Engagement Photos

Brooke and Brendan's Update - Exciting News and Prayer Please

Brooke and Brendan’s Update – Exciting News and Prayer Please – March 2, 2009

Dear friends,

It is amazing to think it has only been two weeks since I last wrote to you all… but I must write again to let you know some very exciting, long-anticipated news of joy. There is also a serious prayer request too. I won’t make this (too) long, but appreciate you reading this and praying as soon as you finish.

The first bit of news is that I have gotten a job with Young Life Australia to be the Area Manager of Ryde and North Sydney. It is a joy to report this, as so many of you have been praying for me for quite a while to get a job that fits my gifts and experience and would allow me to invest my passion. This feels like exactly the job I have been wanting. I will serve 3 days a week with this role, often at night and on weekends with both teenagers, introducing them to Jesus and also with volunteer leaders, committee members and community folk. It will be a real people job and is fairly flexible and will fit well with my role at WFA. I feel so excited for this next season professionally and can honestly say – the Lord’s timing is perfect.

Psalm 28:7
“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”

The next amazing piece of news – something if you have not heard already, you might have guessed due to the title of this update, is that Brendan proposed marriage to me on Saturday night the 28th of February and I accepted. We are so excited to enter into this engagement season and just feel the Lord has brought us together and we can’t wait to be married. It has been an incredibly 22 month journey so far, and we know there will be many great things ahead. The way Brendan did it was by taking me out to a lovely dinner at a seafood restaurant, Scratchley’s in his hometown along Newcastle’s foreshore. From there, he took me on a little drive by the beaches we often do when we are in town. We ended up at King Edward Park’s rotunda (gazebo we call them in America), which is where Brendan took me on our one-week anniversary to give me a beautiful silver necklace and to tell me how he felt about me. Here, he proceeded to pull out a picnic blanket, towels, and a backpack (that I found out since had champagne and Lindt chocolate – Brendan’s favorites in it!). He then proceeded to get down on his knees and told me how much he loved me and to pull out the most beautiful ring. It is a ring we saw ring-shopping together a few weeks before and which was my favorite, although he had the freedom to pick anything he wanted after showing me so many different rings in two different shopping dates. It was the ring Brendan had prayed over and felt like God led him to get. It was a magical moment. We prayed immediately after and then celebrated to our future. We are not sure when we will wed yet, but will let you know when we have the date set. Thank you all for your many prayers for us over the past season of our relationship and we especially petition your prayers for protection in this next season.

Song of Songs 8:6
“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.”

This leads me to our prayer request. Last night, the day after we got engaged, Brendan and I took a swim at a swimming hole in Newcastle. We decided to leave the engagement ring in the car as we were nervous for swimming with it on, along with my purse and the gorgeous flowers his family had purchased for us and just brought our keys down to the swimming hole. There were a few people there and our keys were wrapped up well in the towel. Our swim wasn’t very long and yet when we went to get our towel, the keys were gone, and so was our car with everything in it. It was quite a shock and although we have reported a police incident with all the details taken, we haven’t heard anything yet. Please pray with us for the Lord’s will to be done in this situation. We desire for the car and the ring to be restored safely. We understand these are material things, but also very much related to heart issues. The car is a necessary for my job serving with young people at Young Life, and I am sure all of you can see the significance of the engagement ring. We are praising God despite the circumstances and know that He is on the throne and still in control, despite it seeming like Satan is having a bit of a whinge (whine) about our relationship. One word we had about our relationship in December from our home group is that God was keeping our rings for safe keeping until it was His time. I am standing on this and have faith that God will keep safe our rings, as well as our relationship, whatever happens and that He is the one that binds us together.

Job 13:15
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

Please do celebrate with us what God has done – truly the miraculous has been accomplished in this past week… and please join us in prayer also.

Much love and enjoy the photos,
Brooke and Brendan