Alex and I have a long distance courtship, which has been hard at times, but we manage to talk on the phone every day or a least every other day. God knows the distance is good for us because it allowed us both to get our work done. I can fly very inexpensively so once or twice a month I fly to visit Alex. It has worked out well for us. During the day we can spend time together and in the evenings I am able to spend the night with a girlfriend that lives nearby. It has been the best of both worlds.

Carmen and I knew we were going to get married the next summer, so on October 15, 2002 I gave my parents a heads up on what was going to happen and the timeframe we had in mind, and also called Carmen's parents that night to ask for their permission for me to marry Carmen. I received very nice responses from both our parents. After I had received permission from her parents I anticipated that Carmen would be visiting me a month from the time I had talked with her parents. Since I knew that we were going to get married the next summer I wanted to propose to her as soon as possible, which meant mid-November. This gave me about a month to get an engagement ring and figure out how exactly I wanted to propose.

Being initially clueless about engagement rings I asked a very knowledgeable friend from the Bay Area for some advice, and she was able to help me along the right direction. After spending a significant amount of time researching things online and visiting various jewelers I was finally able to find a ring that I really liked. This process probably took me several weeks. About a week before she came to visit me in November I started to get an idea of how I wanted to propose, and the night before we went on our hike I finished working out the last-minute details of my plans.

On November 16, 2002 Alex proposed to me. Let me set the stage for you. Alex planned for us to go hiking after we had just finished attending a seminar at his church. He appeared quite ready to leave so we headed on our way a few minutes before it was over. We grabbed a quick lunch and then we were off and running to Malibu. Alex's plan was for us to hike up to a lookout point and to watch the sun set into the ocean. I thought that was a great idea so we hurried along because the sun was about to set. We finally reached our destination and sat watching the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful. Then came the big question. Alex gave me some excuse for me needing to stand up so I did and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes, and then there were tears of joy and, of course, we had to take pictures.

To say that I was in a hurry is quite an understatement. The seminar took a lot longer than I had anticipated, and I didn't want to miss the sunset no matter what. I knew when the sun was supposed to set (and even looked up the direction in which it would set to make sure our view of the sun wouldn't be blocked), but I didn't know exactly how long it would take for us to hike to a nice spot, so I was rushing to be on the safe side. Well, the timing of everything turned out to be perfect. We drove to Malibu, CA and we started hiking up the Ocean View Trail. The weather was beautiful and so was the hike. As we were getting ready to watch the sunset my mind was quite focused on other things, preparing in my head when and how exactly I'd ask the question. Eventually I figured it out, and I asked her the question, and she quickly responded with a "Yes!"

Since our engagement we have been blessed to vacation with my parents in Anchorage, Alaska. Alaska was absolutely breathtaking and we had a wonderful time there. We went sightseeing, kayaking, hiking, and exploring. Another excursion we went on together was to Arizona to visit his parents. We decided to surprise them for New Year's so we drove from Southern California to Tucson. We arrived on their doorstep at around 10pm and rang the doorbell. The expression on their faces was enough to tell us they were surprised. We were blessed to be in their company for a few days and then we drove to the Grand Canyon. The word to sum up our experience there is awesome. We later headed back to California with memories to last us a lifetime.

This engagement has flown by so quickly. There has been much planning and preparation for our up and coming wedding. The excitement is definitely in the air and we look forward to sharing this day with you, our family and friends.