exciting and wonderful news...

So, I have some news to share with you all.

I have been dating a wonderful young Haitian man for the past year and we got engaged on the 3rd of June. We have not yet set a definite date for the wedding but it will not be before late fall 2006.
I met him when I first came to Haiti in 2002 and we became good friends. We spent alot of time together because we had many mutual friends and he helped me alot with my Creole. His name is Ronel, he is a teacher and is actually this year teaching our children here in our compound school. He is a great guy, loves kids and is a strong Christian. I love to hear people tell me what a great guy I have chosen when we would tell them we're dating or now tell them that we are engaged! I find it funny cause if I didn't know he was a great guy already then I wouldn't have started dating him.

I know that to some of you this may come as a shock or surprise. I hadn't wanted to tell people we were dating via email or my blog but I don't know when I will get the chance to see many of you and the longer it goes without me telling people, the harder it is for me to remember who knows and who doesn't. Life has gotten so busy that I knew if I didn't tell people this way - some of you may not find out till after we are already married!

We started dating last July after many, many hours of praying and talking. Ronel came to me in May after I got back and said that while I had been in BC for 10 months, he had realized that he cared more for me than just friendship and wanted to know how I felt about that. I was a bit surprised, more because I hadn't allowed myself to even consider that! I had come to Haiti as a missionary and that was what I was going to do! I wasn't here to meet guys and especially not date them! I had friends tell me when I left that I was going to find a husband here in Haiti and I said "No way! That is not why I am going" Well, apparently my initial plan was not totally in line with what God had planned. I knew while I was in BC that I cared alot about Ronel but I had kept telling myself that it was only as a friend - nothing more! After allowing myself to really look at the feelings I had for Ronel, I came to the quick realization that I didn't feel the same way about him as I did with all my other male friends! I had just not admitted it to myself. I had many long conversations with Karen and many emails sent back and forth to friends that I trust and respect back home. Because dating is not looked at the same here as in Canada or the US, I was (and still am!) careful to go very slowly and Ronel and I spent many, many hours sitting on the front porch talking and getting to know alot about each other. Questions that may not get asked early on back home, I asked and we discussed many things that I would have waited till after dating awhile back but here, I wanted to know beforehand. If I had to describe "dating" in Haiti - I would say it is more like courtship than what we see as dating now. Dating here is not the time to find out how you feel (oh, I think I might like him/her), it is more the time to grow and develop the feelings you already know you have. Before you officially become a "dating" couple, both people already have come to the decision that they have strong feelings for the other person. This was something new for me but then so is alot of things I encounter in Haiti!
It seems so funny to me that even with the strong call I know God has given me for missions and for Haiti and yet I was so adamantly against it.

June 3rd we had a party for Karen (my Haitian mom!) and after the party I was talking with Ronel and he asked me to call in Karen and my mom (who came back down with me on June 1st for 3 weeks) . So I did and he started talking, with me translating for my mom, and very quickly I realized what he was doing and Karen had to take over translating as I was speechless (quite the feat!)
Ronel asked me to marry him and I said "YES!"
(this is a photo taken of the two of us in February)

We then took a couple of photos of the two of us and then went to tell my kids and the mommies. We then went and spoke to Ronel's parents and told them. They were all thrilled and very happy for us. We have not yet set a date but it will not be before late 2006 (for those of you who said you needed lots of advance notice - that should be enough!)
I am very happy and Mom tells me I haven't stopped glowing yet!

I want everyone to know about this special young man in my life and be able to pray for us and pray that God would show us what He has planned for us.