Beautiful drives...

A couple years ago, Kenny and I took our first drive together....

We had spent the semester getting to know each other and enjoyed spending time together, but we had decided to just wait and see before pursuing anything more than friendship. It was May and Kenny had just returned from a mission trip in Guatemala, so we got together for lunch so I could hear about the trip before he headed home for the summer. After lunch we weren't quite ready to go yet and Kenny suggested a drive. It was a glorious day for a drive and we enjoyed it. We turned onto Bluegrass Road and a lane into some trees caught my eye so we stopped to check it out. It was a beautiful, serenely sunlit, old country cemetery. It was surrounded by trees. It was a sweet place and all I could think of was what an adventure hanging out with Kenny Haggard was. It crossed my mind that it'd be sad if we never had the chance for more little adventures together. The day's adventure continued when Kenny decided to see where an old field road would take us. We went a little too far and actually ended up getting his car stuck. It was a decent-sized problem, but the way he dealt with it made everything alright. We set out walking to find some help and ended up sitting and talking with an elderly couple for probably an hour while we waited for their neighbor to come around with his tractor. We loved it! When the neighbor came we hopped on his tractor's bucket and had a pretty unique ride back to rescue Kenny's car. When we got back on the road and back to Charleston we said our goodbye. We didn't mention anything about staying in touch over the summer, which was pretty disappointing to me after such a great day, but about a week later I got the first of several letters from Kenny Haggard.


Just over a week ago, Kenny and I took another beautiful drive...

We had been back from Africa and Seattle for about a week and hadn't really done any driving other than back and forth between Chicago, so Kenny mentioned on Saturday that he'd like to go for a drive Sunday afternoon. It sounded good to me and we took off in the direction of the drive we had taken a couple of years ago. We hadn't been back since that day, but we were determined to find Bluegrass Road, where we'd found such a great time. We talked about that day and how much it meant to us. For me, looking back, it had been a pretty monumental day. The way Kenny had dealt with the situation convinced me that he was someone who I could and would love to encounter anything with. I thought that good or bad, things would be great if we were together. Kenny said that it had been that day that sealed his decision to write to me that summer. He was thinking about it, but after that great day together, he knew that he had to, without a doubt. We got to know each other a lot through the letters that followed that drive. So as we drove with our eyes open for Bluegrass Road, we reminisced. We found the road and the cemetery and decided to stop and check it out again. It was still a beautiful cemetery. We walked around a bit, but the grass hadn't been mowed so we stopped and sat on the car. Kenny continued to reminisce, saying a lot of wonderful and meaningful things. He is often reflective like this, so I still didn't suspect anything. It was quiet and I was enjoying the beauty of the moment and Kenny got up and went to the trunk of his car. He said he had gotten me something out in Seattle. He told me to close my eyes, and when he told me to open them, he was kneeling and holding an engagement ring. He proposed and I said yes! It was perfect, absolutely perfect. It really could not have been a more perfect day.

I was pretty surprised. Kenny and I hadn't spent very much time at all talking specifically about getting married. Only since I had returned from Africa had we begun to talk when-ishly instead of if-ishly. We had been together pretty much the whole week or so and I was sure he hadn't had an opportunity to talk to my parents. And a few days before he had said that he wouldn't know what size of ring to get if he was going to buy one sometime, so we had stopped at the jewelry counter at Wal-Mart to get my size. I knew it was coming, I just didn't expect it to be coming as soon as it did. Kenny had bought the ring in Seattle and had asked my parents the day that I came home from Africa as they were waiting at the airport. Mom had been holding the ring for him for over a week. Amazingly, she didn't let anything slip. And Kenny had been pretty sly.

So, I was surprised. I had always hoped that it would happen this way...but this was better than I had ever dreamed. This entire relationship has far surpassed anything I have ever dreamed. It took a lot of God working in both of us; separately dealing with us and making himself the all in all to each of us. In me, He's dealt with control issues and perfectionism, tendencies to do all that I can to insure the outcome that I see as ideal. He's steadily worked on me and I know He's not finished. He's full of grace and wisdom and under that, I'm learning that He alone has all control. And this relationship...Kenny and I...has been out of our control, beyond what I could have imagined. That totally humbles me and leads me to praise. Hopefully, you get in on that too, because God is good and He loves it when we acknowledge it. Thanks for sharing in our joy!

(I'll try to post some photos soon...)