Engagement, v. 2.0

Friday was an interesting day.  I had just been hired for a long-term substitute position on Wednesday, so on Friday I headed down to the main office to pick up paperwork.  I then drove all over L.A. to get a physical, TB test, and live scan done.  I wasn’t feeling well, and I was very tense because I had to drive my friend’s car with a very stiff clutch and low visibility.  (My car was in the shop.)

One of my favorites 'cuz I look so happy. :)

After managing to get most things done, I came back to Master’s to get Amos.  Amos was working on a paper in the library, but he was done and we needed to pick up my car.  I figured that I would get to spend the rest of the day with him because we were both done with our other stuff.

J: “Now what?”
A: “Ummmm, I have to go home after we get your car.”

J: “Oh.  What do you have to do at home?”

A: “Stuuuuuff.”

J: -very quiet-

As I said before, I was not feeling well, plus I was tired.  I was also stressed out from driving my friend’s car and not knowing what to do about my car, which had not passed smog and needed a new catalytic converter (lame + lots of money).  I also really wanted to hang out with Amos because I don’t get to see him as much now.  So of course, I started crying (not that much, though; I was tired.)

We decided that Amos would go do his stuff (he needed “to go to Chatsworth to get something”) and I would take a nap.  Amos would pick up the bulletins we needed to stuff for church and then call me when he was back at my apartment.

So I went to bed and slept for an hour and a half, which is rare for me.  Amos called, and I went to let him in.  It turned out that my roommate had already let him, and he was sitting on the couch!  We sat on the couch and talked for a little while then Amos asked me if I wanted to go on a walk.

Awwwwwww...

Now, Amos doesn’t mind walks, but he doesn’t usually want to go when I want to go.  This was weird.

I agreed, thinking this was odd since I still wasn’t feeling quite right, but I thought I should take him up on it since he asked (and I figured he had a plan).

Our usual back and forth:

J: “What do you want to do?”

A: “Ummm, I don’t know.  What do you want to do?”

J: “Well, we could walk to the little park?”

A: “Yeah, we could do that.”
J: “How far do you want to walk?”

A: “Oh, I don’t know.”

After this usual exchange, Amos suggested we go to Bridgeport, a little residential area with a manmade lake/pond.  We’ve walked around this little lake a billion times, and I suppose we’ll walk around it a billion times more.  We sat under a little tree in September 2008 and had a two-plus hour DTR.  We didn’t want to jump into a dating relationship just to have fun.  We talked about our long-term goals and some of our responsibilities.  When Amos dropped me off at Aptartment 29, I asked him, “So, are we dating?”

We were. :)

Thus began some of the craziest years of my yet-young life.

Haha!  Protecting me from the sun...

We’ve had a lot of ups and downs.  But every once in a while we went back to Bridgeport to walk around and enjoy each other’s company.

That’s where we went on Friday.

Amos and I walked around the lake and laughed at the ducks.  We walked out on one of the piers.  By this point I was pretty sure he was going to propose. (Why didn’t he tell me what he was getting in Chatsworth?  Why were we going on a walk?  What about that e-mail I saw a few weeks ago?)  I wondered what would happen if the ring dropped into the water!  Amos did not propose there, though.

The two of us kept walking around the lake, having a good time and saying a lot of “I love you!”s.  I rather unromantically declared I needed to go to the restroom, which meant we had to go back home because there are no restrooms around, since it’s a residential area, not a park.

Awwwww, he's so cute!

We got back to the car, but Amos led me over onto the grass at the place we had had our first conversation  It was time to define a new relationship! :P

I hugged him, and he hugged me back.

I can’t remember what all was said, but I’m sure it was something like “I love you” and other sweet stuff. :)

A: “You’re my sweetheart.”

J: “Mmmmmhmmmmm.”

A: “For always?”

J: -pause- “I think so…yeah”

A: “I have something for you.”
J: “What is it?” (hehe. ;) )

A: -pause- “A present.” ;)

J: “Oh, okay.”

Amos pulled out a small box and opened it (with one hand, by the way; I was holding his other arm).  Of course there was the sparkle. :)

J: “This is crazy.”

A: “Will you marry me?”

J: “This is crazy.”
“Are you sure?”

My beautiful ring

I said yes in there somewhere and hugged Amos some more.

J: “It looks pretty.”
A: “I think it’s pretty.”
J: “Are you going to put it on?”

I took off my purity ring and stashed it in my pocket.  Amos will get to keep that one day. :)

Amos took the ring out of the box and put it on my finger, and we were engaged! :)

Engagement, v. 1.0

He asked.

I said yes.

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

Glendale

Amos' schedule is not conducive to hanging out with me, his girlfriend.  From Monday to Thursday I saw Amos a total of two hours. Two. Dos.  Not very many.  Too few.

Awwwww, he's so cute!

I saw Amos for an hour on Monday afternoon and an hour on Thursday morning.  On both days I thought I'd be able to see him later on in the evening, but he's been very tired with work and school, so it was not to be.  We could have hung out all day on Friday, but I went to work and Amos went to CSUN to check out some articles for a paper he is writing.  I'm proud of him. :)

On Saturday, I got to hang out with Amos for quite a while!  I was one happy camper. :)  We went down to Glendale and visited the famous Porto's Bakery.  They always have really looooong lines, but we made it through pretty quickly.  We got a chocolate cupcake to share then went to Brand Park.

Brand Park is a really pretty park.  It isn't huge, but it has a library that used to be the Brands' house, a Japanese tea garden, and a transplanted Victorian house from the 1800s.  The architecture of the house-turned-library and the sort of gate at the beginning of driveway was reminiscent of the Taj Mahal.  I told Amos I should take a picture and say, "Haha, I tricked you all!  I really DID see the Taj when I went to India!" (I actually didn't see the Taj in India; I was really sick.  I'll just have to go back. :) )  We walked around a bit then found a place in the sun.  I discovered that the poor cupcake had flipped upside down, and his frosting was spread all around the inside of the plastic box!  Those who know me are not surprised.  We ate him anyway and decided he was pretty good for only costing $1.50.  The cupcake was chocolate with a kind of chocolate whipped cream frosting.

Maybe Amos should have taken a nap instead of me...

Anyway, Amos had to read some articles for school, so he read articles, and I took a nap!  It was really nice.  I eventually woke up and read about two pages of my own book.  We hung out for a while longer before heading home.  For dinner we decided to try out the meatballs at IKEA.  We drove back to Burbank and ordered one meatball meal and one Caesar chicken salad.  We split both of them, so it turned out pretty well. :)  I asked Amos to try some of the special lingonberry drink they had because I was just getting water; we both decided it tasted like Kool-Aid.  The salad was pretty good, but the meatball dinner was just ehhhhhhh.  So, the dinner was about four stars, but the company was ten-plus!

I'm not looking forward to being without an Amos for most of the semester, but two weeks are already gone, and I know I'll survive.  If you think of us, pray that we will be diligent in the different things we have been called to do and that we will not be frustrated but trust that God knows best.


[This post written with Patty (my mom) and Barb (Amos' mom) in mind.  I know you two like hearing about our adventures. :) ]

New book!

I got a new book!  I bought Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller on amazon and picked it up at the post office today.  I've read a few pages, and it's really good!

The basic premise is that man makes idols out of everything, including good things.  Jesus is the only Thing that satisfies.

"We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case.  The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes.  Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life."

And those sentences are just in the introduction.