Engaged!

AP (Colorado Springs)

July 24th, 2008

Beth arrived home on Thursday afternoon to find a card waiting for her. Inside was a note from Scott which said that she had a 2pm appointment at a specified address. Curious and unsure, she drove to the address mentioned. Upon her arrival she discovered that her appointment was a massage and facial! What a treat!

After being pampered and totally relaxed, she headed home. She stepped into the kitchen to find these beautiful red roses and another card waiting for her.

The card held beautiful words and a sweet note written by Scott. At the end it said, "I'll see you at 6:30pm." So Beth dressed for dinner and a little while later, Scott arrived wearing his 3 piece suit!

Not wanting the mystery to end, Scott would not tell Beth where they were going to dinner until it became quite obvious that they were headed straight for the Broadmoor!

(The Broadmoor is a historical landmark in Colorado Springs that is also one of the loveliest hotel/resorts in the city. http://www.broadmoor.com/) They arrived at 7pm and everything was covered in evening sunlight. Hanging baskets and daylilies offered their blooms, swans glided across the lake and Scott ushered Beth through the gorgeous grounds to the South Tower where we headed up to the Penrose Room. The "Ott Party" was seated at a corner table by a wall of windows with a view of the lake and the mountains at sunset.

Once seated, Beth and Scott were treated like royalty. They were served a delicious and beautifully arranged 3 course dinner. Beth enjoyed the Colorado lamb, while Scott dined on filet mignon.

About two bites into dinner, the sunset became too brilliant to ignore and all kinds of light and color played on the mountains in front of them. Beth commented on the beauty God had made and to her surprise, Scott was suddenly on one knee.

Scott expressed his love for Beth and as he was talking opened a small white box which held a sparkling diamond ring. Then he asked her to marry him. She said, "Yes! With all my heart." The two were all smiles and the wait staff came by to congratulate them. After dinner the waiter said that the live jazz band would like to play them a song. Scott and Beth danced to "Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones and many other couples joined them. Then many of the guests clapped for and congratulated them.

Arriving back at their table, the waiter served this dessert! And Scott and Beth delighted in the celebration. The left the restaurant and took some time to walk around the lake, revelling in the fact that they would soon be starting life together!! After Scott brought Beth home, he thanked God for all that He had done in their lives to this point, and prayed for the days to come.

Beth was astounded at what a beautiful ring Scott chose for her that suits her so well.

Before leaving the Broadmoor, Scott and Beth took a few pictures on the balcony in the lamplight.

They are engaged!!!

the duty of liberty

i just finished part 3 of the john adams movie created by hbo based upon the biography with the same title by david mccullough.
http://www.hbo.com/films/johnadams/

wow.

i'm still feeling sick from the tumultous sea voyage from massachusettes to paris.

and for all of my idealism about conserving, writing letters with pen & paper, growing one's own food and not using the a/c, i found myself quite distressed by the vividly harsh realities of 1777 living, travel, illness and difficulty of communication. i feel incredibly thankful for warm houses, running water, airplanes that make international travel quick by comparison, email and telephones.

so far the mini-series has offered this beautiful portrayal of the love, friendship and mutual listening and respect between husband and wife through john and abigail adams. yet even this amazing love could not keep john from his duty to his country in the making. such duty which continued as he became the 2nd president of the United States of America.

as he said, "Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives."

obligation. duty. true patriotism.

duty seems such a foreign word to america now, and yet the founding fathers made immense sacrifices in its name. in his own words,

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."

and here 200 years later i have such rights to study anything i may desire because men and women like john and abigail adams chose duty over their own personal interests. because great men used their power and influence to write lasting documents like the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution which speak of the equality of humankind and trust in a Sovereign God, my life and freedom are protected in numerous ways.

but i live with this gift and forget the sacrifice so many made on my behalf. i may take a few moments here or there to consider my government, especially in an election year, but feel little obligation.

i'm thankful for this reminder of the duty of liberty.
as i enjoy the benefits may i not forget the shedding of blood, prayer and tears that made it so.

read aloud

last night three friends and i gathered in a cozy, light-filled living room to enjoy the simple pleasure of one good book. and literally, just that. this was not a story acted on stage or adapted for screenplay, but instead a single copy of Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder passed from person to person while the rest of us listened intently. together we were awed at the courage of the early settlers, savored the beautiful descriptions of the high prarie sights and sounds, grieved the loss of the Ingall's dog, Jack, and later delighted in his return. we laughed heartily at Ma's mild responses which conveyed so much more than she ever said, Pa's colloquialisms and Laura's curious questions.

my friend recently returned from a 2-week stint at l'Abri in minnesota where she "detoxed from all things electronic" and enjoyed the gentle rythm of work, study and community. while there, she enjoyed this simple form of evening entertainment and initiated this evening of a read aloud.

several hours and chapters later, i walked away enriched. enriched by the power of a story and the glimpse into lives lived well. unlike the end of a movie where the transition back to reality feels jolting, i easily slipped back into my own life and thoughts, though my imagination was awakened to beautiful scenes and images conjured up by simply good writing.

who knew all this could be found in a read aloud?

the 6th of july - for the love of freedom & fireworks

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. — The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States...."

(It continues on to list evidence of the King's injuries toward the colonies.)

With each passing year, I find great comfort that the writers of our Constitution found the fact "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" to be self-evident. I hope our nation continues to find them so. My Dad often reminded me of this with our annual front yard fireworks, folding of the flag and saying the pledge- hand over heart in the broad afternoon daylight to my teenage embarrassment. However, I now say the pledge with pride, thankful for the legacy my Dad gave me.

two of my favorite pyros getting us ready!

the joy of sparklers, even for those over 21

scott lighting up the street with a "ninja stick"

scott's roommate brandon -
the new statue of liberty?

scott, beth & kira celebrating freedom & fireworks-

making new traditions out of old ones.

das leben der anderen

like HGW XVII, i too found myself drawn into the life of east german playwright georg dreyman in "the lives of others" (2007 academy award winner for best foreign language film). although the fall of the berlin wall felt significant to me as a 7th grade student in 1989, raised amidst freedom and the abundance of questions, i hardly comprehend the life change brought about by the falling wall and the death of "1984" on november 9th, 1989.

"das leben der anderen" brought to my attention the harsh austerity and the exacting, lifeless existance of stasi infomers like captain gerd wiesler embedded in the secret world of the german secret police. in that world, trust seemed an impossibility. but amidst the normalcy of betrayal, trust surprisingly emerged. and out of lifelessness, hope quietly surfaced without glory or fame, and only a fingerprint to its name. though mercy may appear weak, it holds the power of redemption.