How it happened - By Allison

So how did he propose?

Here’s the exciting story… Thursday night (November 3 2006) without me knowing of course, Dennis called my Dad in North Carolina to tell him he had a ring and was ready to ask me to marry him. My Dad told Dennis that he had been waiting for that phone call and that he had all his blessings to go for it. The funny thing is that Wednesday and Thursday of last week was a little rough for us. We had a discouraging two days but it was during this time that we truly saw our God-given love for one another and Dennis knew it was time to officially ask me to marry him. So on Friday he had the whole day planned out. He called me at 6:30am on Friday morning and asked me to come to his place to have coffee with him before he went to teach at 7am. We had coffee and then Dennis took my hands in his and looked at me and said something like, “Babe, I know its been a difficult two days but today is a new day and God’s mercies are indeed new everyday. So lets begin today new and fresh, forgiving one another, and putting the past two days behind us, and looking ahead.” We both sweetly agreed to that and Dennis prayed for us and for the day. Then he told me that I should cancel any plans I had for that evening because we were going out on a real date. When he told me to dress up my cute black dress I hadn’t worn yet in Kenya I think I knew something was up. When he came home early that afternoon he came to my house with surprises behind his back. In one hand he had a small cup of ice cream (as many know I absolutely love ice cream) and said, “this is to say I’m sorry for being a jerk yesterday” and in the other hand he had an ice cream bar and said, “this is to tell you how much I love you”. Oh how sweet it was!

Then later in the afternoon after I returned from an afternoon of Bible Studies with the college girls I came home to a huge bouquet of flowers and a sweet note on my bed saying, “Just another small way to show that I love you like crazy”. Again, so sweet! Then that evening when he came home we dressed up and left for our date. He told me I should choose somewhere to eat but then I saw him driving away from town and toward the Ferry boat that takes us off the island to South coast. Very odd since we never usually cross the ferry at night. But then once we were on the ferry I knew where we were going. He was taking me to South coast where I used to live and back to the very same place where we had our very first talk about our admirations for one another, almost two years ago.

The restaurant was right on the beach and the atmosphere was perfect. There was a full moon, the sky was clear, the tide was out, and the ocean breeze blowing. We sat at a table in the beautiful white sand under the palm trees. After dinner we took a walk on the beach. We walked and talked for what seemed like forever. Then we sat down on the sand and talked some more just enjoying one another’s company. Then we walked on a little more. It was getting late so in my mind I was thinking about how we should be getting back on the road to Mombasa because its not usually really safe to drive that road really late. But then Dennis asked if we could sit down and just pray and thank God for our relationship and for all that he’s done in the past year and a half. He asked me to pray first and then he would end. Well I prayed and when I finished I expected him to continue but instead he stood up and helped me up, paused a minute and said, “oops I forgot to pray” and then we sat back down. (Thought that was a little weird but little did I know he was trying to dig the ring out of his pocket. My sweet Dennis had safety pinned the ring in his pocket so it wouldn’t’ fall out and while I was praying he tried to dig it out but couldn’t so he had to stand up to get it. It was so fast and smooth I didn’t know what was going on) so when we sat back down for him to pray he said, “Before I pray I want to talk to you about something...” Then he proceeded on to talk about all the events of our relationship and where God has brought us and about all the ups and downs of the past year and how he wouldn’t have wanted to go through any of that with anyone else in the world but me. Then he said, “Babe, I know I’ve asked you many times if you wanted to marry me but right now I want to officially ask you to spend the rest of your life with me” I was speechless for a second and said a big yes of course! I was holding his hands so tight that he then said, “And Babe if you would let go of my hand for a second I will give you a ring.” I laughed, let go of his hand and he put an absolutely gorgeous ring on my finger, and then he prayed for us and our future together. I was speechless and just kept saying, this feels so natural, oh my goodness we are finally engaged, I can’t believe it.

But the night he had planned didn’t end there. Instead of making the long dangerous drive back to Mombasa at 11pm at night he had another plan up his sleeve. He had called ahead to the Rains, my former teammates who lived in South coast, told them what he was planning and asked if we could stay with them that night. So that’s what we did, we stayed up late talking to Michael and Melissa and then woke up the next morning and went and shared the news with the Grossmann’s who lived next door.

The night couldn’t have been more perfect and more natural!! Dennis is an amazing, creative, sweet, sentimental and unique man of God and I couldn’t ask for a more precious gift from above!!

The Ring (Its more than a ring, it's a symbol! [Thats for you Drew])- And let me tell you about the ring....it’s very unique for an engagement ring. Dennis had an idea of what I wanted and took much time to design it just the way he thought it should be. It’s a white gold band and has a beautiful Tanzanite gemstone in the middle and three diamonds on both sides. It’s extra special because to me it combines both the American tradition of diamonds and the Tanzanite that is only mined here in East Africa. It’s the most beautiful and special ring I’ve ever seen, not just cause of its mere physical beauty but because of the special man and “God-story” behind it!!

So where do we go from here?
As of right now plans are still in the works. I will be retuning to the States January 17^th and Dennis will follow a few months later. The timing of the wedding depends on when Dennis is able to put his work here in Mombasa on hold temporarily to come to the States. He’s in the process of discussing this with his supervisors. Then sometime hopefully between April and July of next year we will get married. As of now, after that we will then live in the States at least 6 to 8 months to raise support for the two of us, spend time with family, then return to Kenya together as Serve International missionaries sometime early 2008. All of these plans are in the Lord’s hands and we are asking Him for the wisdom and knowledge for the next year of our lives. Please pray with us about all these important details!!