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Dawgz, we’re graduates!

This weekend, Danielle and I traveled down to sunny Southern California to celebrate Joe Schroeder’s graduation from Thomas Aquinas College (my Alma Mater). For those of you who don’t know, Joe was my roommate sophomore and junior year at college and lived across the hall from me during my senior year.

Graduation was like a homecoming for my class. I saw quite a few of my friends and had a wonderful time getting to know the Schroeder family.

My heartiest congratulations to Joe for finishing up a tough degree at Thomas Aquinas College. You have my respect for sticking with it. Best of wishes!

I’ll post photos that Danielle took of graduation at some point in the near future. Keep checking back…

We’re engaged!

Is there much more that can be said after a headline like that? I suppose you might be wondering about all the details (the wonderful day leading up to our engagement, the time and place, our courtship, etc.), so I’ll do my best to share them. With that said, Danielle tells the story much better than I — if you want the *whole* story you should ask her.

The most wonderful and important fact is that Danielle Amanda Buss and I are going to be married. To be entirely honest, I don’t know if either of us have stopped smiling since late Saturday afternoon. That’s pretty much the news, but if you’re interested in the rest of the story, read on…

The Rest of the Story:

As many of you know, Danielle and I have been seriously dating (or courting, if you prefer) since I returned from Focus on the Family Institute (FFI) in Colorado Springs in December. We have known each other for almost four years since she works for my parents as office manager, direct mail technician, receptionist, and just about anything else that comes along. Our friendship started with a snowboard outing during my last Christmas vacation from TAC. I helped her shop for an acoustic guitar over Easter break. During last summer we spent quite a bit of time together. I gave her guitar lessons in exchange for singing lessons (she sings beautifully). We also went to concerts, the state fair and looked at rare and interesting guitars that I was thinking about purchasing (a Squier Venus XII in surf-green anyone?).

When I moved away to Colorado, I found myself missing Danielle. We started talking every week on the phone (a fact my roommate Steve Sellers can attest to). Soon, the Sunday-night phone calls were the highlight of my week. That fact, coupled with the things we were studying at the Institute helped me realize that I wanted to get to know Danielle as more than just a good friend.

Needless to say, in light of the announcement of our engagement, Danielle turned out to be much more than a good friend. In the past 4 and a half months we have spent quite a bit of time getting to know each other. We have worked together at Cedar Creek Publishing, traveled to SoCal to visit my relatives, gone to concerts (I’ve seen my favorite band Mae twice now!), and spent quiet time at her house studying (Danielle) and working on websites (me). We even went snowboarding together twice this season, and, given a few more trips, Danielle could become quite a good snowboarder.

We had talked about getting married and the future, in fact, the point of our relationship/courtship has been to get to know each other and see if we are “marriage material.” A few weeks ago (just before Easter) the time finally felt right. Danielle and I had a great time shopping for an engagement ring and found one that really looks great!

Last Saturday we took a trip out to Fort Bragg, CA. For those of you who don’t know (and don’t want to click on the Google Maps link provided), Fort Bragg is a few hours North of the Bay Area off Highway 1. It has a rugged coastline and beautiful beaches (perfect for walking on). We learned on this trip that you can indeed surf in the area, but that the water is really cold (5mm wetsuits with hoods, booties and gloves, anyone?). The waves are also supposed to be more powerful than those found in Southern California.

Enough digression (at least for now). We left Paradise at about 6:00 in the A.M., which is pretty early for me, and started on the 4.5-hour drive to Fort Bragg. Danielle and I had a great time talking and laughing on the way. We arrived in F.B. at about 10:45 and went for a walk on one of the many beaches just to the north of town. Lunch was at Captain Flints, a neat restaurant that has been in Fort Bragg for quite some time. My fish sandwich was alright, but Danielle said the clam chowder was excellent.

I suppose I need to explain why Fort Bragg was chosen for our destination. When Danielle was younger, her family spent many vacations at a private beach near Rockport. Louisiana Pacific owned the beach and allowed employees to use it for their vacations. As a result, Fort Bragg and the outlying area is very special to Danielle.

After lunch we drove north on Highway 1 to the private beach just outside Rockport. We parked the car, changed into swimsuits (I’ve gotten really good at towel changing because of my surfing escapades) and started the 10-minute walk to the beach. Conveniently ignoring the signs saying “Private Property, No Trespassing.”

We spent a few hours on the beach sunning ourselves, talking, and chasing seagulls. We even took a walk (which was the perfect transition I needed…). After the walk, I sat Danielle down on our blanket and proceeded to take something out of my backpack. She later said that she thought I was going to get a ring out and ask her to marry me, and, when I didn’t, was disappointed in herself that she would be like “all those other girls who are always thinking about getting engaged.”

