Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Biggest News [UPDATED VIDEO LINKS]

mandi,stonehouse,dayn,arnold,engagement
Hello, my quasi-abandoned readers. As is my custom, accept my apologies for neglecting my post. Things have been a little crazy around here.

So, it's been coming for a long while now, with hints and whispers of its arrival, but now it's official: Mandi and I are engaged. To be married. To each other. It seems like so many things have been hinging on our getting engaged, it's a bit of a relief to have crossed over into this whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew. But now from way up here, it's crystal clear, that now I'm in a whole new world with her.

So now begins the fun of putting together a whole wedding event with very little budget. Huzzah! Actually, I am quite confident it will be the event of the summer. Or at least the day.
mandi,stonehouse,dayn,arnold,engagement
Now we get to start talking in concrete terms about our future together overseas, which is nice. It's been a lot of tiptoeing around the idea of going out into the world together, but not being engaged invited a lot of questions we weren't prepared to answer with confidence. We need to get Mandi to Orlando for Pioneers' Candidate Orientation Program (COP) at some point so she can learn the ins and outs of Pioneers, and we can finally work together to raise support. When she is able to do that, it would be great for me to go along and work with the communications people there for a week. Right now the plan is to be ready to head overseas in early fall of 2011, which seems like an eternity from now, but it will be wiser to be married here for a year before changing everything else in our lives.

Right now we're going to need a lot of prayer as we try to juggle work, church, pre-marital counseling (we haven't started that yet), working through a Perspectives course (we had a huge blessing the other day when we found out with some extra work we could both go despite having no extra income! Thanks Kevin and CJ and The Well!!!), moving forward with Pioneers, and all sorts of other things. Wow. Thanks for your prayers.

Just for me, I just had an interview with Portland Public Schools (again) to join the Ed Assistant sub pool, something I'm not super excited about, but I need the money. I may also have opportunity to do more videography in the near future, which would be even better. Please pray for opportunity to do more videography. Thanks.

If you're wondering about the engagement story, please see the video below. Celebrate this momentous news with us! Thanks.

(If you have trouble watching the video below, click here for a YouTube HD version. If you still have trouble watching the video, click here for a YouTube SD version. If you still have trouble watching the video, do your very best to imagine what the story could be like and let us know what you come up with.)

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5 comments:

JulieP said...

Even though I don't know you Mandi, I feel like I do! You two are so blessed and what a future God has for the two of you as you serve HIM together! I am cheering for you both! Congrats!

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

Hooray for you guys! I am so happy for you. May you be richly blessed over the coming years.

p.s. I can't watch the video. I let it sit and sit and try to load forever and it just won't play. Is there a way to watch it on youtube or elsewhere? I always have trouble with Vimeo. I heard the few words and that was it. :(

Leisha said...

I couldn't watch the videos (yay for Tanzanian internet access) and the photos only loaded halfway (thanks for using the largest flipping picture size imaginable!), so here is my imagined ManDayn (you can use that if you want to) engagement story:
I'm think that Dayn picked Mandi up from work by throwing a bag over her head and strapping her onto the back of his bike. After riding around until she was too frozen to fight, Dayn took Mandi to the most romantic spot he could think of: Skidmore Fountain. (The added benefit being that a young woman with a bag over her head would not attract much notice.) Fortunately the water had all been drained because Mandi was so frozen that when she was set down on the edge of the fountain, she rolled in. Dayn let her hang out there for a bit while he set up a romantic snack of stale donut holes and apple cider left from Thanksgiving. By the time Mandi had thawed and struggled out of the fountain, Dayn was on one knee offering her a green twist-tie to signify their undying love. Mandi proved to be exactly the class act that Dayn knew she was by accepting his proposal, and, slightly intoxicated from love, they skipped down the street arm in arm (also not attracting any attention because the locals simply assumed they'd had a little too much cider, if-you-know-what-I-mean). In a sad side note, Dayn's bike was stolen the minute they turned their backs, and Mandi's engagement "ring" promptly shredded and the paper bits clogged her shower drain. The End

Justin said...

Well done, sir. Well done.

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