In case you haven't heard my big news…I am engaged! Caleb and I were so blessed to spend almost three and a half weeks in Thailand and he proposed toward the end of our trip while we were on the beach in Ko Lanta. He had apparently been carrying the ring around for weeks, just waiting for the perfect time. It was a beautful night, filled with good food and wine and a live fire show and even some surprise fireworks over the ocean. As we were walking back to our bungalow, Caleb got down on one knee in the sand and asked me to marry him. A moment I will never forget, my favorite yet in our long and (mostly beautiful) story.
I am so thankful to be known and cared for and loved deeply by such an incredible man and I cannot wait to officially join his wonderful family, who have made me feel loved and welcome since the very beginning. We plan to wed in August, over a decade after we first started dating.
The night Caleb proposed!
While I was thinking about what to write about our relationship, I remembered this section of a version of my testimony I wrote out on the World Race that never quite made it to my blog, and it seems appropriate to share it here:
For as long as I can remember, Caleb's been one of, if not the most, important relationship in my life. I think the difficulty is pinning down where to best insert Caleb into my story because he is so intertwined throughout my entire testimony. There isn’t a big grand moment when he came into my life (we went to preschool together), or when I first had a crush on him (the 5th grade, but he was “going out” with my now best friend) or when we started officially dating (sometime between junior and senior year of high school). We’ve been on again/off again for almost ten years, although there was rarely a big dramatic break up or getting back together scene. We frequently lived in the gray area, always remaining friends, seeing each other when we could, trying (and failing, miserably) to see other people.
For all but one of our years together (the first), we were dating long-distance. We lived anywhere from an hour away to halfway across the country to all the way around the world. The arrangement seems crazy but it worked for us. I know now, without a shadow of a doubt, that this was God’s plan for us from the beginning. The experiences we’ve each had, the struggles and victories God has walked us through individually and together, have prepared us to live a greater love story then we ever could of imagined had we got married right away.
I knew when I wrote those words in Tanzania that I was ready to marry Caleb, and I am even more sure now.
I believe that on the World Race God started preparing me to be a godly wife and mother, and I am so thrilled to spend the rest of my life working towards a marriage and family that honors Him.
My beautiful ring!
If you followed my blog at all last year, it's no secret that Thailand was my favorite country on the Race! Caleb has almost two months off from his teaching job in China, so we jumped at the opportunity to buy some cheap flights down to the Land of Smiles. We flew in to Bangkok, and spent a couple days exploring some of the ancient historical sites and the infamous backerpackers haunt, Khao San Road. It wasn't exactly our scene (it made us feel old, scratch that, more mature, that we couldn't hang with the lively party-goers), but we enjoyed the live music and cheap street food.
We took an overnight bus about nine hours north to Chiang Mai, where I had lived during the Race. It was so good to be back, albeit a very different experience this time around. We took a full day cooking course at an organic farm, ate Mexican food practically everyday, wandered street markets, got Thai massages, and even stumbled upon a really fun dinner cruise. We got to do a full day trek in the hills, complete with riding elephants, bamboo rafting, hiking, a buffet lunch, swimming in a waterfall and white water rafting.
Thai Cooking Farm
I didn't get to see any of the girls I bulit relationships with in ministry on the Race. We walked up and down Loi Kroh Road several times looking for them, and perhaps it is a blessing that I couldn't find them. I can only hope that they are no longer working at the skeezy bars that line the red light district. A few of the girls I got to close to I was able to contact via Facebook, and they were away in Australia with their "boyfriends," so I was bummed I didn't get to see them. Please continue to keep all of my friends and every single girl that is trapped in prostitution in Thailand in your prayers. We saw similiar red light districts in Bangkok and Phuket, and every single time we saw a girl "for sale," it broke our hearts. I am thankful Caleb had the chance to see firsthand what was such an impactful experience for me and just why God has placed these women on my heart.
When we left Chiang Mai we headed back to Bankgok via another overnight bus. Caleb had a terrible fever and spent the next day or so recovering. Luckily he was feeling well enough to go to lunch with two of my very favorite people I met on the Race, Sean and Paige, our contacts from India. They lived in Thailand for several years before India and were in Bangkok visiting friends before they headed back to America to have a baby girl this spring!
One more overnight bus later we found ourselves in the tropical paradise of Krabi. The Andaman Coast is famous for its limestone peaks and beautiful beaches and it did not dissapoint. We filled three back-to-back days full of island hopping, snorkeling, sea kayaking and rock climbing. Kayaking through a canyon in a cove was one of our favorite activities of the entire trip! There were tons of monkeys swinging from the trees in the mangroves, which was equal parts terrifying and adorable. We rock climbed at Railay Beach, which draws rock climbers from all over the world. It was both of our first time attempting the sport, and Caleb was much more of a natural than I was. It was much scarier than I anticipated, but I was really glad we did it! We climbed 260 feet high, and the view from the top was stunning.
After three jam packed days of activities we headed even further south to Ko Lanta island to spend a few days just relaxing on the gorgeous beaches. We stayed in a bungalow, and then a treehouse, a couple hundred meters off the beach. We got engaged the first night we were there, which of course was the highlight of our Thailand trip! We spent the next few days parked in our beach chairs, working on our tans, sipping Diet Cokes and local beers, laughing about the past and dreaming about the future. Many of the people we met in Ko Lanta had come there to visit and stayed indefinitely, and I can't say it didn't cross our minds.
With only a few days left in our crazy adventure, we decided we couldn't leave without at least checking out Phuket, Thailand's most famous island and craziest beaches. By this point in the trip, our frugralness was a little worn out from eating street food constantly and taking ridiculously long bus rides and sleeping in minimal guesthouses. So we splurged on a hotel room with AC and a soft bed and a clean shower, which proved to be about the best part of Phuket for us. Overall we weren't impressed with the overcrowded beaches, the disgusting amount of sex tourism, and generally feeling like we were being ripped off at every turn. It's beyond me how Phuket has beome such a vacation hotspot, when the rest of Thailand is much prettier, cheaper, less crowded and just more authentic.
We spent our final day in Bangkok, which we declared our day to officially celebrate our engagement. We had a picnic in the park and then watched the sun go down over the city from the 82nd floor of a hotel with a killer buffet.
It was certainly an incredible trip and the best three weeks of my life! We are safely back in Xian now, where we have jumped into wedding planning and are preparing to celebrate the Chinese New Year in a few days. I fly out of Shanghai on Feb. 20, and after all our hard goodbyes, I'm certain this one will be the hardest.
