how i proposed

i guess i need to start a blog so i can post how the proposal went down!

i've always wanted to title the blog, nothing that i deserve, and i think its fitting that the first post is about the engagement.

so how did it go down?

it was amazing, it was crazy, it involved courage, bravery, and a quest for a ring on a trail of love. it was glorious, spectacular, it was:

june 14, 2010 - a day to remember: from sunrise to sunset.

you must be forewarned, you are about to be drenched in cheese.

emily knew it was coming. i'm leaving for a 6-week long missions trip on june 20th, and she knew i was going to propose before that. so instead of making it a wonderful surprise, i wanted instead to make it a wonderful day.

i snuck into her apartment (i have a key), and surprised her at 7:30am in the morning. i set up a portable table with black cloth covering it, and placed a picture frame and her new Bible upon it (engraved with her new name) - it would be the first thing she sees walking out of her room. the frame had our picture, and the other half said...

"a day to remember... from sunrise to sunset. june 14, 2010"

of course right off the bat she knew it was proposal day! it's not shown in the picture, but there was also an empty ring box. i told her that the ring had been taken, and we need to spend the rest of the day questing for the ring! (she loves lord of the rings, and i am a huge nerd, what do you expect?)

we would find the ring by following the trail of love, which was shown by roses. (john vo is an awesome friend, who dedicated his whole day to helping me out. he would go ahead to every location and place the roses and set it up before we got there).

along the way, little did she know - we would be taking pictures, but not for mere memory sakes! every picture taken would then be used at the end in a scrapbook, to show her why i love her. i would give john vo the SD memory card sometime mid-day and he would develop the pictures, and place them into the already-made scrapbook (thanks to kristen and christine who helped me so much!). the scrapbook would be placed at the final location, when i propose.

so off we went on our day of adventure together. as we stepped out the apartment door, i paused, stared her in the face, and said, "one more step and this is the farthest from the shire i'll have ever gone."

location #1: 8:15am, starbucks for devotionals.
we used to go to this starbucks many years ago, on westwood near UCLA. so we went into the starbucks, and lo and behold, a cup of coffee, next to a rose on a table! she was delightfully surprised, and questioned how i got the rose there. she then asked how long the coffee had been there, and i just grinned and drank some coffee. we then read our bibles and prayed, doing our morning devotionals. during that time i snapped a picture of her, which i would use later.

"I love you because you love God and his Word"

location #2: 9:15am breakfast at la provenca
we then headed over to have breakfast at this place by her apartment, and again there was a rose waiting for her there. "why look at that, a rose, we must be getting closer to the ring!"

location #3: 10:15am prepare sandwiches for homeless
after breakfast i explained to her, that before we started our day we are going to spend some time serving other people. we went to the supermarket to buy bread and pb&j to make sandwiches for the homeless at 3rd street santa monica. john placed a rose behind the wonder bread for me to find, "why look, another rose!" she smiled and asked again, "when did you put that there! how did you do that!" i never answered, and just smiled =)

we took a picture of ourselves preparing the food, and then we headed off to serve them by the santa monica pier.

"I love you because you love to serve others"

location #4: 12pm, santa monica beach
we served sandwiches to the homeless, gave them gospel tracts, and then with bags empty and hearts alight we walked over to the pier. we went into "blazing saddles" and rented a tandem bike, during which the guy behind the counter "Freddy" awkwardly handed Emily a flower. she blushed, and the guy was super nice, "don't let anyone tell you anything bad or make jokes about marriage, i've been married 10 years and its the best thing that's ever happened to me."

we spent an hour biking up and down the beach, sometimes stopping to talk and take in the scenery.

"i love you because you perfectly complement me"

location #5: 1:15pm, lunch at versailles
after serving, biking, and walking we were pretty hungry. we drove down venice to "versailles," which is cuban food. at versailles we sat down, then the waiter came around with a long stemmed rose in a cup of water, "this is for the lady." again emily got wonderfully embarassed, i love doing that to her, haha.

"i love you because you're crazy enough to follow me from kentucky, to kyrgyzstan, to even cuba!"

location #6: 2:15pm, stop at intelligentsia coffee house
on abbot kinney, there is this little hipster coffee house, "intelligentsia." i decided it would be good to take a picture there, so i could have another picture for the scrapbook. we parked and had a nice stroll down the street, decided we didn't want coffee, snapped a picture then left. she must've been wondering why we did that, but she just went along with it.

"i love you because you're intelligent, organized, and administratively gifted"

location #7: 3:30pm, venice beach
we grabbed some smoothes at coldstones, snapped a picture together, and went to the beach. this was john's biggest set-up. i gave him a beach umbrella and two chairs, and he would set them up ahead of time and text me the location. we found it rather easily (it wasn't sunny, and it was the only umbrella on the beach). there was a rose on the beach chair! by now, emily is figuring out that someone is helping me.

"i love because you sweeten my life"

this next picture, was a little more tricky. i wanted to have one where she looked content and carefree. but she made it easy. at the beach i told her to grab a chair, and sit over at some lonely location, and just look like she's enjoying the scenery. she did it, no questions asked! i love this girl!

"i love you because you're content with what God has given you"

"i don't want the camera to get sand in it, i need to go back to the car." so was the excuse i gave her, and i went back toward the car so i could give the memory card to john to develop the pictures.

We then spent the next 3 hours just relaxing on the beach, we napped for about an hour, then just people-watched and enjoyed our time together. she loves taking naps, and she enjoys lounging at the beach. what a perfect way to buy time for john to finish the scrapbook while we wait.

location #8: 7:30pm, final location, venice canals.
have you been here before? it's only a few blocks wide, and its right in the vicinity of venice beach. a place that tries to imitate the beautiful venice canals of italy, but fails. it still looks quite beautiful though =) it would be a perfect place to end the day, and propose while the sun starts to set.


john scoped out a good bridge to propose on - and so he placed a bouquet of flowers and the finished scrapbook in the middle, you can see it if you look closely below.


so the quest was coming to a close. i was regaling her with tales throughout the day, of how only the valiant, the courageous, and the brave will endure the quest and find the ring. she would roll her eyes and put her hand over my mouth, but actually she enjoyed it all. finally, we came upon the bridge and she saw the scrapbook and flowers! i read through the scrapbook to her, which began with "i've known since the first day (we dated) that i love you," and then went into the pictures you saw above, with the reasons why i love her.

the last page ended with, "and even if all these qualities fade away, i will still love you because henceforth, from this day i commit to loving you as Christ loves the church" and then after reading that, i got on my knees and popped the question!

john and christine were too far to get a good shot, so here is a reenactment:


and the quest for the ring ended! she through valor and endurance won the prize. on the way toward dinner, where our family and some friends were waiting, she started to rub the ring and say "my precious, my precious."

we joyfully recounted our various exploits, and tales of bravery.

Praise God! Thanks to all those who helped, thanks to our friends and family. God has been very kind to us, in providing salvation through Jesus Christ, and giving us an opportunity to portray the gospel through the picture of marriage. This is nothing that I deserve, all praise to God.

I'll end the post with Emily's own words:

He said "A QUEST" to find the ring.

She thought "A Hobbit's Tale"

A journey they would take from this point on together. Trials, sweat, and tears, but in the end... a ring to conquer them all!