Royal engagement...

[Lady Edfeil]

Okay... not royal.... but... well... my suitor asked my hand in marriage. And I said yes!

Details upon request! ;D

ebogaerts1.photosite.com/Engagement/

[Sinold Bragasson]

*Taps foot* Not enough, my dear! Ok...

When?
Where?
Why?
Whatfor?

[SighehelmofKent]

-A totally blank look................-

WHAT? and........................-sniffs-.......................what about............................Sighebaby?

-GRINS BIG TIME_ it couldn't have happened to a better guy...............and the RING!!!! WOW!!!

HUG..............Willow

[Dream Loxley]

Oh my! Many Congratulations to you both......... what a grand way to begin the new year.

*Wanders off muttering about buying a hat*

May Good health and Happiness find you and stay for always *kiss

[Thorgrimm Halfdane]

Wow!! Congratulations to you both!!! ;D

I hope that your new life together will bring you every possible happiness.

*love T.

[~Eiluna~]

How Wonderful!!

And Exciting!! Congratulations to you both... May you be very happy together!! ~smiles and hugs~

And I agree, the ring is BEAUTIFUL!!! (what kind of stone is that?)

[Pensive]

-just smiles HUGE-

The main stone is a Sapphire, Eiluna.. beautiful, isn't it?!

You all ready know how happy I am for you, Edie.. WOW.. this is awesome!!!

Thanks for sharing the pics with us all, as well.. -BIG GRIN-..

Love you sweetie.. this too, you know.. -winks-

[Rayven]

Congratulations! So happy for you Edie. The ring is gorgeous! Details? Of course I want details...(grins)

Hugs you.

Sarah/Rayven

[LadyLaurestina]

* smiles *

Oh such wonderful news... I am ever so happy for you my dear and for your husband to be...
Ah... such bliss!
All my best wishes Eddie...always
Stina

[Lady Erin]

About time *grins* you know if he did not ask you I would have gotton a match for ye here hehehe

Joking, oh honey...I am so happy for you *hugs* Congratulations!

[Halethala]

Of course Royal, for if ever one could be considered such by their demeanor and grace . . *smiles and hugs the stuffing outa you*

Ah Edie . . how positively absolutely enchanting . . such a total answer to so many prayers! May your shared values be a fetter that will never weaken, no matter what comes . .

*Beams like the Aurora Borealis*

[Dorian Hawkmoon]

Hmmmpphhh....I go back to work for a few days and look what happens....darn woman goes and gets herself engaged....I tell ya.....always the last to know....mutters and stalks off....pausing to throw back a teasing wink and waiting for the opportunity to give that big hug and kiss of congratulations....and to shake the incipient grooms hand...

[Pharaoh Abishua]

Congradulations and I wish you and yours much happiness in your futures together....

[Galor Martek]

I have to agree with Dorian........your gone for a little bit....and see what happens?!?!?!

All the best wishes and prayers for you both Eva. And remember.....tell him we are watching.....always watching....*laughs and hugs*

[Lady Edfeil]

Awwwww... thank you everybody!!!



As promised: the details:


My version

We had been counting off the days since my stay in Saint Louis. It wasn't that long. Not even two months.... And I had assured my suitor that things would go swifter once we had 'broken twenty'.... I was right. After those 'only twenty days now', things did indeed go swifter.
I think we averagely talk three hours to eachother each day. Some days less if work keeps us very busy. Some days more if we have the time. Amidst the last preparations for christmas, confirmation class teachings, teaching in school amidst other exams and changing duties those last twenty days went by swiftly. We had been talking about marriage, both jokingly and seriously. For both of us the months after meeting 'physically' for the first time had been a courtship, with marriage as the aim.
After visiting Saint Louis and his parents, the talks about marriage became more serious and practical.

