SHE SAID YES!

Lately, my blog has been more focused on other's testimonies and how everyone inspires me, but this time I have to rejoice for the huge blessing God has brought to my life. Blogger world, I am OFFICIALLY engaged!

I know it's the real deal because every proposal story I know of that lasts starts out as a "perfect" plan and ends up chock full of unpredicted obstacles. Amanda and I's story is filled with them from beginning to end; that's what makes our story that much more unique and unforgettable! If you'd rather not read about it I suggest taking your mouse or fingertip off the scroll button, because this one is for the books!

Amanda and I had been talking about taking the next step in our relationship for a while, so I really wanted to make our proposal special. Her family are MAJOR ice hockey fans and had been waiting very patiently for the NHL hockey season to get back into the swing of things. I had only been to one game in my entire life, and that was because a friend of mine treated me to a couple of tickets over a year ago when I was working for Bluedog Publishing, signing sponsors for a children's Christian values book distribution organization. In any case, taking Amanda to a Saint Louis Blues NHL Hockey game was definitely on the top of my list! One night, early last week, I asked Amanda which team she would love to see the Blues play against. I already had it up on my phone to order tickets from Stubhub.com; Blues vs. Kings would have been a great game and would give me plenty of preparation time, but I was really hoping she wouldn't know much about the Nashville Predators because they were going up against St Louis the next week!

"Oh, for sure the Nashville Predators!"

Great...her family had lived there for a short period of time, and come to find out, her father just so happened to be a Predators fan. She knew a LOT about them.

Obviously, I ordered the tickets.

The next step was ordering the ring. I had previously took her ring window shopping, so I had a list of ideas and what she liked. None of the choices really combined all that she wanted, but there was one that really made her eyes look like they'd just caught Jupiter and Saturn and spun them together into a masterpiece work of art greater than anything Monet or Michelangelo could have captured on canvas. As I walked in to the jeweler, I noticed they had just got a new design in for Valentine's Day. Low and behold, there before me was the ring that combined the heart shaped diamond that captured that look in her eyes with the thinnest, most delicate diamond lined band that would look perfect for any princess to wear, along with everything else on her list of what she loved in an engagement ring! No matter what, that one had to be the one, and I placed the order! Not to mention that by purchasing the ring, I could also get this gorgeous heart shaped necklace as a gift to go with it!

"What size?"

Wait...ok, I didn't think of that. How would one go about getting a ring size with such short notice??? Call her mom? Nope; Amanda never gave me her home phone number because she's hardly ever there, and only her dad has a cell phone...of which I don't have either. Sneak one of her other rings and have the jeweler size it? No time! If I wait another day, it won't be done in time for game day! The only option I have is to flat out ask her for it...and that's when the idea hit me.

Amanda answers her phone, "Hi Boo, what's up!?"
My idea in action, "Hey Sugarbean! I'm at the Christian bookstore looking for ideas of what to get you for Valentine's Day. Don't get any ideas, but...what did you say your ring size was again?"

What?!? Tim! What were you thinking?!? Don't get any ideas?!? As if that won't automatically give it away! And did you just lie about being in a Christian bookstore? Of all the places to make up, you had to chose a Christian bookstore?!? This can't end well...

"Oh, sure. 4 3/4."

It worked? IT WORKED!
So far so good! Ring ordered, necklace as a gift to top it off, tickets for Tuesday night's game are ready to go. Smooth sailing from here!

On Monday, I picked up the ring order. It looked amazing, and I knew it would look even more amazing on Amanda's finger!

Now I knew how important it was for me to ask for her parents' blessing, but more importantly her father's. Since Tuesday night was the big game, I didn't have much time! Monday night was pretty much the only option I had to sit down with Kim and David to talk with them about how much their daughter had changed my life, how I felt like I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and ask to become a part of their family. What was perfect was that Amanda wanted to watch the two hour special of NBC's The Bachelor, so while at her house I could find the opportunity to ask her mom if I could talk with her and her husband when David got home from work!

Time passes by, and The Bachelor stirs up more drama than the bubblies in a giant vat of boiling water, but no David.

