Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Aforementioned "Date":

Eliot Glenn VanOtteren has pledged to wed Paula Diane Faulkenberry on the evening of Saturday, September 5, 2009.

Save the date.

-Eliot VanOtteren

Putting it all Together

First of all, I cannot wait to marry Eliot VanOtteren! I am equally proud of him, and am continually and increasingly blessed to have him in my life! I will be the happiest person in the world on that day.

---

The past few days have been awesome. Like Eliot said, we've gotten into a whole lot of planning. We really have a good idea of what it will look like and be like now! I started looking at dresses a few days ago, and wow.. a few years ago I thought shopping for prom dresses was about as good as shopping got, but that's wasn't even close! It's been so much fun.
On a side note: I wish I could show you all the first wedding dress I ever tried on. That one didn't go so well, I looked like a disco ball on top of a cupcake.... But other than that, it was wonderful and I saw/tried on some really beautiful dresses!
I am so excited to see how everything comes together over the next year!

And speaking of over the next year, I'm currently loading up my car to go back to Athens. I'm starting my internship with Wesley tomorrow. I'm really excited, but also sad to leave. This summer went by so fast. But, again I am so blessed to have someone who will support me in the things I do, even from hundreds of miles away.

Paula

A Date.

Will be coming soon...

-Eliot VanOtteren

An Interjection.

I have never been more proud of, nor grateful for any one person; nor have I known a servant's heart like the one I have found in my sweet Paula.

-Eliot VanOtteren

Summer's End.

Our goal, since Saturday, has been to lay out a general budget for our wedding before Paula returns to Athens. I am proud to announce that she is hitting the road tomorrow and not only do we already have a budget, but we have already mutually decided on the church, the reception site, the wedding party and the minister. Not bad for a couple of rookies, right? Now we can just wait it out... until next year, I'm sure all of the details will fall into place. We've got nothing to sweat about.

Everything will be perfect.

-Eliot VanOtteren

Monday, July 28, 2008

The GP: Inception

(photo: Chris Moncus/GP)

This is a picture of us at The Gathering Place on St Simon's Island a week from yesterday, Sunday, July, 20, 2008. At this point I had already bought the ring, it was being re-sized and it was killing me that I couldn't give it to her.

The Gathering Place is a very special place for Paula and I. We met at dinner before GP at a restaurant called Mullet Bay and later that Summer Paula began to invite me to go to Waffle House with her and her friends after GP, which is now a tradition for us. Much of our early relationship revolved around The Gathering Place. Those were exciting times...

-Eliot VanOtteren

Engagement: Day 3.

It is 3:18pm. I woke up about 20 minutes ago, ate some leftover pizza and an ice cream bar, and now here I lay. I had been asleep for 13 hours. I started in on a double dose of nerve pain medicine yesterday, on top of the hydrocodone and muscle relaxers that have already been effecting my psyche. Last night's sleep was somewhat similar to an acid trip... I think.

Mrs. Faulkenberry (who will soon be my Mother-in-Law) took the day off to spend time with her daughter (my fiance) before she returns to Athens for Wesley internship training on Wednesday. The two of them took a road trip to Savannah to go shopping and try on wedding dresses. As an old folk singer once wrote... The times, they are a-changin'...

My mother, Drew and Bekah headed North on the road this morning towards Ohio, the homeland. I am extremely disappointed that Paula and I could not tag along. So, Dad and I are here alone for a week, and I'm still stuck in bed.

This has been a brief summary of the most recent segment of my life. And now, I will return to my drug induced, hallucinatory sleep.

In spite of it all,
the whole thing is still perfect.
I thank God for his perfect timing.

-Eliot VanOtteren

The Proposal: from Paula's perspective

As a little background… as Eliot mentioned, he had hurt his back earlier that week. So, keep in mind he’d been stuck in bed for about 5 days at this point. I’d told him before that if he couldn't sleep to call me back…

So, I get a phone call at about 4:45am Saturday morning. Eliot said he was anxious to get out of his house, and was tired of being stuck inside, and that he couldn’t sleep. (Which I find out later, is all part of the plan…) He wanted me to come get him and go see the sunrise at the beach. After about ten minutes of convincing (and 9 more minutes of sleeping) I got up and went to get him. I had been stuck in bed for a couple weeks earlier this summer, so I could definitely identify with the feeling of needing to get out and just do something. So, at this point, I didn’t expect what was coming next…

