And I Said, "Yes!"

As most of you have already heard, Corey and I are officially engaged! :) I have had the full story request a lot of times, and not enough time to tell every single person, so I promised a blog post with all the details. :) And here we go...

On Tuesday, March 20, it was an ordinary day at work. Well, not super ordinary, because let's face it every day at my job is just slightly different. However, relatively normal all the same.

After the kids had lunch, we let them outside to play before we put them down for naptime. I was manning my post at the girls' bathroom, when one of co-directors (and my pastor's wife) approached me. She said, "Hannah, can you have some spot you? Pastor Gary needs to talk to you."

"Oh, OK," I said. I didn't find this weird at all, since a friend from church and I have been working with Pastor Gary to start a young adult group, so we've been in contact with him a lot recently. I asked one of my co-workers to spot me, and headed upstairs.

"He's in the sanctuary," Lori Barber said.

"OK," I said and headed up the stairs. I thought it was weird that he was in the sanctuary instead of his office, but again not unheard of. For a split second, I found myself wondering, "Maybe Corey's here...No! He's not. That's ridiculous."

Corey had convinced me weeks ago, and in the weeks building up to this day, that he had to work all spring break. He even told me that his staff interview was on Friday. I wholeheartedly believed him.

I walked into the sanctuary to find it empty. Thinking Pastor Gary was up in the sound booth, out of sight, I called out, "Hello? Pastor Gary?"

And a familiar voice responded. "Hey, stranger!"

I looked up and Corey was sitting on the stage, tucked in a back corner, so I wouldn't see him when I first walked in.

I think my heart stopped. Corey said my face looked like I'd seen a ghost. I was seriously so shocked, I was shaking. I kept saying things like, "What? Are you seriously here right now?" I headed up to the stage, very aware of the fact that I looked like I work at a Pre-School. Grimy and exhausted.

Corey had a very nice speech prepared, which I wish I remembered more of. I was in so much shock, that my brain kind of blanked out. I know he said that I encourage him to be a more Christ-like man. And then he asked me to marry him, down on one knee, of course.

I was still so stunned, that I didn't even cry. I just said, "Yes!" Corey was so surprised that I didn't get emotional that he asked again. Haha! The answer was the same. :)

The craziest thing? He had the ring and the plane tickets for a month. He and my parents have been planning his surprise proposal for a MONTH! My mom even called my boss to ask for some days off work without my knowledge. I was so excited. :)

He was actually supposed to arrive the night before he did, but his flight out of Kansas City got delayed due to storming. But I thought "Plan B" was perfect. :)

 He spent the whole week here, and we had a great time. I'm so happy that he and my family get along so well. We took some pictures (just holding the camera ourselves, though I thought they came out pretty well).

We're planning our wedding for August, and he is moving out here after graduation. Hallelujah! We are planning on attending New Staff Training for Keynote in January of 2013.

I drove him to the airport early this morning, and while it was a bummer as always, it was such a huge relief to know that this is the last time we will ever have to do this. :) Please be praying for us over the next two months as we work to start planning our wedding over long distance, that God would use this time to grow us closer together and closer to Himself, and that we would be able to locate Corey a place to live this summer as well as a job. There are a lot of details, but I am so grateful that God provided for us, and that He will continue to provide for us. We are infinitely blessed. :)

I hope this post was satisfactory for those of you who wanted to hear the story. :) Until next time!

--Hannah