Engagement: How it Happened

The fruition of our love, happiness, a pair in the solitude of the night lying on a wind and wave thrashed beach. The beach is called Love Professed on the day marking one year of our love. The grass and sand, the waves and wind, the trees and the crabs were our witnesses. “My Love, it’s been a year since we danced... Our love forged in adversity, polished in peace, bathed in delight…History has asked us to reflect, but the future begs us to dream. Do you wish to wed?”
“Yes.”
“Will you?” … hugs…kisses…
“Yes!”…

On November 2nd 2006 we went swing dancing. It was our first date. Today it is one year later; it’s a day of celebration. Today we look back at our history and ahead to our dreams. We begin our night with a picnic I planned. The evening is breezy but crisp, powerful and beautiful. We go to Gandview, our favorite beach. It is a special place for us. During some trying times we walked its shores seeking peace and growing together. Indeed it is the place where we spoke our love into the hearts of each other for the first time several months earlier. It is our most treasured refuge. Our picnic is delicious. I brought her favorite meal, Olive Garden chicken fettuccini alfredo, salad, breadsticks, grapes, Lambrusco, and for dessert, chocolate. After our meal we walk the shoreline. The wind is strong. It pushes the waves far up the beach. We dance between them as they chase our feet then we wonder at their power and God's as they crash over the rocks. They are stronger then we have ever seen them. We arrange our blanket under some smooth weathered trees that line the shore. The sky is beautiful, deep dark purple and grey with clouds and bits of stars twinkling through. We stare up and reminisce about our lives together. I remember the delights of the year. She reminds me of our first date, first long hug, and first kiss. We dream of the future. I ask her if she likes dreams of a life with me. “Would you enjoy spending life with me My Love?” “Yes” she says. “Will you?” Her face cannot contain her smiles. They nearly knock her over. I will never forget her face, ever. I pull her ring from my pocket and slip it on her finger. It sparkles in the night light. “Will you marry me?” “Yes!” she says. We walk the shore hand in hand chasing the waves, watching the crabs, making our most treasured memories, me and My Betrothed.

Friends First: The Story of How We Met

"So, who's the new girl?" I was leading music in our church's college group. Kaeli was sitting in the third or fourth row. Well of course I noticed the cute curly blond haired new girl. I went over and said hello ... and now we're engaged. There's a lot in the "...".

Well I guess I’ll fill in the middle? :) ...That was the summer of 2003, when my family and I first started attending Calvary Baptist Church. Paul and I became friends and spent countless nights after church with the other college age and singles at Applebee’s eating yummy delicious boneless buffalo wings, of the hot variety of course. Through the college group we have gone camping, hiking, climbing, and canoeing together. We have had the opportunity to serve together, study together, pray together, learn together, and grow together over the years. So, I guess you could say Christ and friendship has been the foundation for our relationship. How we actually got together, well…Paul came home the fall of 2006 from his NASA internship in Langley, Virginia to start his final year of college at UC and we just seemed to be constantly thrown together. All of our mutual friends were off at school or busy with other things, and it always seemed to be the two of us. We were constantly assaulted by in-depth questioning from eager parents and friends- not to name names but…the Picones, Ruschs, and Laughlins come to mind. Paul and I talked about dating and began praying about it, wanting to follow God’s leading and here we are engaged, about to get married, and truly thankful for such a gracious God.

Settling In

So, we're finally settled in to the apartment. (For those of you who don't know, Paul performed an impressive feat by packing all of our belongings into our kitchen so that new carpet could be laid in our apartment while we were on our honeymoon.) Paul has been working 12-14 hour days everyday trying to complete his project and paper as scheduled. Poor Paul. I haven't seen much of him the past two weeks; only when I go to bring him lunch and dinner which I do pretty much everyday since it is a 3.3 mile drive to NASA from the apartment and is the only way I get to spend time with him. But this will all be over in about a week and a half, and we have the sweet reward of a Hawaii trip at the end, complements of the U.S. government and NASA which we're looking forward to. But mostly I'll just be happy to have my husband back.
Well to be fair, it hasn't been all work and no play. Sundays, we usually hang out with friends after church and one day we made it out to the beach for about an hour and a half. Two weekends ago 7/12 we left early Saturday morning and drove three hours due west to Shenandoah Valley and went camping with some of Paul and I's friends from his work and that was very fun and relaxing. Paul forged a "battle axe" out of a stick and semi-sharp, mostly blunt rock and some clothesline. He then proceeded to hack away at the limbs leaving a minor dent, while Justin used his knife saw to actually cut the wood. But the great outdoors was a welcome relief from his 60 hour work week which mostly consists of computer programming and staring at a screen all day. The next day, Sunday, we packed up camp and then drove down the road to a trail- Jones Run. A 3.5 mile hike straight down the mountain to a waterfall and trickle of a stream and then a steep and tiring climb back to the top. Shenandoah is very beautiful, with lots of old trees. We saw bears on our trek, a baby not ten feet from the trail and a mother on the other side of the trail about 40 feet into the cover of the woods. (Last fall we camped at Shenandoah and almost hit a bear on the road on our way up the mountain and then when we were leaving we saw a bear running off into the woods, we pulled over to watch- and two cubs crawled down out of the tree we were standing under and ran off into the woods! Apparently we're magnets for black bears.) The rest of the hike was uneventful- we saw Luna moths and some funky orange mushrooms growing on logs and a strenuous hike back up to the top. We then headed home, stopping in Richmond for some long awaited Chipotle and then drove to the Richmond International Airport to buy a cup of joe- since it is the only Caribou anywhere near the Poquoson/ Langley/ Hampton/ Norfolk/ Virginia Beach/ Newport News area. Needless to say it was very yummy and we were ready for another long week.
This past weekend 7/19 we went and saw the new batman movie- Dark Knight, which Paul has been wanting to see ever since he saw Batman Begins and heard they were making another one. (= Needless to say he enjoyed it.
This weekend we are planning on going to a backyard BBQ with one of Paul's colleagues from work and our church is having a picnic on Sunday.This of course is contingent on Paul's progress at work. He hopes to finish his experiment and have a draft of his paper by Friday of this week.
Please pray for Paul as he strives to complete this phase of his project and that I will be a support to him. Thank you all for your phone calls and words of encouragement and all the hard work you put into our wedding. We love you all and can't wait for the next time we get to see you. The attachment below is pictures of the wedding, honeymoon, and what we've been up to this summer. Hope you enjoy.

Love,
P&K Rothhaar


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