The Proposal

Jill's turn......

Hi Everyone! For those of you who want to know the details of the proposal, I thought I'd tell you myself (since Josh may not give himself the credit he deserves for making it such an amazing experience for me.)

First off, I have to premise the story by saying that I LOVE the show "The Amazing Race" on CBS. It's my favorite show of all time. I even applied to be on it, but didn't make the cut. I know some of you are familiar with the show (and may even be in an "Amazing Race" work pool). For those of you who don't know, it's about a bunch of teams of two who travel around the world, receiving clues and completing awesome missions along the away, competing to be the first team to the finish line.

A few days before my Birthday (which was on May 8th), Josh presented me with a "clue" that said my mission was to either play a round of golf with him or take him on in a tennis match to receive my next clue. I chose golf (didn't want him to feel bad if I beat him in tennis) and completed my mission. In the next few days/weeks, I received more clues and completed more missions. The missions were fun but the anticipation was a little nerve wracking for me. I'm a planner by trade and always need to know exactly what's going on. Since this was happening close to my Birthday, I thought that the finale would be a nice Birthday present. I actually thought that in the end, Josh was going to give me a cat. Not kidding! I even said to him, "Did you get a cat? I don't know if I want a cat." But he held his ground and reminded me "Jill...this is a RACE! You can't ask questions and you can't try to guess what will come next." So I tried to patiently wait it out until I completed my next mission, which wasn't supposed to be until June 2nd.

On May 25th, I had been in Toronto on business and flew back into Milwaukee that night. I got home just minutes before Josh and was running around packing, and trying to fit everything into the car for a camping trip we were heading out for that night. I came into the living room and Josh was standing there with another clue. He said that even though I hadn't completed my mission yet, I could open the clue. The clue said that I had finally arrived at the pit stop (finish line for those of you not familiar with "Race" lingo) and to put all the clues I had received together. I did this, and decoded the message: "I love you. Together. Forever." Josh then got down on his knee and said "I was wondering if you wanted to marry me" and opened up a box to reveal a beautiful ring. At this point in the story, details get a little blurry. I remember saying YES! several times, and I remember a lot of tears (mine), and laughing (me and Josh...with and at me), and hugging. Actually the hugging was more like Josh holding me up....I was a little shaky :). The whole thing was perfect! I couldn't have imagined anything better. He knows how important my family is to me so he had decided to ask me a week early so I could celebrate with my brothers and their families on the camping trip. And celebrate we did!

I found out later that Josh had even called my Dad and asked for his blessing. My Dad not only gave his blessing but also told Josh that if I said no, to let him know so that he could talk me into it. My family loves Josh.

Above is a picture of my ring. It's even prettier in person. I absolutely love it! I usually don't wear rings so Josh made sure to get me something that wouldn't stick out and get caught on things but that is still gorgeous. It's so sparkly I can't stop looking at it. Josh even made sure that it had an even number of diamonds because I don't like odd numbers (weird, I know). He thought of everything!

I'm truly honored to become a part of Josh's family. Everyone has welcomed me with open arms from the beginning. Josh and I are so lucky to share our lives with such incredible people and we're excited that we now get to unite two amazing families together.

Love to all.