*it's about freaking time!*
i think that's the catch phrase of the week :) so i absolutely appreciate all the support we have had over the years - especially from tom ;) - and i am very happy to say that derek and i are officlally ENGAGED!!

derek has given me the priviledge to tell the whole story, but i don't have time to do it justice! suffice it to say, i did eventually catch on because he was acting wierd all week. on wednesday i receive an email from tom saying he and jacinta wants to take us out for a nice dress up dinner as a belated christmas/birthday gift. they got a great "deal" at vong, in the mandarin oriental hotel. it's supposed to be the nicest restaurant in town. anyway, i was running late so i texted jacinta, and she texted back saying they'll be late too because "tom's being a jerk." those were her words :) so i get to the mandarin, and as soon as i see derek i knew he was up to something. i actually thought he was going to do it the night before because he changed plans last minute, but it turned out he just wanted to go shopping at the nike store.... so i was a bit sceptical this time because it was just such a random thursday night, and we have a million other things to do before we leave for vancouver on sunday. so i play along to see what would happen. he just keeps saying stuff like "do you know what's going on?", "i don't know what's up with tom & jacinta"... "i don't think they'll come".. etc. etc. and finally he gets a call from tom, and they have this pretend conversation which was the clincher for me. so derek tells me that they weren't coming, but the dinner is set so we have to go otherwise it'd be wasted. so we went upstairs, and all the waiters were conveniently flexible about the change of plans, and had our 2-person table all ready. they give us rose champagne and derek and i chitchat for a bit, and by now i'm pretty sure what he's going to do, but i texted jacinta anyway to see if she would give anything away. then out of the corner of my eye, i see the waiter poke his head out from behind the kitchen area, and derek signal to him. he brings out this huge platter thing, and set it in front of me and said this was our first course that was especially prepared for me. he lifts the lid off and there's the ring on the plate :) then derek said a lot of mushy stuff and got on knee and asked me to marry him :) :) :)

then we had an amazing dinner which i'm sure we couldn't afford, but God is good anyway, because just that afternoon a couple in the church gave us a rather large love gift for our vacation.

so that's it.. i think derek should tell HIS side of the story about all the planning and stuff.... and why he waited so long ;)