Hello again!
Before we get going, let me start out by saying sorry.
I'm sorry I left you all sitting on the edge of your seats for so long! In all of the madness that is wedding planning plus adding life in general into the mix, you might understand my lack of time for posting...but I'm here now & I hope you took my warning to heart. Ladies, & possibly guys, some tissues may be required for what you're about to behold. I know I sure would have liked to have been warned! ;)
Mkay, shall we begin? :)
I sat in front of Brandon, excitement & nerves pulsing through my veins. Little did I know I was sitting before the man I would soon marry (MUCH sooner than I thought! Ha!). He was strong, confident.. everything a man should be.. yet there was something so special about him. Brandon possessed such tenderness & care. As we sat there, contemplating our dinner selections, I heard my name called from across the room. I curiously turned my head, only to see the waitress carrying 18 white roses over to me. Shocked & confused, I accepted the roses & then watched as 18 pink roses were brought & placed before my Mom. She & I looked at each other... then to Brandon, at which point he leaned over & handed each of us a card. Mine read (Yes, I memorized the card!) "Taylor, the count of each rose represents each year of your life & the color represents the purity & beauty I praise & thank God for. I not only believe that you are my hearts dream & desire, but the answer to a lifetime of prayer. Brandon." I began to cry, of course, at the beautiful gesture, words & fact that Brandon had written the card BEFORE ever even meeting me. How moving that was! I leaned over & then asked my Mom to read her card. "Mrs. Angie, Thank you for the part you played in assisting God in the miracle He performed in preserving Taylor to be that beautiful Proverbs 31 woman. Brandon". Yupp, you guessed it. My Mom & I then sat there, crying together! I jokingly said "I'm at least glad these roses are in front of me because I don't want you to see me cry!" to which Brandon's Dad responded "Yes, well that may be so, but Brandon has requested the roses do not remain in front of you for the entire evening." We all had a pretty good laugh & went on about the evening.
The purpose of the evening was to give Brandon & I time to meet, talk & "share our hearts". In courtship especially, but hopefully in every relationship, the man initiates & the woman responds. Brandon was to initiate sharing his heart, desires, intentions, etc... to which I would then have the opportunity to respond & share my heart. Once that was finished, each parent was given the chance to share their thoughts/feelings on the entire thing. The duration of our time at Saltgrass was 4 hours, but the time passed so quickly.... it felt as if the night had only just began.
(I will now state some highlighted moments from the proceeding conversations)
When Brandon began he stated his number one desire was to glorify God, his second to honor our parents & their sacrifices/willingness to bring us to where we were that night & his third being to honor me in everything he said & did.
He asked for grace & understanding as this was all new to him (as it was to me) & while he wanted everything to be perfect for me, he knew full well he would most likely fumble & stumble, so he asked for me to show mercy-of course, I agreed.
He said "I want you to know that you are the most beautiful young lady I have ever met, both outwardly & inwardly... it's your inward beauty that makes your beauty so beautiful."
He went on with saying "I believe you're a Proverbs 31 woman" & he touched on how the Bible says that such a woman's price is worth far more than rubies. I was touched & brought to tears when he said "If that was true in the days of the Bible, image how much more true it is in our modern day America. Taylor, you are a pearl of great price & I know that you are worthy of my losing all & leaving all in order to properly pursue you."
He then talked about how thankful he was & how his prayer was that he'd be proven worthy of me.
I sat there dumbfounded.
I thought "I'm supposed to follow THAT?!" Oy.
I fought through the tears & managed to say a few things.
"Brandon, I'm the one who's in prayer to be found worthy of you. I feel like for the first time I'm seeing what a man claiming purity truly looks like. This is a road I've also never been down before, & while that is a bit scary, I know I wouldn't want to walk down it with anyone else. I know we only just met, but I feel I've known you my whole life.. I feel I have finally found the one I've been waiting for. When your Mom came over not long ago, we spent time in prayer & I found myself having to literally hold onto the couch to make sure I was still sitting. I seriously felt as though I was floating."
I explained that while praying, I saw a lock & key.. I said that I realized God showed me that He'd equipped Brandon with the key to my heart.
(I'm not sure if all of you know, but at the age of 14 I wrote a song, titled Key, for my future husband...)
I also asked him for grace & mercy.. that I'm nowhere near perfect & that I have a tendency to embarrass myself-I told him that I was extremely excited to see what all God had in store for the two of us.
Before we get going, let me start out by saying sorry.
