Diamond Rings and Other Things

Not that I have many readers (Hi, Mom!) but I would still like to apologize for dropping off the blogosphere for months. Life has been wild and marvelously exciting! I finished my thesis and although I am sure it could use a million and a half edits and revisions (as all these posts could...) I was greatly pleased with the final product and all the knowledge I had gained through the whole endeavor. I would be willing to share it here, however, 30 pages is somewhere near 27 pages over proper blog-etiquette. I felt alive presenting my thesis and proclaiming the truth I had studied for months on end and struggled to formulate into my own words and opinions. It was exhilarating and extremely rewarding and the feedback I received was encouraging. Thesis did suck up all my time between F.O.C.U.S commitments, other class work, work-work, and just soaking up every moment I had left with my dear friends at the Abbey.

Once Thesis (yes, it had become a proper noun in my vocabulary) reached a finish line and miraculously I made it through my final finals week, I hugged millions of friends "good-bye" and journeyed into the adventures of senior week 2014! What-a-blast. AND! That handsome man I occasionally gush about, Jacob Coffman, came for an extended visit (extended: somewhere near 10 days)! During that time, and the rustle and bustle of my graduation, that fabulous man asked me to spend the rest of my life with him and of course I exclaimed, "YES!"
Here's a pic:

Photo credit: Donna Coffman

So you can only imagine the chaos that my life has been, keeping me from this much-to-often-abandoned blog. But its been an extremely joyous time in my life.

Now the glorious rush of graduation and engagement (although is that ever not an excitement??) has calmed down quite drastically and I have been twiddling my thumbs waiting for my humble part time job to begin so I can start saving more than pennies for my wedding loan payments. It's a restless time now that Jake's back in Alaska and I'm waiting for this whole new, graduate, scary, exciting life to begin but it has left me with hours upon hours to reflect on life and the things that matter (and sometimes makes me anxious about the things that don't but we'll skip those...).

Since I've already bored you with the recent deets of my life, rather than begin a whole new topic on recent musings in my head I'll just share with you how my Fiancé! proposed:

Back in February I was blessed with the opportunity to meet up with Jake for his birthday in Seattle, Washington for a weekend. We ended up taking a peek at a few rings having had talked about engagement in our future. Little did I know Jake had told his mom that I was "the one" back in December and had been on the search, or possibly in the process of (I'm not quite sure) finding the perfect ring. After I made my way back to Charlotte and Jake made his way back to Juneau we would occasionally talk about engagement and Jake would tease me about how he would pop the question. One tease he often told me was that he would put the ring in a Cook-Out burger - Gross!! In short, I knew it was coming and expected it would be around graduation since that would be the next time we'd be together.
Jake came to Belmont and spent senior week with me but he did a great job of being calm about his plans for proposing and not hinting at it. One night I did see him sharing his plan with my two best friends but I wanted to be surprised so I made sure my girl friend didn't even mention it and I waited for it all to come to action. I started to wonder when it would be since we were a few short days away from making the drive to Northern Virginia where my family lives and where we had our first date. "Maybe it won't be in Belmont, maybe it'll be at home!" I began to think.
My suspicion changed when I woke up graduation morning and I realized, "Oh! It could happen today!" But I quickly let that thought fly out of my head because I not only wanted to be surprised but I was rather wrapped up in graduation.
I walked across the stage and just like that became a Belmont Abbey alumna and went to meet up with friends by the Belmont Abbey College seal for pictures, as planned by my friend Javier (although Jake had occasionally mentioned over the phone that he wanted to get a picture there as well. Something about never getting one when he graduated...Now I see it clearly!)
After shooing away a band of Scottish bag-pipers my dear best friends, suite mates and I gathered on the seal and smiled toward the wall of paparazzi flashing before us. "Are we the only people who graduated or something," I thought. Then the nervous Jacob Coffman stepped up to get a picture with me as the girls slipped to the side. He then turned to me and said, "Megan, can I talk to you about something?"
Putting my hand to my mouth, realizing this was the very moment I'd been waiting for since I was a little, romanic-dreamer girl was actually happening, I gasped, "No way!" Apparently that threw Jake off but he was able to beautifully express his feelings for me and he got down on one knee and asked me to be his bride, to marry him. Which of course I responded, "Yes!" and fell into his arms for a celebratory hug and kiss.

And now I have a fiancé and a lovely wedding date 319 days away. I am so blessed beyond words. I cannot help but thank God for the journey he has designed for me. He has written a beautiful love story for Jake and I which I'll have to share another time and He has truly given me the desires of my heart. If I would look back in my journals with the lists of what a perfect man for me would be, Jake would fit that description and more. He is kind and generous and such a man of God who lives his life to share God with others and he loves with an incredible strength. What a gift. I truly cannot wait for April 25th and the rest of my life!

And yes, I will live in Alaska come April.

Blessings!