At long last - the Big Announcement!

I've got some news. =)

Alright, so it's not exactly a closely guarded secret of state, but I've held back from posting my news to the blog until I was able to personally share it with all the friends and family I could get a hold of... seemed like the decent thing to do. It's been a month tonight, and I've made a heroic effort to avoid mass e-mailing, so I think it's finally time to return to the world of blogging with the news everyone's seen coming a mile away.

So, here's the scoop - Gretchen and I are getting married. Yay!

We've established a Flickr account for our upcoming wedding (yes, that's right, the wedding has an account all of its own), and you can see lots of engagement pictures there. That's also where we'll be posting pics as we look at decorations, clothing, etc., in the months to come.

The happy day will be December 29, and we're planning on holding the service at Gretchen's church in West Lafayette.

(That part won't be official until we're able to meet with one of the pastors at St. Andrew UMC - we were scheduled for our first premarital appointment this Friday, but a funeral here put that on hold for the moment, so we're scrambling to reschedule. I've let Gretchen know that if we need a backup, the pastor at St. John's would probably be pretty willing to accommodate us. ;) But I don't think there'll be any trouble getting our date "down south.")

Obviously, I'm delighted! Gretchen's the joy of my life, and sharing our days together is the most wonderful blessing I can imagine. It's pretty remarkable to flip the pages back a year and realize how my world has turned upside down in just a few short months. How can the days have flown by, but at the same time I feel as though we've known each other forever?

Ah, well... I guess I'll leave the deep metaphysical pondering for some other night. ;)

For now, I'm just glad to finally go public with the best news I've ever had to announce! Did I mention, "Yay!"? =)