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On thanksgiving morning, at the top of a mountain overlooking LA, Sam knelt down and asked me to marry him. He had it all very elaborately planned and I had no idea.
Three weeks ago, he had travelled to see my parents and to ask for my Dad's permission to marry me. Sam told me he was spending the afternoon and evening with his sister, Cassia, and they would be watching movies and hanging out, which they did...in the car.
In the morning of November 22nd, we went for our hike. I didn’t realize that Lukas and Cassia, Sam's siblings, and Beckie and Reu, were already hiking the trail...only about 20 minutes ahead of us. They had all had excuses why they couldn’t do the hike with us. But I didn’t mind...I was thankful just to be with Sam. It was so quiet and peaceful on the trail. We made it to the top of the trail, after a few stops for me to catch my breath, and I looked out over the San Fernando Valley. It was glorious...the sun was shining, but there was a fog bank that covered half the valley and was slowly dissipating. Sam said it wasn’t enough...If we climb this last steep part, we can see a whole lot more of the valley. So we did....and I might say it was a very steep climb, but well worth it for the view. So we were standing at the edge looking out at the view and catching our breath and little did I know that Lukas was only about four feet below us, hidden in a bush.
Now that I had caught my breath, Sam started moving off to the right, so I followed him. As I turned, I saw that behind me was a mound, and a heart of roses. I looked back at Sam, and he had dropped to one knee. I think if I was an emotional person, I would have cried...but as it was I was just speechless. Sam caught me totally by surprise. For the very first time, he said he loved me, and then asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes! As I looked around, music started playing, I saw Lukas popped up out of some bushes and start snapping pictures, and then I learned what I thought was the full extent of his plan. Reuben and Beckie were there (I thought they were at my Aunts 45 minutes away) and so was Cassia, who I thought was on her way to Sacramento. They took a few more pictures and left us up there for a while.
We started down the mountain…and as we got back on the trail, we came across a red and a white rose, lying on the path together. I picked it up, and there was a note attached that read, I love you because.... All the way down the trail back to the car, we picked up 100 red and white roses each with a different reason Sam loved me. Sam’s sister, Julia, and her husband, Ben, had hiked up the trail behind us, laying down the roses as they went. So there was quite the welcoming committee that met us at the bottom of the trail. And there was one last surprise. My parents were waiting at the bottom. It was so special to be able to have our two families there to celebrate with us. And celebrate we did, with some of Jules homemade cinnamon rolls and apple cider.
It was the perfect way to spend Thanksgiving Day. I already had much to be thankful for…but now even more. The Lord has been so good to me and sometimes I still wonder how it is that a wonderful guy like Sam could love me. But isn’t that the way of our God, to bless us by giving to us that which we don’t deserve. I look forward to showing Sam how much I love him, and to being able to display God’s character and love through this new stage of our relationship in order to bring Him glory.
Click here to see an album of the pictures.
