This month, we’re celebrating two people in our Canopy family and their recent engagements. Our wonderful Pip Jackson, who currently lives in Kenya as our Deep Roots Discipleship Arts Director, got engaged to Conrad Williams over Christmas vacation. And Sara Curtis, our volunteer staff member who runs our Sponsorship program, was just engaged to Bryan Musgrove. Congrats to two amazing women who show love daily to our precious students.
Here at Canopy Life, we love a good story, so of course we just had to ask Pip and Sara to share theirs. Read below for a peek into their big moments, as told in their own words:
Pip and Conrad
We were in Columbus, Ohio, visiting good friends. Conrad had planned a day full of my favorite things: a scavenger hunt ending with the sweetest moment in a snow-covered park and a ring on my finger. I had planned to spend the day on our friends’ couch watching Netflix in my pajamas, and my sloth-like manner almost ruined his plan. Somehow, they convinced me to run an errand with our friend Bishop. When we arrived at the coffee shop where Bishop works, the barista handed me a note from Conrad that read, “Today, we are going on an adventure.” He had even included our Canopy family in the proposal. Part of each clue was written by our staff in Swahili!
My favorite clue of the day had a quote from the The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis. Some of Conrad and my first conversations were spent talking about the book. The last part of that clue read, “Thanks for being His.” It led me to a book shop for a copy of the book, which led me to Conrad who was waiting at Schiller Park where he proposed. I felt so loved and overwhelmed that he would go to such lengths to love me extravagantly! It was the best day and so worth getting off of the couch.
Sara and Bryan
Bryan went ring shopping one Thursday, mostly with the intention of just seeing what was out there. But then he found my perfect ring and bought it on the spot. He was so eager to be engaged that he just couldn’t wait, and Friday, in the middle of a totally normal evening at his house, he dropped down to his knee and asked me to marry him. He said he wanted to propose when we were just doing life together—in our comfies—with no fanfare because he wanted me to be assured that he loves the no make-up, sweatpants-wearing version of me just as much as he loves the done-up version. He then prayed for us and for our relationship.
One of the most fun elements of the engagement was that the following morning I was scheduled to Skype with Elizabeth, the Canopy Life student that I serve as a Global Mentor, so Elizabeth and Pip were some of the first to find out I was engaged!
