Engagment Story

Hello All,
Alright people, even though this is a blog dealing with my journey to the trombone section, I want to write a post about finding the one person on this earth who is my biggest supporter, and who in a short five months, will be alongside me (permanently) with this journey to the section.

Kylee Barnett is a very pretty girl that I have known since freshman year at Grace College through friends of friends. As time went along we got to know each other and started dating on May 26, 2009. For about a year and half, we dated, and in February 2010 I knew this was the girl I wanted to marry (see earlier post about that prayer). My plan for a whole year was to ask her a year from that time. So a few months ago, I decided that it would be great to propose to her in Warsaw, Indiana at Center Lake. This is a place where I went often, and we went to talk on our first date. Plus, I thought it would be great to propose Valentine's Day weekend (February 12th). We would go to the Grace basketball game, and I would propose after the game down at the lake.

By the way, I told people it was going to be February 12th. All of King's Brass knew, even the people who were my host families on tour knew. The only people who didn't know at all were her friends or anybody remotely close to being her friend. Well the week prior to that, I began thinking why put it off any longer. I already had the ring for over a month, and I wasn't doing anything the weekend of the 5th. So plans changed! I decided to go to her place the first weekend of February and surprise in coming. I told her that Thursday night that I was gonna come to visit her. So I came and we decided to go eat for dinner/late lunch on Saturday at a place called Wings & Rings (honest, it was her choice to go there). So I thought, it would be perfect. I hid the little black bag in the toolbox of my car. Some may remember I sent a tweet saying something about "no sense in putting it off any longer." Well this was right before I proposed. It was a little windy and snowy outside, and as we walked outside I said, "funny that we should eat at a place called wings and rings." I walked her back to my car, and meanwhile she is saying "Hurry up, open the door!" I walked to the trunk and told her to come here and she is still wondering why I am not opening the doors. I start saying things like, "Kylee I love you very much and want to grow old with you!" While she is still saying "what are you doing?" she sees the black bag and starts going off saying "Are you messing with me?" or "Is this for real?" (I was still powering through with my eloquent romance). Then I just plowed through, got down on one knee (IN the snow across from the Burger King drive-through window) and asked her, "Kylee, will you marry me?" while I popped the box open. She said, "....baby, Yes!" and I put the ring on her finger (good fit too), and we're engaged.

I changed the date of proposal just because I thought it may be more of a surprise to her if I did it before we went to Grace, and she would then be able to show all of her friends the ring rather than they all coming up to us asking when we were ever gonna get engaged. It worked out excellente! and yes she likes the ring very very much :) I'll add pictures of the ring later.

The date of the wedding? August 6th, 2011 in Centerburg, Ohio. Booooooy I sure can't wait !!

From
J-man
(Hebrews 13:21...Kylee and I's verse)