna got a bit lost, so she called me and I stood down the drive until she pulled in.  As soon as she drove past me she yelled, "Shar- WHAT IS ON YOUR HAND?" Yup, she's observant.  =)

Despite being their Friday and telling everyone on Saturday, it still didn't really sink in until we were singing in church Sunday morning.  As we stood singing, I looked over at Tuck and really began to realize that this is the man that I get to marry.  A tear rolled down my check as I reflected on now only my relationship with him, but also how much God has grown me and the truths that He has taught me through Tuck.  I stood amazed at how much He has grown and matured me over the past two years, how perfect His plan is for me, how much higher His ways are than mine.  Never in a million years could I have imagined the growth that He has done in my life or that I would be so blessed by Tucker.  Never could I have imagined the joy, peace, love, and truth that I have found.  Praising God for His perfect planning and for leading me to places greater than I could ever dream or imagine!  Praising Him that I get to marry someone far better than the man of my dreams, someone who constantly pushes me closer and closer to God.  To God be the glory now and forever!

And in case that isn't enough words for you, here are a few photos that Paul Rozeboom took after the big event last Friday.