The show ends and Amanda's dad still hasn't gotten home... "Hey! Let's watch Ratatouille!" - that was my immediate reaction to stretch the time even further in hopes to catch another opportunity. All of a sudden Amanda and her mother walks up to me after talking a bit, oblivious to my mission, and lets me know that David isn't feeling the best and wants to head straight to bed when he gets home, and out of respect Amanda decides we should call it an early night!

I'm frantic - heart racing like The Secretariat - as Amanda and I walk out to my car.

Now what do i do?!? Her dad goes in to work at noon; that's my deadline to get his blessing, otherwise this perfect plan for a proposal has to be put on hold. Immediately I initiate an impromptu plan B!

"Amanda, what if I were to propose to you one day and afterwards we go as a couple to talk with your parents and ask for their blessing together?"

This plan was fail proof! I also feel like asking the parent's blessing is important in moving forward in a relationship, and the idea of doing it together seemed extremely beautiful! Then Amanda pours her feelings out to me about how much it means to her that her future husband would go out of his way to ask for her father's blessing before ever proposing to her...and i could see it in her eyes as I wiped her passionate tears from her cheeks that my plan B was not as perfect as I thought it was.

Monday night has come to an end. My heart begins pumping something other than blood...I'm pretty sure it was all the air around me because there was none left for me to breathe.

I pull up to my house and sit with the radio off for about 15 minutes trying to come up with something. Finally, out of desperation, I decide to call Amanda's house and ask her parents for a time to talk in the morning. That's when it occurs to me that Amanda has never given me her home number, nor her Dad's number! Google quickly became my friend. I went into creeper mode for a second to look up her parents' names, and found their listing in the White Pages of YellowBook! I took one really deep breath, grasping for any ounce of air I could find, and called the number...not knowing one word of what to say if anyone were to answer, and what do you know?...

No answer.

...and the voicemail was an automated man saying simply, "No one is available at this number, please leave a message." I hung up. I didn't even know if the number I received was actually their number - and that was definitely not David's voice! The night had come and it was time to call it a night.

Tuesday morning, I woke up with one thing on my mind. If I didn't do something, I would have to wait longer to ask the woman that I love to spend the rest of my life with me. Why should one have to wait for something like that, especially when they know it's only by God that it was even possible to begin with!? I decided to call the mystery number again and after the third attempt, left a voicemail simply saying, "Kim and David, first I hope and pray that David is feeling better this morning, I have something very important I need to talk to you about. If there is any way possible we can meet please give me a call.", and left my number for them.

I had no clue if some random person I didn't know would get that message and be completely confused, but it had to be done.

Then I went to the mall to walk around and take my mind off of it for a while. I stopped in Journeys and asked my co-workers for advice - I work with a wide range of cultures and personalities, so it's a great group of people to get ideas from! I didn't have much time left so one idea I was having was to simply go to their house, knock on the door, and surprise them with the question. That idea was immediately shut down by everyone I brought it up to, including my mom when I texted her and asked if it was kosher. Everyone's reply was that I needed to be respectful and schedule a time to talk with them in person. That option was an hour and a half away from being impossible. Noticing that walking around the mall was not helping my racing heart, i drove to where Amanda lives and sat a few blocks away from her house to figure out what to do, and the last thing i could think of was to write her Dad a letter.

I searched around my car for one of the notebooks I usually have lying around for when I need something to write lyrics for new music down on, but this day, of all days, was the day I wouldn't be able to find one. Then I spotted it. The box of resume paper sticking out from under a coat in the back seat from when Fiat had asked for my application! That piece of parchment became the lifesaver for me that day! I poured out my heart in a page and a half, and with 30 minutes to spare I secured it under the windshield wipers of David's car for him to find on his way to work. My only option left was to leave everything else in God's hands, and I prayed.

I spent the next couple of hours sitting in a Jack In The Box, slowly eating my new addiction of .99 cent tacos while trying to be content with just presenting Amanda with the necklace as a promise to my commitment to her and enjoying our first hockey game together, and when I became settled in letting God have control...the phone rang!

