Engaged

I’m not the type of girl that has always dreamed about my wedding. I refused to make any plans, pick my colors, or my wedding dress until the man of my dreams put a ring on my left finger. I did, however, pray my whole entire life that God would send me a soul mate, a best friend, and a constant companion for life. As soon as I met Kaden, I knew instantly that I was attracted to him. Not only because he is so handsome but because of the way he treated me the very first night I met him. When I met Kaden, I sent my mom a text message saying “I’m sitting here talking with a guy in the military and he kinda reminds me of Jason.” My mom replied, “Bring him home.” I never even anticipated or imagined that I would even see Kaden again after that night. He was just a good ole Texas boy that was in the Air Force and temporary stationed in Meridian, MS before he deployed to Afghanistan.

I am constantly amazed how God works in not only my life, but the lives of my friends, family, and complete strangers. The very next day, March 19, I drove home to Oneonta to attend Hannah’s lingerie shower that night. Kaden sent me a message on the way saying how much fun he had getting to know me, wished me a safe trip home, and told me I was a God-send. I remembering laughing as I thought, “This guy doesn’t even know me, how in the world was I a God-send to him?” I went to the lingerie shower that night and immediately everyone could tell how tired I was. I just briefly told them I met someone and that I stayed up late talking to him. On Sunday, I drove back to Tuscaloosa to find Kaden and his friend Rico still in town. Not even five minutes after I returned, I see them pulling into my apartment complex. I called one of my best friends Kelly to come over so in case in was awkward, she could relieve the situation! Kaden suggested he make us steaks at Kelly’s apartment. Kelly asked if he was paying, and of course Kaden said yes….So we were off to Target where we spent nearly $200 on groceries and had a wonderful dinner. I would say from that night….it was history. Kaden took me on our first date to the Riverwalk in Tuscaloosa where we had a picnic. We ate Depalmas, a local Italian restaurant, with NO silverware because they forgot to put it in our bag. I remembering thinking, “Oh, what the heck. I am hungry and I barely know this guy so either he’ll laugh or be completely mortified.” Luckily, Kaden thought it was the funniest thing that I was eating noodles with my fingers and from that night on, we spent a lot of time together and quickly fell in love.

So, after 3 months of dating in Tuscaloosa/Meridian, and 6 months of a deployment in Afghanistan, I fell in love with Kaden each and every single day. He truly became my best friend and we both knew if we could make it through the stress of a deployment, we could do anything. We began talking about getting engaged but I knew nothing could happen until he asked my Dad and family for my hand in marriage. As I arrived in Omaha, he began saying little things such as “Man, I’m never going to get the chance to ask your Dad,” or “It will happen one day.” I took those comments with a grain of salt because to be honest, I knew it would happen when the time was right. One day, Kaden told me he had to spend the whole day at work. I didn’t care because I had PLENTY of his clothes to wash (15 loads to be exact). He was right, he was gone the whole day and I was so excited to see him when he arrived!! He told me he had a surprise and I guess while I was doing something, he slipped the ring into the top shelf of his wall locker. He told me not to look or else I would be extremely disappointed. Did I think it was a ring? NO! I figured he bought me a gift certificate for a massage or something. Anyways, a few days later we left for Texas and we spent 8 hours driving on Tuesday. Wednesday morning, I woke up and got ready for the day as Kaden left with a friend to run an errand. He returned with a rose in his hand and gave me the sweetest hug ever. Very sweet, but no surprise considering I am dating one of the most romantic men alive! We spent the day going to the mall in Lubbock, buying a cookie from the Cookie Factory, and purchasing me a Texas Tech T-Shirt.

We came back home and sat on his front porch as his Dad put up some Christmas lights. He made us coffee with whip cream and as we swayed back and forth I told Kaden, “This has been the best day ever.” Soon after, I got ready for our adventure for Santaland. Santaland is a place full of Christmas lights and decorations with a 60 foot tree in the middle. I was very excited to go because I love lights and the feel of Joy! On the way, Kaden’s hands were extremely sweaty and I asked him why. He said, “Baby, it’s your hands, not mine! You have on lotion.” I said “OK” and now that I think about it, I didn’t even wear lotion that night! We arrived, and Kaden began asking me, “Do you love this place?” “Do you just like it or do you love it?” He continued to ask if I liked, I mean LOVED it and I assured him that I did. We walked around the display of lights very fast so that is a blur to me…I do remember seeing some penguins that I thought were cute and a pirate ship. We got in line for the Christmas tree/Santa Sleigh to take pictures when he told me he was going to get someone to video us. Again, that is no surprise to me because we had been filming our whole entire trip! Well, it was our turn and we sat in the sleigh and I said, “Welcome to Santaland.” If you’ve seen the video, you can probably tell I am clueless until Kaden pulls me close and starts whispering things in my ear. At that moment, I knew what he was doing then seconds later, he whips out my ring! He got down on one knee (of course), and asked me to Marry him. I said YES and immediately followed with “Did you ask my Dad?” Turns out, Kaden sent my family an old scroll asking for my hand in marriage. Considering he was in Afghanistan, it was difficult for him to ask in person. We ended the night with a fabulous steak dinner and bottle of champagne with his Dad. I don’t really recall dinner because I looked at my ring the whole entire time!! It was absolutely perfect and I can’t wait to start another chapter in my life!