We're ENGAGED!! The story...

Jason arrived to Brisbane on Friday, December 16th. From the airport we went directly to Hervey Bay where we took a ferry to the oh-so-beautiful Fraser Island. We stayed at Kingfisher Bay Resort which was absolutely wonderful in itself. You really appreciate air conditioning and clean bathrooms after you haven’t had them for three months! Saturday morning, Jason and I had a delicious breakfast, complete with pancakes, maple syrup and scrambled eggs (another delicacy that I had not had the pleasure of enjoying for three months). He said he had a surprise for me and we didn’t have time to do anything else so we laid out by the beautiful marsh for a little while. At 11:15, a van picked us up in front of the hotel and took us to a helicopter pad!!
The “heli” took us for an aerial tour of the island. It was a lovely day and the water was so clear that you could see all kinds of fish from the sky. Because it was a little windy, the pilot didn’t take us to the planned destination (a sandbar in the middle of the bay), but instead to a delightful private island. We had it all to ourselves for four hours. Jason and I were dropped off with a picnic lunch, blanket and a tent for shade. We decided to explore “our” island and walked to a point where there was a 100 yard long sandbar, just a short wade away over crystal clear water and smooth multi-colored stones. At the tip of the sandbar, with an audience of several exotic pelicans and some sting rays, Jason got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! After I said that there was nothing that I would rather do and jumped up and down a few (okay, maybe more than a few) times, we sat on the shore and talked about the buying of the ring and him asking my dad’s permission (that’s a funny story in itself!). Then we walked back to the tent to celebrate over our first meal together as an engaged couple! And what a meal to celebrate with – cheese, olives, veggies, fruit, several dips, Caesar salad, oysters, prawns, crab, cheesecake – YUM! After the heli picked us back up and dropped us off, we went out 4-wheel driving (you have to drive a 4-wheel drive on Fraser Island because there are no roads). It was a little scary at first, but ended up being a blast. We didn’t have much time so we went to Lake Mckenzie and swam in the refreshing, bacteria free, crystal clear water. We finished off the day with a wonderful dinner at the resort and a couple of joyous phone calls to the pleased parents. And as if he hadn’t already done enough, Jason gave me a wedding planning guide (I am sure that we are going to look back and laugh at the thought of me planning our wedding while on outreach in India)! Talk about a fantasy of a day! It is still hard to believe that it really happened.

Jason and I are so blessed to have one another and are delighted to announce our engagement. We will be married in May or June of next year.

We are writing this post from Sydney, Australia, wishing you a very Happy Christmas!