People throughout history have on many occasions experienced things worth getting excited about, such as finding a new continent, winning a war for independence from an imperialist monarchy, or simply beating the Atlanta Braves in a playoff series.

These things are all very nice, of course (unless you're a Braves fan from England), but none of them can compare to the events of this past Thanksgiving week. At least in the eyes and heart of this young man.

As most of you know, for the past six months I have been dating a lovely girl named Jaime Patterson. Even before our first date, I knew in my heart that I was going to marry her someday. Well folks, someday is now an official date on my calendar!

And for those of you that don't understand the significance of that statement (probably my male demographic): I'M ENGAGED!

I know it is probably hard for you to believe, and you must have many questions. How could your friendly little blogger be growing up so fast? How did he propose? When is the wedding? Can I see the ring? How many feet are there in a nautical mile? Well I don't have the answers to all of those questions, but I will tell you about...

The Proposal

The main thing preventing me from getting engaged all along was an uncertainty about where I would be living and working after college. I wanted to have the security of knowing I had a job and an income lined up before I committed to getting married.

God certainly provided in ways I could not even expect, because I was offered a wonderful job with ExxonMobil and accepted their offer Monday before Thanksgiving. I had always hoped that I would know about a job by Thanksgiving because all my family was planning to fly down for the holidays to spend the week in The Woodlands. My moment of opportunity had arrived!

So on Monday I drove to Dallas and bought a beautiful (if I may say so) engagement ring and on Tuesday I drove to Houston and secretly met with Jaime's parents. In the meantime, I had also reserved the Woodlands Ice Rink for Thanksgiving night, where I intended to propose.

The whole week I was incredibly nervous and incredibly excited at the same time. My heart and my brain were both going about a million miles per hour. By the grace of God, the secret was preserved even when Jaime visited my relatives' house on Wednesday night. I was so relieved and happy when she finally left!

Keep in mind that Jaime was not expecting a proposal until March or April next year, so I had the opportunity to completely catch her off guard. I had my friend Anthony call and pretend to ask if we wanted to join him and some friends at the skating rink. So we drove up there around 9:30 Thanksgiving night.

When we arrived, the rink was illuminated by thousands of Christmas lights as Edwin McCain's I'll Be was playing on the sound system (I made a CD with our favorite songs). My aunt and cousin helped me set up a table just inside the door with roses, flower petals, candles, and two pairs of ice skates.

At this point, Jaime was still clueless. As she later said, "I just thought the rink had a nice table decoration!" She thought the rink was closed and we shouldn't be there, but I convinced her to put on her skates and we started cautiously skating around the rink.

I couldn't wait more than about 3 laps before I stopped her, because at this point she was getting suspicious. I was too nervous to really remember what I intended to say to her, but I did say some nice things. Then I got down on a knee (which isn't easy on ice skates) and asked her to marry me! As soon as I opened the ring box, she reached down, took the ring, and put it on her finger. I took that as a yes, but then she did reaffirm her answer with an emphatic "Yes!"

After we skated for about 20 more minutes, we went back to her house where both our families were waiting to celebrate! I don't think I stopped smiling all night, and the next day my face muscles were sore!

It was a perfect night and I am so happy, so relieved, and so very blessed! But this is only the beginning. I know God has many great things planned for our life ahead together.

I'm sure the days ahead won't always be this euphoric, but when facing life's trials and adventures, there is no one who I'd rather have by my side than her. And as of July 9th, she'll always be there!

Now that is worth getting excited about!