The Engagement Story

January 8th, 2009 written by Ashley

Things were going great-- it was a new year, Matt and I had just experienced a wonderful Christmas together with our families-- one of the very best that I could remember-- and then celebrated the start to a wonderful new year with friends. Matt helped me to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams; to ice skate outdoors! We had a fun night with his parents ice skating and I discovered another outdoor activity that I love!! I had just been a bridesmaid for a close friend the weekend before and couldn't help but think the whole weekend how much I loved Matt and hoped that someday before too long we could experience the joy of a wedding and preparing for marriage and life together! But, Matt certainly knew how to throw me off because the weekend of that marriage he told me, "I know what I want but I'm not sure when it will be" and then later that "he thought he knew what he wanted but changed his mind sometimes." Well, I was almost in tears because I thought we had grown so much and I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, but still, I knew without a doubt that he was worth waiting for! Well, little did I know, he had already bought a beautiful engagement ring for me with plans to propose in a few short days!!!

So, on the evening of January 8th, 2009 we had plans to go downtown to eat at Sawyer's about 5:30 pm and had a nice dinner and just talked about everything going on- friends, work, our upcoming plans to go skiing in Utah. Matt was completely normal and calm about everything. Then, he said that we were going to go to Starbucks next door and get a peppermint mocha and take a walk over to the shops in the Lexington Center because he needed to check the store hours at the UK store so he could return a sweatshirt that he had bought for his Mom at Christmas. Well, I thought nothing of it, and we got our Starbucks drinks and headed across the street to Triangle Park.

We began walking into the park at 7:30 pm and approached a bench where we had sat, almost 2 years ago, after we first met and talked. I had asked Matt many, many questions to find out more about him- his past, his future plans, his values- who this man who had intrigued me since we met at church really was. Well, Matt looks at me and slows down a bit and says, "Ashley, do you remember when we first met and we sat on this bench and you drilled me with questions?" I said, "Yes, I remember" and smiled at the memory. Then Matt replied, "Well, I've been thinking and praying a lot and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He got down on one knee and said, "Ashley Ryan Fitzgerald Moore, will you marry me?" Well, at this point, I felt like I was in a dream (the best dream EVER) and was just completely surprised, excited, exhilarated, speechless, thrilled but I could not believe this was happening. It was one of those moments that I had dreamed of my whole life and daydreamed about and now it was actually HAPPENING!! So, as tears of happiness were forming in my eyes I just said, over and over, "Are you serious?? Is this for real?? I love you SO much! Thank you God!" Matt confirmed that he was indeed serious and then I finally came to my senses a bit and said, "Yes!!! I love you SO much! I am the happiest girl in the whole wide world, Matt!! This feels like a dream!!" Then I took off my gloves and Matt placed the perfectly fitting, perfectly shiny, radiant diamond ring on my finger and we embraced! I did not want to let him go-- I just wanted this moment to last forever!! It was PERFECT- every single detail! I am SO excited to be engaged to the man that God has brought me to respect and love more and more every single day and I can not wait to get married and spend the rest of our lives together. Matt is everything and more than I have ever imagined in my future husband and just exemplifies the verse that I found and shared with Matt soon after we started dating for our relationship- "I thank my God every time I remember you." Philippians 1:3