One of the hardest parts of this whole thing (especially for Anna) was hiding our engagement. To keep the secret safe, Anna couldn’t wear her ring anywhere someone might see her with it. So on our drives to church, or the store, or other places, she would wait until we were out of sight of the house and then put on her ring for the car and the two of us to see. She was able to wear it on our secret trips to Ohio, or dress shopping way out of town, but we were always very cautions when she did because crazy coincidences can certainly occur. Sometimes, when she was feeling a especially bold, she would wear it around Lansing. There were a few times when Alex would see Anna’s hand dart into her pocket and he would begin looking around for the person that Anna recognized. One such incident was in the Lansing Mall when we happened across our preacher walking with his wife. Odds are, if you saw Anna between June 2016 and October 2017 and her left hand was in her pocket or up her sleeve, she was hiding her ring from you. And to our church family, her ring was in her pocket every Sunday morning until the wedding.

The date was June 11, 2016. Alex had planned a canoe trip with just him and Anna. They loaded up the canoe and Chris dropped them off in the Grand River. Along the way, Anna would ask if they could get out and walk around in the shallow parts of the river. Alex, seeing this a very happy coincidence, gladly obliged. After a few short stops and much talk about life in general, the two finally reached the spot that Alex had in mind for the big question. They got out and began walking around as they had at the other stops, still talking about life when Alex knelt down in the river and asked Anna to marry him. With the wedding planning already set into motion and down payments already made on venues and photographers, she of course said yes.