Twenty days can go by quickly that way. They sort of slip through your fingers like rosary beads that you 'pray away', especially at christmastime. Christmas eve was celebrated with my mother and friends, christmas day with my mother, my grandmother and the priest of my previous parish..... Everyone (except my mother who had gotten time to get to know him) was getting more and more curious over these last months about my 'suitor'.
A last minute panick came from a call from the airport where My Suitors first airplane had a delay which endangered his connection! Luckily, after a breathless dash all over the Chicago airport, it turned out that the second flight was equally delayed and around 1 am I could go to bed reassured that he would be here soon.

I had to get up at 6.30 am... to get to my moms from where we would ride together to the airport. We arrived in time, only to find out that the plane, instead of catching up, had managed to get an aditional delay, so we spend a sleepy hour at the airport waiting. And waiting. Evil lugage handling took a long time and all kinds of people came out first. But then... there he was!
We smiled and greeted eachother over the barier between the passenger section and the 'greeter' section. Even though it took just about 8 more steps to actually be in the greeter section.



His version
I spent the last week and a half before the trip buried in grading my students' final papers and exams, and the time went very... very... slowly.

But, Christmas Day finally came and, after midnight mass and breakfast and presents with my family, I was off to the airport, where I.... waited. When I had booked my flight, I had given myself about three hours at O'Hare Airport to make my connection from St. Louis to the plane to Brussels. However, American Airlines kindly decided to reschedule my flights to allow me 45 minutes to make my connection. When my plane from St. Louis looked like it was taking off late, I began to panic a bit -- there's only one flight a day from Chicago to Brussels. If I missed my connection, I would spend Christmas all by myself (and more importantly, without Eva) in the airport. As it turned out, my plane was half an hour late getting to Chicago, and I sprinted across the terminal to make my connection to Brussels only to discover that the plane to Brussels was going to be about an hour late!

Well, I got on the plane, and 9 hours later, I was at the Brussels airport hugging Eva, who didn't notice a ring-box sized bulge in my jacket!

Rewind a bit... Being a good Catholic man, I was only going to propose to Eva after asking her mother for permission. I also needed Eva's mother's help to find out if, once I proposed to her, I could schedule a meeting with the English-speaking priest at the Cathedral in Antwerp whom Eva is friends with about scheduling dates and paperwork and such. Well, it turns out that the priest, Fr. Tim, was leaving town on Dec. 30th, which threw a bit of a wrench in my plans to propose to her on New Year's Eve. Hence, I was going to have to propose to her before the 30th. I knew exactly where I wanted to do it, but I wasn't entirely sure when I was going to do it.




Eva's version
I am a cruel woman. My Suitor knows this. And after all, it was for his own good. I had warned him in advance that no matter how tired, I wouldn't let him sleep that first day until it was evening. Jetlag hits you doubly hard if you do, so... I would keep him awake all day no matter what. *W* No matter what ment throughout the ride home in the backseat of the car, throughout the daze that gets you once you have reached your destination and throughout the entire afternoon that follows.
I remembered that 'remaining active' was the most important part. So... early in the afternoon I sugested a walk. The weather was fine though cold and Antwerp is beautiful in the winter. (it's always beautiful. *W*) and we decided to go to the cathedral where the christmastrees were still lit inside..

We walked around and My Suitor remarked on the many tourists... We genuflected towards the tabernacle ... I showed him the anouncement board for the confirmation class I take care of... we passed the chapel of Our Lady.... and noticed a section of the cathedral past the saint Anthony chapel was marked off due to restauration works. So... we went around the other way, because we both wanted to visit the Saint Joseph chapel for a while. I because Saint Joseph is my chosen patron saint. And My Suitor... for his own reasons.

So... we went to the chapel, sat down... and My Suitor took my hand and with the other removed something from the inside of his jacket.... I remember him having trouble getting the box out. *smiles*



My Suitor's Version:
So, where were we?
After we'd driven back to Eva's mother's house from the airport, unpacked my stuff, and exchanged Christmas gifts, Eva suggested that we go for a walk. I'd kind of figured that we'd be going by the Cathedral (it's right smack in the middle of the city -- kinda hard to miss) and that is indeed where I wanted to ask her. So, I kept the ring in my pocket and off we went.

