I am ENGAGED!!!

Well let me just say 2008 has been an amazing year! I am engaged to the man I love, have two precious children, and am almost done with my doctorate program at the point where I can get a specialist raise and focus on raising my children and starting my new family with Jerry. Yes, I do want to maybe one day finish my doctorate, but I realized I make good money and that school is just burning me out! I need to focus on my kids because they won't be kids forever...maybe one day if I want to I can go back, but if not I will still retire at a T-6 specialist level of pay.

Okay so Christmas 2008 was wonderful. Jerry spent it with his family and I spent it with mine. My kids had a great Christmas. Santa brought Weldon a razor scooter, Mario Cart for the Wii, a microscope, and a really nice remote control car. Ava got a doll house, accessories, dress up clothes, and fake make up (her number one thing she asked for).

After Christmas Jerry planned a get away new years trip for us to St. Simons Island. We settled on that island because it seemed to have the best deals and the nicer restaurants of the islands on the GA coast. Also, I had never really been to St. Simons except for a 4-h trip one year long ago and it was only for the weekend and we stayed on the camp base and didn't go anywhere else.

Jerry and I left early Tuesday, December 30 and headed down to the coast. We left at 8:30 am and got there around 2:30 PM. Since our room wasn't ready we decided to do a little sight seeing and visit the visitors center. We went to the pier and then the visitors center. We were so excited about finally being on the romantic little island with the huge live oaks decorated with Spanish moss and the beautiful lighthouse. The lighthouse was really significant to me since once earlier in our relationship Jerry said he was like a ship lost at sea without me and I said oh so I am your "lighthouse..." LOL.

Anyway we finally got checked into our room. We changed into some clothes for the beach and went to find it and walk on it. We had the best time on the beach, walking, looking for shells, and Jerry even drew a heart in the sand with "I love you, Amber." What more could a girl ask for!!!??? Anyway, We stayed on the beach until sunset. St. Simons is beautiful and we felt so lucky that we had great weather. It was December and the temperatures were between 65-70 which is the very highest it can be that time of year..so we were so lucky!
























After changing clothes we went out to dinner at this place called Bennie's Red Barn. I thought we were so lucky to get a really nice romantic table beside the live fireplace. It is a quaint and cute little restaurant that was built like a barn and it has this cozy feel. We had great food, but it was highly priced and our waitress (a black lady named Sonia with a gold tooth) was nice, but spacey and didn't keep my sweet tea filled...and you know me and my drinks..gotta keep them filled!

After Bennie's we went back to the hotel and enjoyed looking out our patio at the beach and then went to bed. It had been a long day of driving and some sightseeing.

The next morning we woke up early, got ready, and headed to breakfast at Sandcastles...a restaurant right next to the pier and the ocean. It has very good and inexpensive breakfast. We enjoyed breakfast and then went to park at the lighthouse. We paid 6 dollars a piece and went through the ligththouse museum when included an exhibit about the G8 summit that was hosted by USA back in 2004. Apparently they found St. Simons to be a nice and secure location for that summit. We walked the 129 steps to the top of the lighthouse that was rebuilt after the civil war since the confederates blew up the first one so the Yankee's couldn't use it!






After the lighthouse we went to Fort Frederica National Monument (it was once a thriving fort town and was founded by General James Oglethorpe and was the first "town" of Georgia." It was created by the British and they were able to successfully fend off Spanish threats and save Georgia as a British colony!! Fort Frederica is a very peaceful place. The huge old live oaks dangling with Spanish moss set the stage for a romantic and peaceful stroll. The river runs by the site and the marsh seems peaceful and untouched. Jerry and I both really enjoyed this place. We talked about how nice it would be to have a picnic under one of the big trees...and how you could almost imagine the presence of the busy and thriving town that must have once been there.





















After Fort Frederica we ate at Frankie D's grill. Again, a very nice restaurant...but I just had chicken strips...they were very friendly and the service was great. This place was near the Sea Island road...we enjoyed it...ate too much of course...and we decided to go back to the room to let some settle before walking on the beach again.

Around 5:00 pm we decided we better hurry and head to the beach so that we could enjoy the last hour of daylight and a little walk on the low tide beach at East Beach. Jerry said his stomach was hurting, but of course we had ate too much so I didn't think anything of it. Then when we got to the beach we started to walk as far out as we could to the low tide (almost 3 football fields length from the dunes!!!) and Jerry was very quiet. All of a sudden he said he felt like he couldn't breathe and his heart was racing. I was starting to panic thinking what was I going to do b/c I didn't know if I could remember the CPR I learned in college...lol. Suddenly he said "Amber what do you plan on doing with the rest of your life?" I was still worried about him and was looking at him in dazed confusion..huh??!!?? Then he pulled out this box and flipped it open and asked me "Would I marry him?" I was SHOCKED! For those of you who know me well, not much passes over me without notice. I notice EVERYTHING and don't miss much..however, I totally didn't see this one coming! I said YES and I know I had to have had the biggest smile in the world on my face. Jerry kept talking telling me about how much I meant to him and some other things, that I'll just keep to myself (my private moment) and then we sat down near the dunes to talk some more. It was then that it hit me..I was engaged to the man I love with all my heart...the one who appreciates me like no other, the one I can't wait to be married to....and people I just lost it! I started to cry ( comes easy for me) but I had been so bubbly happy one minute and then I just erupted in tears of pure joy the next.























Anyway, we went to Outback to celebrate. I drank my favorite drink- the strawberry - kiwi frozen lemonade drink to ring in the New Year...we ate and went back to the room. What a special New Years Eve night. We actually went to bed around 10pm b/c I guess I'm getting old and I get tired early now. I didn't feel like waiting til midnight to watch a ball drop...but the whole island was celebrating and Jerry said he heard millions of fireworks and loud drunk people..lol.

The next morning we went to checkout and stopped and at breakfast at Denny's about an hour away and then stopped at Chick Fil A for lunch and finally got home around 3:30 pm on New Years Day!

Happy New Years~ it feels so good to be engaged to the man I love!