hehe

OKay, it didn't delete my post: it published it 6 times! so you can enjoy it over and over again:)
Yay! Life's a rollercoaster indeed.

I'm sorry, it's not my fault

The past two times I've come to blog I've written lengthy entries that have been eaten, bones and all, by some monster in blogger-world. And as all you bloggers know, it's quite discouraging to begin again.
Quick summary: I'm doing pretty good. My health is okay. God is answering one of my long-heartfelt prayers for good friends. Praise him for that! AND I'm engaged now:). There are pictures linked from Ben's website: 802heaven.analogcafe.net (is that right?) I just typed up the story, so I'll come back and repeat it later. Wearing expensive jewelry is strange, but I'm quite happy.
Ciao-- this insane quarter ends in two weeks and I plan to be back to normal writings by then.
:) lis

Hello Folks!

Okay, I did write a long entry a week or so ago, but one of those internal error things ate it all up, and not even the bones remained:)

Things are going pretty well! My health has generally improved-- for awhile I felt sick a lot of the time. This has been the most intense quarter I've had in awhile. In a week and a half three major projects are due.
But...
God has started to answer one of my ongoing prayers. For the past couple of years I've been hungering for committed girl-friendships. I get the impression that many people like me, but don't want to put the time and initiation into a real friendship-- I look at all the best friends around me, and wonder what it is about me that makes friendships so often not stick. So I come and ask God "Why not?" Finally, just when I began to feel the most alone in this respect, a couple of girls who I've known for awhile expressed the same heart as me-- Marissa from UCU and Holly Thomas from church. AND a couple of the older friendships that I have beginning to lose hope in are being recovered. Praise God! The brief fellowship I've experienced even going out to study with these girls has been so sweet.

AND another thing that is sweet:

You may have read it on Ben's blog first, but we're now engaged! Yeah! The date is July 16th, folks, so write it on those day-planners for 2005 that you're going to buy next month. :) Do you want to hear the "proposal story?" Of course you do!

My family went to Whidbey Island last weekend and invited Ben along. Ben and I left mid-day on Saturday, but before I spent the rest of the day doing homework Ben was going to take me out to lunch. We drove over to my apartment, ostensensibly to drop off my stuff. At the door I was fishing for my keys, when Ben reached out and knocked on the door. "What are you doing?" I asked, "Raeleen doesn't get back until tomorrow." But the door opened.

Rae had made Ben a copy of our key, which he had passed onto his brother. This explains how Ryan Palmer, Dan McCurley, Chris Sanchez, Adam Morrell, and Dustin "I-always-forget-how-to-spell-his-name" were inside. "It looks so familiar somehow, yet so different," I joked later. My apartment had been made over into a fancy restaurant, with about 80 tea candles lit, my furniture screened off with a tarp-curtain, and a bedsheet canopy framing a table with a dried flower arrangement. There were white Christmas lights glowing from behind the white bedsheets, and our "waiters" Ryan and Dan served us a steak lunch (take-out from the Keg). Yum-yum:) Adam took pictures and Dustin played the guitar during dinner. All of those guys are a hoot:) Ben's friends really came through for him. Anyway, when there was five minutes left on the videotape that Dan was running Ben asked me to marry him. And gave me an absolutely gorgeous ring that he had designed:)

So that's the story. I've got to go cuz class is starting in about 7ish minutes. But being engaged so far has been fun and unreal. Wearing expensive jewelry, if nothing else, is quite strange. I know that God in his goodness has directed us to this place, and I'm excited about walking down life's path with Ben from now on.

Every now and then I think of creative things to blog

But then life is crazy. I guess it's just not God's will for me to blog much these days;) This past week I've been at school all day every day working, and then on the weekend the internet wasn't working here. I'm soooo looking forward to the end of this quarter!
So, maybe ya'll can expect another entry in about a week?