(Leslie and I the night of our engagement)
Leslie and I got engaged two years ago today. The day was designed around a scavenger hunt that took Leslie to special places form our relationship where a friend was waiting with a rose and a clue to the next location.
The trek took much longer than expected. From everything to a broken down car, to one special clue giver coming in from out of town who couldn't make it in time, it took over 7 hours to make it to the final location where I was waiting (it was planned to only take 4 hours.) The final location was the church where the Indianapolis Campus Crusade Day of Prayer was in October of 2004 where I had first laid eyes on her. She was asked to bring in her 11 roses that she had received at the earlier stops. As she entered the auditorium, the clue asked her to find the exact seat she sat in back in 2004. A tea light lit the base of each of the 39 photos from their relationship that lined the path to that exact seat.
I sat on the arm of the chair in front of her and asked her how the day was. I then pulled my Bible out from a concealed location and shared insights from a couple of verses in Proverbs 31 about how Leslie is worth more than a valuable treasure (vs. 10) and how she surpasses all other women (vs. 29). I then turned to 3 different passages that I had shared with her when I told her for the first time I loved her (Jeremiah 29:11, John 15:13, and 1 Corinthians 13). I then said that in our relationship covenant there were two things I had desired to change, but it required something first in order to change them. I then grabbed a ring box from a concealed location and turned around and got on one knee while opening the box to reveal a beautiful half-carat diamond ring. I then said "Leslie Lehman will you marry me?" With a slight pause and deliberateness to her gaze, she said, "Michael Rebholz I love you and yes I want to marry you." I pulled the ring from the box and lifted her hand and said, "May I?" With a nod, Leslie gave her acceptance and I placed the ring on her finger. She then leaped into my arm and sat upon my knee and then had a lengthy embrace.
I then turned to Leslie and reminded her I desired to change two things in our covenant. The first was to pray with one another. We then took a few minutes to pray. I began and Leslie closed after an extended prayer while I began to weaken under the weight of Leslie sitting upon my knee with it on a hard floor. She then knelt on the floor to finish her prayer. I then said that the second thing I wanted to change was that we had committed not kiss until engagement. I asked, "May I kiss you?" Leslie answered, "Yes." And Leslie and I had our first kiss.
(Leslie and I December 2007 - our first Christmas tree)
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