So, here's the story of how my dear fiancee Will proposed to me.  We had been planning, for a while, on going on a day trip to New York City, sometime during the Christmas season. We both love the wintertime and especially wintertime in New York at Christmas. He mentioned it to me again about three months ago and we set a date to go. I have to admit that when we first talked about this trip I "wondered" if maybe he was planning on asking me the question then but quickly dismissed it. Over the past two months, I had had several conversations with him, as well as my parents, regarding engagement, and didn't think he would be asking me anytime soon. I sure was in for a surprise! Instead of driving to New York, we decided to take a bus. We left at a super super early time on Saturday morning and arrived in New York around 12:30. We went to the Empire State building first, which Will thought he may use as the proposal site, but when we saw the 90 minute wait, we both shook our heads and said "ummm..no". We then went to grab lunch at a cozy diner not far from there. I have to give Will some credit here because he was not acting different AT ALL. He seemed a little quiet at different points but when I asked him if he was okay, he said he was so I just assumed he was tired, like I was! After lunch, we decided to go to Macy's to see the window displays and also to buy him a hat, gloves, and scarf. While we were there, I suggested he look at the coats, since he's been wanting to buy a new one. One important thing to note here is that he had the ring box inside his coat pocket. Poor guy...I had him trying on all these different coats, while I was holding his coat that had the ring in it. There was a coat that we both really liked and he seemed like he was thinking about buying it. He said: "What am I going to do with MYcoat?" and I said: "Oh, you can just leave it here and we'll pick it up on our way back!". He told me later he was sweating at this point. Thankfully, he listed several good reasons not to buy it and we left. We then made our way to the ice skating rink in Central Park. I had never been to Central Park before but it's such a quaint, romantic park and looks like you're stepping back into the 1940's. Once again, the crowds were massive. You could barely see any white on the rink there were so many people and the snake-like waiting line to actually get ON the rink was long. So, once again we said "uhhh....no". Will had to think really fast at this point because he had been planning to ask me on the rink and have the guy over the P/A system stop the music so he could get down on one knee and ask me. So, he asks me if I'd like to go for a horse and buggy ride...of course! We start to walk towards the horse and buggy area, stopping to take pictures and also to get some hot chocolate to warm us up. It was then that Will decided he didn't want to ask me on the horse and buggy ride but really wanted to ask me in front of a bunch of people to honor me. What a guy, huh? That's why I love him! Ok, back to the story. So, there's this bunch of rocks up above the ice rink and Will suggests we go up there to take a picture. I was struggling a little bit with going up there because I didn't wear appropriate shoes but decided I had to do it because it looked like such a great view. Once we get up there, he says we should find a spot to put our hot chocolate down (which now that I think about it seemed a little unusual...why don't we just take the picture with cups in our hands?!). We find a spot and as I'm setting my purse down, he walks over to a guy with his wife and two daughters and asks him to take our picture. What I didn't notice was that he also whispered in his ear and told him he was about to ask me to marrry him and wanted to get pictures of it. So great! So, we start to pose for the picture and before I know it, Will is down on one knee!! I was so shocked that I immediately said: "Will, what are you doing?!?". Like it wasn't obvious! He said: "Alycia, I love you and it would be an honor if you would become my wife. Will you marry me?" AHHHHH!!! After repeating my initial question twice, I said "Yes! Of course!". There were a lot of people up there noticing the proposal but I felt like the only person I saw was him. I was still in shock the rest of the night and couldn't stop smiling. I went from being so excited to tearing up to not believing it had actually happened. God has been SO good to me in providing Will as a husband. He is a humble, godly, servant-hearted man and I can't believe that I will one day be his wife! Here are a few more pictures from the special night.

My handsome fiancee

Right after getting engaged....

This one is my favorite

Thank you all for being so excited for me!

So here am I once again, not updating after three months! I seriously don't know how time just seems to disappear before my eyes sometimes. My life has been quite FULL, to say the least! I love it, though. What would life be without relationships and activities to make us cling to God more? Since I last updated, I've attended the New Attitude conference in Louisville, Kentucky, moved with my three roommates to a beautiful townhome, been to California for a week, and spent many fun weekends with Will. Having him here in D.C. is such a blast as we both love to get out and do day trips. Not hard to do that here in this area! God has also been teaching me what it means to seek to live each day in the joy of the Gospel and John Piper's message at New Attitude hit me right to the core...as he asked, "are you willing to be a debtor to grace every day?". I can't wait to listen to this message again and dig into it more. This quote from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has encouraged me time and time again:

"The essence of the Christian salvation is to say that HE is good enough and that I am in Him! Forget yourself...forget all about yourself."

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones ("Spiritual Depression")

Without further ado, here are a few pictures to give you a lens into the whirl of activities over the past three months!

New Attitude

Heading out on the plane...I look like a dork!!

First session...

We hung out with this group alot...fun times!

ZELOS performed once again and did a fabulous job!

California- My Mom and three sisters went to California to visit our Grandma and several of my Mom's relatives. We had a blast!

Some of the pretty scenery...

I love the ocean!

It was much fun to be with my Mom and two sisters.

And also fun to be with my relatives!

My spunky Grandma

My cousin Heleen

Me and my Aunt Jacqueline

My Mom with her two sisters (Maureen & Jacqueline) and my Grandma. Crazy bunch!

Random Date w/Will!

Mt. Vernon/Old Town Alexandria

It started POURING when we got there but we just whipped out our umbrellas!

Old Town Alexandria is fast becoming one of our favorite places to go and this past weekend when we were there, Will found great delight in convincing me to do this feat. I told him the only reason I was doing it was for him.

We ate at this really good Italian restaurant that has been around since the 1700's.

I have a lot more pictures to post but not enough time to do it! Until next time....