Amanda's Mom, Kim, had called to apologize for not hearing the phone ring earlier and to let me know how excited she was to be able to call me her son-in-law! It hit me then that I was no longer simply attracted to a woman that had become my bet friend, but that I would be becoming a new part of her family! I couldn't keep my smile down as she told me the family loves me and that David would be calling me in about ten minutes!

Right when Kim had said her goodbye, Amanda calls in. At this point in time, I have about 8 minutes left before David is suppose to call, and Amanda cannot know what's going on, nor would it be a good thing for me to miss her Dad's call! I frantically try my best to kindly make our chat a short one and let her know I can't wait to see her later. As soon as our conversation ends, David's number shows up on my iPhone 4.

This is it. The moment of all moments. My heart is leaping out of my chest and everyone at Jack In the Box probably thinks those tacos are causing me heart failure.

The call was amazing! David tells me how thankful he was for the letter, and that he actually prefers talking to me about this over the phone and receiving my promise through the written word! He wanted to make it short before he went in to work, "Of course we would be honored for you to marry our daughter, and you have our blessing!" Then he jokingly ended with this, "...but you can only propose tonight if the Nashville Predators win against the Saint Louis Blues!"

I felt like I had just been dropped out of an airplane and fallen onto a planet made of memory foam pillows!

I breathed a huge sigh of relief and began to put everything together for a perfect evening. In a few hours, I'd be engaged to the love of my life!

After picking up my girlfriend, we headed to the Scott Trade Center for the game. The Blues were going to win for sure tonight! Everything was turning out so perfect! They bursted onto the ice with such excitement that everyone rose to their feet in cheer. Moments into the game, Amanda looks at me, gives me a kiss, and says, "This is the best game I've ever been to because you're here with me." To show their appreciation for us being their, the Blues start out by almost knocking the puck into their own goal.

That's when I realize this day of adventure is nowhere near over. The Blues have been having an amazing season so far, but this night they had shown up for wrong game. I think for a moment they thought they were playing life fooseball with how they maneuvered around. The final score was Predators - 6, Blues - 1. Amanda said it was the worst she had ever seen them play, but we had a great time hanging out anyway.

Now that the game was over, it was time for the second phase of the night to begin, and not short of even more surprises. On the way to the car, I realize that I had hid the ring in the center console of the car to keep it safe and out of view of the windows, which is a terrible place to get it out without Amanda seeing it. To create a distraction, I ask her if she's had a good evening, she says yes!, and I tell her the night is not over. She smiles really big as I ask her to put on her other coat because we are going to be outside for a little bit when we get where we are going. As she turns around, I reach in the console to move the ring to my coat pocket, thinking that since I wear skinnier jeans it wouldn't be as noticeable. She could tell something was up and felt me reaching in the console for something, but I was able to hide it while helping her straighten her hoodie. (They really do come in handy!)

As we pull out of the parking lot, Amanda gets excited and laughs, "My Dad is probably laughing his head off that his team won tonight! I should call him!"

WHAT?!?

Have you ever seen those scenes in movies where the camera zooms really far away from the actor to show how small that actor is starting to feel compared to the rest of the world? That's what was happening to me. If she calls, they're going to think she's calling to tell them she's engaged and blow the whole secret!!!

Amanda notices my discomfort, "What's wrong Boo?" (She calls me that; it's my pet name) ((Yes, I love having a pet name))

"You probably should wait a while to call him, he wasn't feeling well last night, and he might not even be home from work yet." ...my feeble attempt at keeping her from making the call.

"What? You're silly.", she says as she dials and connects with her Dad.

I'm having trouble breathing again.

"Hi Dad! Wasn't that a crazy game!?"

I try cutting in, "Tell him Tim's taking you somewhere and you have no idea where yet because he said it's a surprise."

She's too distracted to hear me.

The conversation goes on for a few minutes of torture before the call finally ends, "Haha! Ok Dad, I'll talk to you later!"

Amanda leans over and says, "I love you", to a very quiet, shaken, nervous man...and again, I breathe a sigh of relief.

We pull up to the Grand Basin at Forest Park, where we shared our first kiss, and Amanda is smiling from ear to ear! I step out of the car, take the necklace gift bag out of the back hatch of my 2012 Ford Focus, and open her door to let her out, like a gentleman. She sees the bag, and gets really excited to be getting a gift.