When I got there, he came out to the car with a backpack packed. I didn’t think much of it, because the last time we did this, we were lacking a few things.
**Story behind this: Earlier in the year, when I was home for a weekend, Eliot called at about 4 in the morning, and was at this spot on the beach already. He couldn’t sleep and decided to go out there, so he called me and I got up and joined him. It was awesome… so, so pretty out there, and one of my favorite things we had done so far!
AND... to back up a little more, this is the same place on the beach where we were when he asked me to be his girlfriend almost a year ago.
And, it has always been my favorite place on the island.

Anyway, he came out with the backpack full of stuff, and got in the car. When we got there, we laid out a blanket on the boardwalk and watched the sunrise from there. (By the way, it was an awesome sunrise! We’ll have to put more pictures up soon.)
The sun was close to coming up, we stood up, and he asked if I would take a (short) walk with him. So, we got up and walked a few steps down the beach to the same place we were standing when we started dating. He started off by repeating some of the same conversation from that night… then continued, and got down on one knee. It was perfect, I can’t even describe. He asked, I said yes (of course!) and that was it!

Afterwards, we found some people on the beach to take our picture, and of course told all of them what had just happened! We got some Starbucks through the drive-through (and got to yell “We just got engaged!!” in the ordering speaker.) Then we went to Epworth (another significant place) and made some more phone calls. At this point, it was about 7:15 in the morning, so we ended up making a few wake-up calls. But they’ll forgive us, because WE’RE ENGAGED NOW!

It really was perfect.

Paula

The Hyphen.

How do you feel about...
Paula Diane Faulkenberry-VanOtteren
?
-Eliot VanOtteren

Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Proposal (Plan C): from Eliot's perspective.

4:00 am: I woke up, gathered a flashlight, my Bible, a Starbucks gift card (donated by Doreen Sigman) my medicine, a blanket and pillow, and the ring. I put all of these items in a backpack, except the ring of course, which went in my back pocket for safe keeping and easy access.

4:45 am: I called Paula. who woke up (barely), answered the phone and offered a rather gruff "Good morning". I asked her if she would be willing to come pick me up and take me somewhere to get out of the house and out of bed, which I had been laying in for 4 days straight (herniated L5S1, don't ask... it sucks). Paula nearly unintelligibly responded with "Really? Can't I just go back to bed for like 10 more minutes?", to which I agreed.

4:59 am: I called her back in 9 minutes and after much coaxing she got out of bed and came to my house. While she was on the way we agreed (I say "agreed", but this was all part of my scheme) to go to Goulds Inlet on St. Simon's Island and watch the sunrise. This would be a nice break from my bed, beautiful scenery, local territory, and a very special place for Paula and I.

5:30 am: Paula arrived at my house. I grabbed the previously prepared backpack, double checked my pocket for the ring, and limped to meet her in the driveway. We kissed, and off we went, Paula was none the wiser.

5:50 am: We arrived at Goulds Inlet, I checked to make sure that the pier was not occupied by early morning fishermen, spread out our blanket and we promptly laid down (at this point my back was fairly ailing). It was a low tide and the water was calm. The sun would not rise until 6:40 am EST.

6:30 am: I asked Paula if she would be willing to take a short walk on the beach with me (emphasis on short). She gladly took my hand and we headed down the beach to where I had asked her if she would be my girlfriend (nearly 11 months ago). We stopped, I hesitated for a moment, took both her hands in mine and gave a speech about commitment, love, TITLES, etc...

6:45 am: I then swiftly took to one knee, pulled the box out of my back pocket and opened it to reveal the ring. Looking up, I said to a then drop-jawed girlfriend, " Paula Faulkenberry, would you do me the great honor of being my wife... will you marry me?" Obviously, she said yes, and the rest is history.

THE WHOLE THING WAS PERFECT.

-Eliot VanOtteren

Oh yeah... the sunrise was awesome as well. Scroll down for pictures!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

We're Engaged!

Paula Diane Faulkenberry was engaged to Eliot Glenn VanOtteren on July 26, 2008 at 6:45 am at Gould's Inlet on East Beach, St Simons Island.


The lovely ring.

-Eliot VanOtteren