All Glory Be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

His sister took the pictures of us
After we cherished our official engagement
We celebrated!!!!

Nicole’s Story:

On July 11, 2008 Ryan Armstrong proposed to me…

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and I had just arrived in Miami from Tallahassee the night before by plane. Originally from Miami, but as a student of Florida State University my job required me to stay all summer long making this visit short yet overdue. It was the weekend of my family reunion so not only was I excited to see my boyfriend of five years but looked forward to reuniting with my mom’s side of the family too. Why rush… let’s back up, arriving in Miami at around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday night, my Delta Airlines flight was delayed because of weather conditions in Atlanta. A little frustrated, but eventually relieved by a rather smooth and quick (1 hour) travel, I couldn’t wait to see my boyfriend that I hadn’t seen since March (4 months earlier). I quickly rushed to the baggage claim, barely screening the outside premises of the airport when our eyes met, in the Suburban leaning and searching for … well me, boy was that another relief:) He greeted me with pink flowers (my favorite color) I was happily on cloud 9 while Roy Roy took me to my sweet abode. Now we can fast forward…

July 11 (The proposal)

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, I woke up washed my hair, picked out our already planned coordinating outfit and pampered myself for him. Put on my sweet perfume and even redid a couple of my nails, the tips to my self-given french manicure. It was early, still morning so I decided to return the thoughtful gesture and cook the both of us breakfast. So I whipped up some scrambled eggs, cooked some sausage on the skillet, made a grilled cheese sandwich for two and even chilled some iced tea. After properly groomed and pleasantly packed I headed to our church where he was interning for the summer. 

I got there to his surprise, (he didn’t expect me to even wake up until afternoon) and gave him his breakfast. But not only was he not hungry but he didn’t eat one bite. I was a little disappointed that he didn’t seem even half interested in eating anything, but quickly got over it by convincing myself that it was the though that counted So time went on and his lunch break came, from 12 to 1 we along with his sister enjoyed the break. Towards the end of his break he went into his father’s office (the pastor of our church) and told me he had to run an errand. So the first thing in my mind was to go with him, but he insisted calmly to stay at the church, in my mind just another opportunity to bond with the sister-in-law which we did quite well. 

I knew he got off at 2 p.m. but didn’t know how he was gonna fit his studying in for his sermon on Sunday. Around 2 he arrived and said before leaving he wanted to study for his sermon but wanted to go to the sanctuary to do it. Not at all surprised I insisted on going with him. Hey I love this man, and have seen him study before, my number one plan was to read my Bible while he did his, it was settled. 

So we headed to the sanctuary,

As we entered in he took a restroom break so I decided to do the same, combing my hair, you know how us girls are, making sure everything was in place.

Coming out of the restroom both middle doors were perched wide open with two chairs holding them in their place. My first thought was this boy is gonna act like we are getting married, he acts goofy at times, and this was just another one of his days. I thought it was sweet, but as we walked in together he stopped, still confused he began telling me how there, in church, it all began and how we shared so many memories together since our youth, it hit me…

He so smoothly let his words flow with such assurance, but me, I wasn’t sure WHAT he was doing, so trying to walk away, he grabbed my hand as if to say “you ain’t going no where” I felt his heart beating fast but his words seemed to not falter one bit, he led me to the church pew where it all began, in the back towards the right, he bent on one knee and pulled a Kay Jewelers bag from underneath, at this point I was going crazy and awwing to him and myself. He opened that little black box and asked me to marry him…

and I said yes

..

..

..

It was the sweetest, most perfect moment in my life

In the presence of God where it all began we were able to savor the moment without any interruptions, joyfully accepting the fact that we were FINALLY engaged

For the rest of the weekend we were busily letting our family, friends and the world know that in one sweet afternoon in May

Ryan and Nicole will blissfully present themselves to God in holy matrimony

It’s official he is MY fiancee’