Welcome to the Family, Katie!

I’m getting a new sister! That’s the news around the block the past week and now I can finally talk about it! My little brother, Jeff, popped the question yesterday at sunset to his sweet, beautiful girlfriend Katie and we couldn’t be more excited. People have asked me if I like her, if I’m glad they’re getting married and my answer has been, “um…have you MET her?” Unless they haven’t met her in which case my answer is yes, yes we are very glad they’re getting married.

 

Jeff has been barely able to contain his excitement since he bought the ring a couple of weeks ago, carrying it with him everywhere, showing it to us at church. It was lucky for me that Katie’s been in Germany so I didn’t have to keep the secret for too long. We were laughing last night about how rude I was being ignoring her at church on Sunday, walking away when she came up to our group of friends to talk, but I just didn’t trust myself not to let something slip!

He took her on a highlight of their favorite dates throughout the day and got down on one knee at Discovery Park at sunset (which was uncharacteristically stunning for Seattle in December). They went out to dinner at Il Bistro and then came over to Bellevue for an engagement party hosted at Nathan’s parent’s house. Their friend Preston took pictures of the actual moment on bended knee and it was kind of surreal to see. It made me realize that in my head Jeff is still 7 years old and not nearly old enough to be getting married.

The cherry on top is that one of Katie’s best friends is Nathan’s little sister so there is already a tangled web of familial connections that will only get more entwined with marriage.

To Jeff and Katie: Nathan and I are so excited for you and what this adventure is going to look like in your life. Marriages have been happening throughout history and of course there are the dos and don’ts but the really neat thing is that everybody’s journey is unique to the two of them and I can’t wait to see what yours looks like. We’re excited to support you and hopefully not add too much to the craziness that is an engagement. Even more than being excited for you wedding, I’m looking forward to 20, 30, 40 years down the road when this is a distant memory and you’ve gotten to enjoy all that time being married to each other. We love you two.

 

"okay everybody....look REALLY excited!"