The sixth of December last year was a beautiful, glorious day. It was a bit like a sneak peak of what my wedding day might look like.
It was my official engagement ceremony day.
My parents flew from Alaska to the Amazon in order to join the party. The pastor’s family cooked up a feast, and I tried not to get too nervous about the upcoming ceremony. I’d never even seen an engagement ceremony before. I had Taylor Swift’s “Romeo and Juliet” running through my head all afternoon, while curling my hair in the air-conditioning. When I finally walked down the stairs in my white dress and high heels I caught a glimpse of his face and I have a hunch it just might be a bit like that feeling right before you walk down the aisle to say “I do.” It took my breath away.
My dad was doing the ceremony and let’s just say it’s a good thing that English was the second language in the room. I think he nearly married me off when my querido and I exchanged our engagement rings. 
It was a beautiful evening. A sweet time of family and friends and translation and beginning.
And now thousands of miles and a continent apart, as we pray about his visa and finances and plan a wedding and look into houses and work for him here and all of the million and one details that flood my head every second of the day, for all of the things we have yet to figure out, I can’t help but look ahead and smile at my lovely life.
It’s going to be a beautiful, incredible, unbelievable adventure.
