Proposal Story
Melissa-
In August of 2009, while in Africa, I met Derek Cladek. First impressions from that time: tall, cute, nice, kind, smart. I had no idea that in a little more than a year’s time, he would be kneeling in front of me, asking me to be his wife. What a whirlwind this adventure of life can be, when you let God take control. Surrender is at times so hard, but it brings such freedom and blessing!
On June 8th, 2010, after months of building a friendship via email and phone (praise be for technology), we became an official couple. What a joyous feeling it was to know that he was in my life! Someone to laugh at my silly ways and someone to keep me awake on the phone as I drove home from work…someone to talk about the hard times of life and someone who I knew would be there as a support and encouragement. I believe that such a friendship is one of life’s dearest blessings. By the end of July, I knew that I was in love with this wonderful man and believed that he was the one God had to be my lifelong companion and helper. Soon after I felt this in my heart, he told me he loved me. Bright and beautiful, overflowing happiness, endless smiling…all words that can be used to describe the moment when I knew he loved me!
In late August, my parents and I left on vacation to Ireland. We had been planning the trip for almost a year, and I was very excited to finally realize my dream of seeing the beautiful, green island. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I held the small hope that Derek would surprise me by showing up for part of the trip, but as our time there drew to a close, I completely gave up on that thought. It would be too much work, too expensive, and besides, I could tell when we talked that he had a lot of things going on at home.
On September 16th, mid afternoon, my parents and I pulled into our new bed and breakfast, called the Old Convent. It is a beautiful house set in the gentle hills of the countryside. I had noticed that my dad seemed eager to get to the B & B, but I chalked that up to the amazing dinner menu. The owner of the place met us at the door and took us to our rooms. When I first entered my room, it took me a few moments to notice a journal sitting on my bed. I initially thought that it was a complementary hotel journal, but then I did a double take. I recognized it! It was the journal that Derek and I had been writing back and forth in since June. I had last mailed it to him right before I left for Ireland. My mind immediately started whirling. I picked it up, my heart beginning to pound…could he have mailed it to me from the US? Inside there was a brief entry from Derek. He told me how he loved me and that I was the perfect one for him. But because words couldn’t express it all, he had a surprise waiting for me in the Secret Garden.
At this point, there wasn’t a coherent thought in my head. I ran out to find my parents and interrogated them about the journal. They acted surprised, but I could see my dad fighting off a smile. I found the owner and nervously/excitedly asked to be shown the Secret Garden. She took me around the back of the house, and pointed out a small set of stone stairs leading into an enclosed garden. In my heart, I think I knew what I would see when I went up those stairs, but still I wasn’t prepared for the moment.
The moment when I saw my love standing there waiting for me, in the loveliest of secret gardens. He was smiling, looking so handsome, and I ran to him and hugged him, saying repeatedly, “I can’t believe you’re here!”. He told me how he had been planning this for weeks, working out the details with my parents help. And the hard work he had had to convince me that he was super busy, keeping my nosy self in the dark. As he was telling me all this, I noticed that the ground was covered in rose petals, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a camera sitting in the nook of a tree. Before I had time to process what I saw, he was kneeling, telling me he loved me, and handing me a beautiful ring…asking me to marry him! I said yes, and just like that, we were engaged!
I have never been more surprised in my life then when Derek flew all the way to Ireland to ask me to be his wife. It was truly the perfect moment, bringing me so much joy and happiness…and it still does, every day. He is the God-given love of my heart, and I can’t wait for the day when he will be my husband. Life with him has already been a grand and great adventure! I am so very excited for the future God has planned for us!
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:11
Derek-
One of my life dreams is to either work with or help build orphanages in Africa and so I was in Uganda in August 2009 to build a pig farm that would one day help support orphaned kids. During my six weeks in Africa I met Melissa one day at the airport. I would usually go to the airport to help new comers or teams of people with their luggage and then bring them back to the guest house. I remember the day I met Melissa and her family as they came out of customs with their luggage. At the time I thought nothing of Melissa or her whole family. To me it was just another airport run. We took them to the bus, loaded up their luggage and got seated for the 45 minute drive back to the guest compound. One of the only seats open was a seat next to Melissa and since I was the last one on the bus, I sat next to her. I look back and would have never guessed that I was sitting next to my future wife! I didn’t even really get to know her for the two weeks she was there and we only talked a handful of times. I remember the day she left; I rode with them to the airport. Even though we didn’t really get to know each other as well as I had wished (now looking back), I felt I was supposed to keep in contact with her, so I asked her to find me on facebook.
