Engaged: Jordan and Phil

I asked them to tell me their story, and Jordan giggled. She scooted a little closer to her man, looked up at him with a smirk, and then told me proudly: “Phil tells it best.”

We were winding through Stokes County, following my very ornery GPS on a route through traffic jams, road construction, and farm land. The sun filtered through the tree tops and the breeze kept the crunchy leaves dancing along the yellow line. I turned down the music (we were listening to wedding music — the four of us helping Jordan decide on a processional and recessional), settled back into my seat, and listened to him talk.

A year and a half ago, Phil was stuck in Thailand with no money, playing the guitar on the streets for food, sleeping on a park bench, and trying to figure out where to go next. He’d planned on another six months touring the world, but his tax refund check didn’t make it to his bank account fast enough and now he was stuck with no food in a foreign country. Instead of finishing out his trip, he came back home to Greensboro and – when the refund finally showed up – used it to go on a missions trip to Nicaragua.

Instead of jaunting across the world, he flew to Nicaragua and met the girl of his dreams.

Yes, that’s right. He and Jordan ended up on the same trip, became friends, and then a month later started their relationship fo’real. Are you ready for it? Prepare yourself. If you haven’t been melting at the sweetness of their international love story…it gets even better. I promise.

Hiking up to the watchtower at Hanging Rock State Park, they watched the sunset over North Carolina and talked and talked and talked. Their hiking pals got tired of waiting for them to finish talking, left them alone at the top of the mountain, went back to the campsite and — drumroll — took the only flashlight with them. Oh yeah. Thats how they roll. So there they were. At the top of the mountain. Officially in a relationship. And no light for the trip back home. So what’d they do? Yeah. They improvised. One step at a time. Clinging to each other. Walking in sync. Beginning their relationship, not really sure if the next step on the very dark mountain top would send them rolling off a cliff.

But, oh, they made it back down to the campsite no troubles. Too happy in loooove to care they just risked life and limb. Hey, at least they were together….right?

Fast forward almost a year and Phil knew he wanted to marry Jordan. But how to propose? How about show up in Guatemala and surprise Jordan with a ring while she was on a missions trip? Um, yeah, that works. 😛

In his words:

Joel and I dove down behind a bush and he started videotaping the scene. We dashed in a wide circle around the opening, making sure we were unseen, and sneaked down the stairs into the courtyard´s outer hall.

Pausing for a deep breath and adjusting my cap, I plunged out into the courtyard. Jordan turned and saw me just as I leapt up onto the fountain. She gaped. “What are you doing here?” she asked in shock.

I had a huge speech prepared, but in that instant it flew out the window. “Proposing,” I said, and dropped to a knee. “Will you marry me?”

Luckily she said yes.

Watch and see: The Proposal