"Our first game together, and now jewelry where we first kissed?!? Aw, your are so sweet! I can't imagine myself being with anyone else!"

This is going too perfect!

The fountains were sparkling in the glow of their internal spotlights, sky was clear as we pointed out constellations and planets, and the glow of the St Louis Art Museum in the background shaped this scene to be the perfect masterpiece for a proper proposal! It was around 10:00pm and we had the whole place to ourselves.

After reminiscing about that night we shared our first kiss, I turned her around to share another one. It felt even more magical than before! I was ready to pour out my heart.

"Amanda, I know how important it is for you that I ask for your father's blessing before I ask for your hand in marriage, and tonight I want to make a commitment to you that I love you and will care about you forever. I hope this necklace serves as a reminder to that commitment."

As she looks at me with full acceptance, now knowing this is a promise necklace, but completely oblivious that I am about to propose, I reach in the bag to pull out the heart shaped pendant and stone I'm about to put around her neck. In that moment of affection is when the blue and red flashers pierced through the darkness and the spotlight began tracing the gentle waves of the lake and architecture of its landscape.

A cop car decided to choose that very moment to patrol the area, unbeknownst to me being after hours in the park! With fountains at full speed and all the lights turned on, who was suppose to know it was closing time?!? We ran to hope to catch up to the cop - my mind thinking I could just pull him aside and let him know i was in the middle of proposing, and maybe let me finish - only getting to my car in time to see him driving away, leaving a $25 parking violation on my windshield.

This was NOT happening!

I was fuming, Amanda was flustered, and neither of us knew we could stay. I had no clue what to do now. Amanda's response over and over was that we could finish this another day, and that she really thought it was special that I wanted to make that commitment. Mine was to drive around in circles in Forest Park, tapping my hand on the armrest of my car in hopes that some idea would rush into my head. After all that I had been through already for her, there was no way I was going to put off asking her to marry me any longer!

We got on the interstate and I decided to ask Amanda where she would like to go that had special meaning to her. That wasn't something I wanted to ask, because I wanted to know i could come up with the location for this special moment, but I had to humble myself for this one. That was the best decision of the night. She told me she would love it if we went to the first place we met each other - her church. Faith Family Church in O'Fallon, Illinois has its own little lounge area outside with a fire-pit in the middle; perfect for the ending to this fairytale-come-true! I could finish my proposal to her there! The first thing i notice as we pull up is that the whole lounge area is not lit up, but we would try it anyway. Unfortunately, I sat her down on one of the chairs, which had soaked in the water of melted snow from the storm a few days before. She immediately popped up from the cold greeting it left her.

Yet there, in that parking lot of her church, stood one parking light - shining down over the place we first hugged and discovered each other's existence. It was under that light that I would propose. After reestablishing my commitment, I took the necklace out of its box and placed it around her delicate neck as she held up her beautifully flowing hair. The brightness of that parking light stood no match for the brightness from Amanda's smile, straight from the Hands of God. In this moment, I knew I was making the right decision.

"Amanda, I am not waiting for your father's blessing..."
"Wait, what?"
"...because I already have it."

Her confusion surfaced, and tears began to appear.

"I received a blessing not just from your Dad, but your Mom too, this morning. I no longer have to wait for this moment."

As I got down on one knee, Amanda's eyes filled with tears, and I could see my life spent with her played out in them.

"Ever since God brought you into my life, ever since Andrea and Tim introduced us to each other, and ever since we began sharing our lives together, my love for you has grown and continues to grow. I want that love to keep growing. Amanda Ciskowski, will you marry me?"

She said Yes!

That delicate ring fit perfectly around her finger as it replaced her True Love Waits band, and I got to hold my fiancé in my arms for the first time, sharing in each others tears of joy. That feeling makes everything else worth it. Every trial, every tribulation, and every ounce of happiness God allowed either of us to experience in our lives led us to each other! She is the blessing I thank God for every day.

As it turns out, everything worked out the way it was meant to, and even Amanda's Dad got his wish for the Predators to beat the Blues. I am overjoyed that my heart has found its true love!