It wasn’t until November that we started talking over facebook or email. Just an occasional email back and forth but nothing more. We started building a long distance friendship and started to get to know each other over the months to follow. I still had no idea where things would lead. How was I supposed to get to know someone who lived in Alaska? I knew I couldn’t just fly up there so I prayed that if she was supposed to be my wife, that God would send her to Washington. About two weeks later I get an email from Melissa asking me if I knew where Yakima was and that she was going there in April. Was this an answer to my prayer? Was she supposed to be my wife? I wanted to take things slow and to actually build a face-to-face friendship, instead of everything being over email, facebook and texting. I still didn’t have the guts to call her, even though I had her cell phone number.
Long story short, Melissa comes to Washington and I was able to drive her from Yakima to Seattle to catch a flight back to Alaska. I knew I really wanted to get to know her more, so I flew to Alaska the first week in June and on June 8th we became an official couple.
Fast forward to September – this is where the proposal story begins.
Melissa was in Ireland and talked about how she had always wanted to go there and see the country. One week before she left I called her dad to ask him if I could marry his daughter and nervously asked if I could fly to Ireland and propose. I thought it was a lot to ask so quickly. I guess I was kind of surprised when he said yes and helped me plan the whole trip. I didn’t want to barge in on their trip and cause too much stress with keeping this a secret. Melissa is a very inquisitive person, so keeping this a secret would take a lot of planning and a lot of skill! I knew I could keep her in the dark about my plans if we didn’t talk about it at all, so I told her we would talk about the future when she got home. I also led her to believe that I was super busy and the day I left she thought I was at my parent’s house where I had no phone reception. I was nervous she would find out my plans because we talked over Skype every single day that she was gone, so to suddenly go dark and unreachable was a huge worry for me! I was able to play it off by saying I was at my parent’s house and that I would be gone for 2 days. This allowed me to fly to Dublin, Ireland without worrying about talking over Skype. I was able to send emails, which helped my cause. I even sent a picture of me repairing a leak on my parent’s roof, so I had proof that I was there. September 16th I drove to the Bed & Breakfast about a 2 hour drive from Dublin and had no idea how I was going to propose. On my way there I saw in my mind a garden with roses. I had never been to this B&B and didn’t know if they even had a garden or roses.
When I pulled up to the Bed & Breakfast I was greeted by the owners and let them know what I planned on doing. The lady there had red roses that she used the day before and said I could use them if I wanted to. I asked if they had a garden and she said they did, which they called ‘The Secret Garden’. It was a small, but private garden with two apple trees. This was the place I was going to propose and now had to get ready before Melissa and her parents got there! Nervously I got ready, dressed in slacks and a dress shirt. I wrote in our little journal that we would send back and forth and placed it on her bed so she would see it right away. Then it came to the waiting game. I laid out a small blanket and put rose petals around the ground, put up a video camera so that she could always have footage of her proposal and then waited until they arrived. About a half hour later and a few text to her dad, I hear them out front! My heart is beating fast and I am getting nervous! What is she going to think when she sees that journal, what am I going to say, is this really happening, did I really just pull this off without her figuring it all out?! Silence came and I knew she was about to find the journal. A few minutes later and I hear someone walking, and then she appears around the corner and walks up the steps to the garden! She laughs and says, “You came to Ireland!” We laughed and talked for a few minutes before I knelt down and proposed to the love of my life. God brought us together and God helped everything workout perfectly. Every plan and everything about the proposal went perfectly and now we are getting married! Almost two years ago in Africa, the first time I met Melissa I would have never guessed that we would be in Ireland together and getting married. I am a truly blessed man and love her with my whole heart! She is the perfect one for me and will always be my best friend and the love of my life.