Our Story
How We Met
He Said
I knew Katie from Student Engineers' Council, and I had liked her the whole time. She was so sweet and beautiful, and I always asked her if she was single whenever I saw her. In the fall of 2007, she said that she was, so I knew she was fair game. I didn't really make it a point to pursue her at that point. Then one day at Living Hope during the worship service, I looked up and there she was. At that moment, I heard a voice inside say she would be a good person to marry. Without much more encouragement, I began to pursue her. Over the holiday break of 2007-2008, I fasted and prayed, and we began dating in January 2008.
She Said
I met Clark during my sophomore year in the Student Engineers' Council. We were both mentoring freshmen engineering students, and we happened to both be in the same mentoring family. He came over to my apartment for an event starving, so I made him some macaroni and cheese. It was from a box, nothing special, but he thanked me several times and kept commenting on how good it tasted. I thought he was sweet. We continued to see each other at events, and during the fall semester of our junior year, we spent nearly the whole event talking about our families and passions in life. He was brilliant and had an adventurous spirit. I knew he would make a wonderful friend, and we had occasional conversations afterwards. During the fall semester of my senior year, I ran into Clark after a worship service at our church Living Hope on Sunday. I did not know he attended my church, and I was so happy to see him there. We began meeting each other at church, and one Sunday we went to lunch together after church at the Cotton Patch. He prayed over our food, and my heart was taken with him. He was so handsome and had such a kind spirit. We continued to meet each other and began to hang out more. We discovered we shared the same adventurous spirit, and we contemplated dating. Over the course of the break, we both fasted and prayed to discern whether we should date. On January 9, 2008, we began dating. A few weeks later, he told me he loved me. He had gone through 1 Corinthians 13 and prayed over all the characteristics of love, and he had written out how and why he thought he could love me in those ways. I wanted to tell him I loved him too, but I had never said those words to any man before, and I wanted to be sure. I prayed for the next couple weeks, and I had my answer. I loved him more than I could ever imagine loving someone. He won my heart, and a few months later, we were engaged!
The Engagement
He Said
In the weeks leading up to the summer of 2008, Katie would point to her ring finger and ask me if something was missing. I knew there was, but I would have to make a little money before I could put a ring on her finger. I was interning at Boeing in Seattle that summer, so she was a mere 2,400 miles away in Houston, TX. We decided that she should come up to Seattle for the Fourth of July weekend. I spent countless hours at home (and at work) looking for places to take her to propose. I already had the ring, and I knew that she wanted to have a nice dinner beforehand. I had visited Langley, WA with my roommates earlier that summer. The little town is right on the Puget Sound, a short ferry ride from Mukilteo, where I was staying.
I was counting the hours the week before she arrived! When July 2 finally came, I told my roommate, "Brady, I'm going to get my woman," and made the drive to SeaTac Airport. I waited in the lower baggage claim area at the base of the escalator. The moment she came down and was in my arms, I knew that part of me that was missing had finally returned. The next morning, we took a short warm-up hike in the river ravine near my apartment. Then we made the trek to Whidbey Island and Langley. After a wonderful dinner at Edgecliff Café, Katie and I walked down to the beachfront park. I had made a photo album for her containing lots of pictures of us. For the captions of the pictures, I wrote a letter to her. At the end of the album, I took a knee and asked her to marry me. She was crying, so all I heard was "Uh huh." Somehow, the ring made it on her finger, and we laughed and danced around the park. Since that moment, I have only grown more in love with her.
She Said
Last summer, Clark had an internship at Boeing in Seattle, Washington, and I had an internship at Chevron in Houston, Texas, so we spent most of the summer apart. On July 2, 2008, I flew up to Seattle to visit Clark for the weekend. I was hoping I would come back with some news, and since Clark is not very good at keeping secrets, I knew something would happen. My flight was delayed, so I did not make it into Seattle until late in the evening. Clark picked me up from the airport, and I cried from happiness. I had missed him so much. The next morning we went on a short hike near his apartment. The hike was beautiful and followed a flowing creek in the midst of a forest. We came back, took showers, and headed out for the day. I wore a dress, and Clark wore his slacks and a nice shirt. As always, he looked amazingly handsome. We drove around to an island, and we stopped to walk through a national park that overlooked the river. We continued our drive until we arrived in Langley. Langley is a small quiet town at the tip of an island near Mukilteo where Clark lived. He took me to the Edgecliff restaurant that overlooked the bay with the mountains in the background. We had a wonderful dinner, and after dinner, we walked to a nearby park on the bay. We were the only ones at the park, and while the sun set out over the water, Clark pulled out a photo album he had made for me. The album told our story and had pictures of importance to both of us. Near the end of the album, Clark got down on his knee and proposed. I cried most of the time, and then, we danced and called our families.
Our remaining time in Seattle was wonderful. The following day we went to Gas Works Park for the July 4th Celebration, and the following day we hiked Lake 22 and ate at the Space Needle. Seattle will always be a special place for the two of us.
