Part 1: Engagement

In honor of Romany and my first wedding anniversary on 8 January, I've decided to create a three part blog with our story from engagement to wedding.  I know it's long...I love words, what can I say?  I hope it's worth reading but otherwise, it was a nice exercise and nice way for me to memorialize the memories.

Romany and I decided to escape that day. He'd only been in the country for a couple of days but we felt like it was time. He had returned from three months in Egypt and we were finally reunited. That day, we escaped to the center of town. It was a busy day as businesses were in full swing. We made our way to the “bazaar” or “suq” or “sik” or market (depending on your language). Our goal, though, wasn't just to do any shopping. Instead, we were on a mission. We headed to the area of the market which is only frequented by those with special purposes...the gold market.

Over the last several months, Romany and I had prayed, talked, and got to know each other more. In the time that he was in Egypt, we had formally decided that God was leading us towards marriage. When he arrived in late September 2012, we were already in the midst of planning our return back to Egypt in December so that we could get married in his village in January 2013. As September rolled around, all that we needed was to be in the same country and to buy rings to make everything more “formal.” It was a big step and I was feeling a bit nervous, but we headed to the market in hopes of finding what we were looking for.

As I realized later, this was only one part of the gold market but it had enough stores that we spent a couple of hours looking for my ring. Most of the rings we saw weren't adjustable so we only found a few that fit me well. Finally, we returned to a shop that a friend of mine and I had gone to a couple of weeks before. The ring fit perfectly and had a little style compared to the other choices and so we decided to get it.

We then decided to see if we could find a ring for Romany. We went to every shop in that part of the market and only one ring fit him! The men in that country obviously have smaller hands! It was a good ring so we decided to get it!

After the rings were purchased and in the bag, we headed to a park to exchange them and to hang out. We had a great time talking and spending some good quality time together. We didn't want the night to end so we headed to a hotel in town with a very nice restaurant and had a wonderful meal. It was a great ending to a very special day!

We actually went to the photo shop to get
passport photos but we ended up taking these
pictures.  It was a few months late but our only
formal pictures before we got married.