The Fiance

Wow, so this is my (Eric) first post since proposing to Lauren on Camelback. About time huh? I had the ring for about a month before the proposal. It was truly a test in patience for me to keep that secret from Lauren and a lot of other people, especially Lauren. I think every day leading up to our trip I wanted to propose to her, I just really didn't want to wait, but I feel that God had laid out his perfect timing in front of me, and he had not led me wrong yet, and so I trusted him, and things worked out more than perfect. It was truly amazing, and when I say I am blessed to be engaged to a woman like Lauren, that is an understatement. I know I have said before she is wonderful and amazing, but while re-reading my past posts I noticed that I hadn't explained why I think she is so amazing and feel so blessed.

Allow me to tell you a little about my future wife:
For the past 4 months Lauren has been working full-time, taking classes 4 nights a week to prepare to go to PA school, planning a bachelorette party for her friend Jaylynn, and since April 12, planning her own wedding. Tonight she finished one of her classes and got an "A" in it, and she finishes the other class tomorrow evening, and Lord willing she will get another "A". She has been sick, worn, out, exhausted, etc and yet her discipline, her faith, and her perseverance have gotten her to this point. All the while she has been a daily encouragement to me, her family, and the people around her. She does so many things for so many people, and many times they don't even notice her generosity, yet she keeps on doing it. She holds herself to a standard that I couldn't imagine measuring up to, and yet even in that she is modest and she knows that everything she has is a blessing to her from God, and from Christ alone she gets her strength.

Every single day I thank Christ that Lauren is a part of my life, and most days have to pinch myself when I think about spending the rest of my life with her. I think of those days in Boston when the Lord kept tugging on my heart, said come to Dallas, work here at this gym, go to this class at 5:30am, and then right there in front of me was my future wife, who he had been preparing for me since she was a little girl. Wow is all I can say. If you all knew the prayers and conversations I had leading to my moving here and after I moved here, and all of the things that had to happen for us to be in that class, on that day, directly across from each other doing step ups on a wooden bench at 5:30 in the morning, you couldn't deny that it was all God at work. To call our meeting a coincidence would be to try and take some credit for God's plans that, had I thought on for eternity, I could not have topped.

I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next.