Instead, I brought out a small bowl, washcloth and towel and proceeded to wash her feet. While doing so, I had her read John 13:1-15 (the part about Jesus washing his disciples’ feet). When I had finished, I proceeded to tell her how I loved her, wanted our relationship to reflect that of Christ and His Church, and asked her if she would marry me.

As I waited, looking expectantly up at her, I thought something must be wrong. For a moment (the briefest of moments, really) I wondered if she was going to say “no” or something like that. My heart stopped.

Danielle then did something which I hope sets a good tone for our upcoming marriage. She practiced reflective listening. She said, “Are you asking me to marry you?” I responded that, yes, I was indeed asking her to marry me. Throughout this time my heart was beating, but in such an erratic fashion I though I was going to faint. Then she smiled and said, “Of course I’ll marry you.”

I went back to the backpack and pulled out the ring-box. I’m pretty sure my hands were trembling when I put my ring on her finger. It was one of the best moments of my life.

We laughed. Hugged. Kissed. Almost cried. We even ran on the beach out of sheer joy.

As we were packing up to go, a car pulled up to the parking area. A woman about our age got out and started walking towards us. She proceeded to tell us to leave. I asked her to take our picture and to my surprise she said that she would if we would leave immediately after.

Our walk back to the car was full of laughing, hugging, kissing, etc. I think it took twice as long to get back as it did to walk out.

We drove back to Fort Bragg (when we were done laughing, hugging, kissing, etc.) and were just in time to watch the sun set at Glass Beach. Danielle and I shared communion after the sun set, then we sat bundled up in my beach blanked and watched the waves. It was glorious.

When we finally decided that food, while not the most important thing, was a necessary evil, it was well after dark. We ate at the best Denny’s I’ve ever been to. The quality of the food/service, or, at least, our perception of its quality may have had something to do with our emotions at the time. I do recall that it was the best meal I have ever had the pleasure of eating and that I tipped the waiter somewhere around $7.50. I was pretty happy.

The drive home was long, but the company was excellent. We both smiled the whole way back, and I know my cheeks were a little sore the next morning. It was 3:00 AM when I finally drove down my driveway. What a fantastic day!

I guess that’s about all of the story to this point. We don’t have a date set as of yet (but I will post it when we get it figured out). We are looking at the first few weeks in August, but much of that depends on when we can schedule the church and have Pastor Dan Nelson (of Calvary Chapel Ojai) come up to say the service.

We would appreciate your prayers as we prepare to join our lives.

As a side note: I am opening this post up for comments (not usually the norm here). Please let us know what you think! In addition, Danielle will also be using this blog, so you’ll start to see posts written by her as well as me. Also, I’m finishing up the photo gallery of the pictures we took on Saturday. I’ll post it as soon as possible.

My new career…

It’s official, a liberal-arts degree can take you anywhere.

You may be wondering what the cover of Relevant Magazine has to do with me or my website. No, I’m not interested in Leigh Nash (of Sixpence None the Richer fame) or Relevant’s cover story about her solo career. Nor am I plugging a pretty good magazine. Actually, I’m in this issue of Relevant.

I am now a professional (read “paid” albeit not very handsomely) model with a photo in a major national magazine. You can buy your own copy of the April/May issue of Relevant magazine to see my musings on life on page 7 or click here to see a PDF of the ad.

The ad was for Boundless.org, an Focus on the Family webzine targeting twenty-somethings. It’s purpose is as follows:

From college to career to relationships, we at Boundless want to cast a vibrant vision for the single years, helping you navigate this season while preparing for the challenges and responsibilities of the one to come. That requires living intentionally with purpose by bringing your gifts, talents and Christian worldview to bear on your whole life.

If you’re twenty-something, or just curious, check out their excellent website.

Photo Gallery Updated

I’ve sort-of finished the photo gallery update. You can view the gallery here. I’ll continue to work on making it *pretty*. Check back soon for new photos of the past few months.

Note: I think I broke all the previous web-gallery links. I’ll try to go back and fix them someday…

Music to check out

I’ve been listening to Josh Garrels non-stop today and I recommend that you check out his website www.joshgarrels.com. Josh’s sound is very hard to classify because it combines many different music styles in a pleasing way. It is a little folky with a hip-hop beat and gospel vocal stylings (that make me want to sing harmony). Josh even breaks into rap-style rhymes on a few tracks.

I’m still trying to get a copy of Josh’s out-of-print first album, StoneTree, but his second album, Underquiet, and his third album, the just-released Over Oceans, are excellent choices.

While I’m making music recommendations, the Bored-Again Christian podcast is a great source of new music that nobody has ever heard of. Just Pete (the DJ) brings a new mix of “boring” music to your computer (or iPod) every week.