When we got to the Cathedral, it was absolutely packed with tourists! I kind of said something to Eva at the time about how I didn't think that there would be so many. Had it been less crowded, I would have done the whole down-on-one-knee thing, but I didn't want to make a spectacle. Therefore, when we got to the St. Joseph Chapel, I sat down next to her, and whispered into her ear, "You know, there's one more Christmas present that I got you..." I then (yes, stumbling over my words a little bit) mentioned how the one thing that I really wanted for the New Year was for her to become my wife. I pulled out the ring-box, opened it up (which caused this silly light in the box to automatically go on) and asked if she would marry me. For some silly reason she said yes.

Aaron will be very happy to know that the next thing that we did was go to the Adoration Chapel in the Cathedral.




My version
I remember that I asked My Suitor if he was certain I would make him a good wife before saying yes. To be honest, I was looking at him more than at the ring at first. *chuckles* When I did look at it, I must admit the silly little light in the box was an icebreaker. It was such a solemn moment, and I was so nervous... and that little light, while ditzy, was just what I needed.
My Suitor helped me put the ring on my finger and we just held hands for a while, before a group of tourists neared and sort of ended our intimate moment. I didn't cry. My eyes may have misted over, but I didn't cry. We quietly made our way through the cathedral towards the adoration chapel and spend time there with Our Lord together, without speaking. I don't know how long we spend there, but afterwards we left the cathedral hand in hand.

We went for some celebratory fries afterwards, wanting to cherish the news just between us for just a bit longer instead of going straight home to tell mom. *L* We talked, laughing and seriously all through eachother, we ate, and then we went home. My mom was just taking a bit of a nap, but when she appeared half an hour later, she was overjoyed to hear the news.




My Suitor's Version:
Mmm... fries..... I was so happy I even agreed to eat them with mayonaise!

The rest of the afternoon/evening is a little bit of a blur for me, as jet lag was starting to kick in by that point. I know that I tried calling my parents on a couple occasions, but never managed to get through! They wouldn't find out until the next day.

We received several visitors over the course of the next week (including one CF'er, who I think wants to remain anonymous) -- all of whom wanted to express their congratulations. It was quite a wonderful time. We didn't go public about it for a few days, because we enjoyed the expression that each new person had on their face when they found out.




My version
My Suitor did manage to stay awake till 8.30 pm, after which I went to my own home. My best friend Maria came to spend a few hours with me in which we do all the silly things that women do on such an occasion. Talk and laugh and reflect and giggle about shared dreams, amidst cups of tea.
Each of the next days found new friends of mine to be greeted with the news. The holidays aren't the best of times to keep something like this private. It was, however, indeed a joy to see the reactions. We had a wonderful time: a lot of talking, a lot of cardplaying, we played trivial persuit (My Suitor won easily), and just basically basking into the cosy new time, mixed with a healthy dose of nerves.
Especially... when we went to the priest. The whole administrative dealing to get officially on the way towards Holy Matrimony in the Church was short, but warm. It's wonderful to do this with a priest who knows me. We clutched eachother tight on the way back home, and kept repeating: "we're really doing this." *chuckles*

THe very next day however brought a 'small trial'. A BIG cold. Oh yes... while we went to have diner with a friend of mine, I developped the mother of all headcolds, which still has not released it's grip. Instead of a radiant fiance, I fear I was for the rest of My Suitors stay, a coughing and often sleeping one. Still... it was lovely to have him there, as he is wonderfully attentive. We managed to have a nice New Years evening, with many friends and laughter, although my brain clicked out halfway through. But his face was the first thing I saw when going into the new year. And he even survived the meeting with my extended family the very next day. *G*