12/20/2007
Hi, Everyone!

Guess what?! I’m engaged!
Yes, after 6 months of dating (and on our 6 month anniversary) Martin and I got engaged on Sunday December 16 at the Huntington Gardens.  First he gave me a really sweet card as we ate lunch in the tea room (because I like tea).   Then we walked around and looked at all the different gardens.  He took me to the desert gardens because he knew I loved growing up in the desert.  On a bench he pulled out a portable DVD player which had a 5 minute video with pictures of him and I together.  Then he recorded talking to my parents (I didn’t know he had flown to Tucson to talk to them!).  The DVD ended and then he got down on his knee and proposed.

Here’s our story:
If there were a poster child for “I hate eHarmony,” it would’ve been me!  People had suggested it to me and I stubbornly refused.  After awhile I began to realize that my hatred of it had to do with wanting to protect myself and not risk more than anything!  It was while I was working through this that I felt the Lord prompting me, “so are you going to let me work through eHarmony now?” I heard it at least twice and so I decided to... get on eHarmony!  I was scared of the whole thing but decided that following that still small voice was the best choice, no matter what the outcome.  My dear friend Karen spent several if not many hours helping me improve my profile and sift through a slough of matches.  Martin’s was one of the first ones I got and he struck me as a dedicated Christian and a happy guy.

Meanwhile Martin had been on eHarmony for that previous year and after having met several women that didn’t work out, got sick of it.  He was going to ditch the whole thing, but then decided to give it one last college try.  His plan was to be on it 2 or 3 more weeks and then get off for good.  It was during this time that we were matched.

My personal policy for doing eHarmony was to be myself!  In the “other information you would like your matches to know” I wrote that I wanted to go to my school’s prom and would like a date.  Since I teach at a high school I could bring a date and go for free!  Martin read this and thought it was hilarious of me to put this in my profile.  We had only 11 days till prom so he got me to open communication as quick as possible.  As prom got closer I discovered I got my dates wrong and would in fact be out of town in the Grand Canyon the weekend that prom really was scheduled!  Sheepishly I told him this but we decided to meet that weekend anyways.  Our first date was at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.  I remember I was impressed with the fact that he had read the whole Bible in one year and was excited about it!  The date went well so while I was in the bathroom he called up a friend who works for Disney.  The friend drove down to meet us and got us in Disneyland for free!

After several dates I could quickly tell Martin was a quality guy.  He was watching me to make sure Jesus Christ was the most important thing to me too.  On June 16 we decided to date exclusively and see where God led us.

It has been interesting for me to be on this journey and watch God open doors.  Throughout the summer I had fears and doubts but I kept getting this picture in my head of approaching door after door.  As I walked toward them, they each opened.  And as I moved forward it was like a stream of clear water was running through each with me.

Thank God that we are able to trust Him in the midst of risk and for a great guy like Martin!

--Kim