I'm sorry I left you all sitting on the edge of your seats for so long! In all of the madness that is wedding planning plus adding life in general into the mix, you might understand my lack of time for posting...but I'm here now & I hope you took my warning to heart. Ladies, & possibly guys, some tissues may be required for what you're about to behold. I know I sure would have liked to have been warned! ;)
Mkay, shall we begin? :)
I sat in front of Brandon, excitement & nerves pulsing through my veins. Little did I know I was sitting before the man I would soon marry (MUCH sooner than I thought! Ha!). He was strong, confident.. everything a man should be.. yet there was something so special about him. Brandon possessed such tenderness & care. As we sat there, contemplating our dinner selections, I heard my name called from across the room. I curiously turned my head, only to see the waitress carrying 18 white roses over to me. Shocked & confused, I accepted the roses & then watched as 18 pink roses were brought & placed before my Mom. She & I looked at each other... then to Brandon, at which point he leaned over & handed each of us a card. Mine read (Yes, I memorized the card!) "Taylor, the count of each rose represents each year of your life & the color represents the purity & beauty I praise & thank God for. I not only believe that you are my hearts dream & desire, but the answer to a lifetime of prayer. Brandon." I began to cry, of course, at the beautiful gesture, words & fact that Brandon had written the card BEFORE ever even meeting me. How moving that was! I leaned over & then asked my Mom to read her card. "Mrs. Angie, Thank you for the part you played in assisting God in the miracle He performed in preserving Taylor to be that beautiful Proverbs 31 woman. Brandon". Yupp, you guessed it. My Mom & I then sat there, crying together! I jokingly said "I'm at least glad these roses are in front of me because I don't want you to see me cry!" to which Brandon's Dad responded "Yes, well that may be so, but Brandon has requested the roses do not remain in front of you for the entire evening." We all had a pretty good laugh & went on about the evening.
The purpose of the evening was to give Brandon & I time to meet, talk & "share our hearts". In courtship especially, but hopefully in every relationship, the man initiates & the woman responds. Brandon was to initiate sharing his heart, desires, intentions, etc... to which I would then have the opportunity to respond & share my heart. Once that was finished, each parent was given the chance to share their thoughts/feelings on the entire thing. The duration of our time at Saltgrass was 4 hours, but the time passed so quickly.... it felt as if the night had only just began.
(I will now state some highlighted moments from the proceeding conversations)
When Brandon began he stated his number one desire was to glorify God, his second to honor our parents & their sacrifices/willingness to bring us to where we were that night & his third being to honor me in everything he said & did.
He asked for grace & understanding as this was all new to him (as it was to me) & while he wanted everything to be perfect for me, he knew full well he would most likely fumble & stumble, so he asked for me to show mercy-of course, I agreed.
He said "I want you to know that you are the most beautiful young lady I have ever met, both outwardly & inwardly... it's your inward beauty that makes your beauty so beautiful."
He went on with saying "I believe you're a Proverbs 31 woman" & he touched on how the Bible says that such a woman's price is worth far more than rubies. I was touched & brought to tears when he said "If that was true in the days of the Bible, image how much more true it is in our modern day America. Taylor, you are a pearl of great price & I know that you are worthy of my losing all & leaving all in order to properly pursue you."
He then talked about how thankful he was & how his prayer was that he'd be proven worthy of me.
I sat there dumbfounded.
I thought "I'm supposed to follow THAT?!" Oy.
I fought through the tears & managed to say a few things.
"Brandon, I'm the one who's in prayer to be found worthy of you. I feel like for the first time I'm seeing what a man claiming purity truly looks like. This is a road I've also never been down before, & while that is a bit scary, I know I wouldn't want to walk down it with anyone else. I know we only just met, but I feel I've known you my whole life.. I feel I have finally found the one I've been waiting for. When your Mom came over not long ago, we spent time in prayer & I found myself having to literally hold onto the couch to make sure I was still sitting. I seriously felt as though I was floating."
I explained that while praying, I saw a lock & key.. I said that I realized God showed me that He'd equipped Brandon with the key to my heart.
(I'm not sure if all of you know, but at the age of 14 I wrote a song, titled Key, for my future husband...)
I also asked him for grace & mercy.. that I'm nowhere near perfect & that I have a tendency to embarrass myself-I told him that I was extremely excited to see what all God had in store for the two of us.
I think this post is long enough so the next blog will touch on what our parents said & what else happened that evening! You didn't think I'd actually stop leaving you hanging, did you?
;)
-Taylor
;)
-Taylor
