2nd january continues.

We left off with some cows and us on our way to another lookout.
At one point during my stay there, i forgot to mention this thing. Peter, my dear Peter, he did something so adorable! He learned how to make coffee just the way i like it. Not like just press a button on a machine, no, no! He ground some beans, put them in the thing where you put ground beans, press them, put that in a coffee machine. Make espresso, foam milk, and make all that into cappuccino for me! How adorable!
Sidetrack a bit from our adventures, but just had to mention. I really see small things often. Be it him going to beach with me, learning to make coffee, opening car doors for me, it’s often in the little things!

Alright, so back to our adventures with cows and all. We went to another lookout and took some photos there. It started to spit rain again when we left there. We headed back to Coffs and went shopping. Again. I know it sounds like we do it a lot. But often it meant going to different stores to find something specific i wanted, but not finding it. Like this time, looking for a journal, but not finding it.
So we got back home. Oh, i had forgot to mention that 2nd is our anniversary kind of. We started dating on 2nd of august. :)
Back home, we are in my room and then i thought, that oh i hadn’t spoke to my parents since i had arrived. As i mention in the beginning, my phone wasn’t working, so yes. Thought about skype’ing with them. So i was sitting on the bed and Peter was close by and i said, oh would you hand me the camera and stuff (i have usb attachable camera and headphones with me). And i knew the hole day that Peter is gonna do it, because he was more quiet. And strange. And i asked what’s up during the day, he said nothing. Just thinking. :D Hahaa. Okay, so he hands me the camera and then says “Before you call, can you come here for a second and sit here?” THIS IS IT! He is gonna ask me! (that’s what is going on in my head) My heart starts racing and i try to smile encouragingly? But i’m sure it looked more like a grin. I shuffle myself to the edge of the bed where he is standing. He gets down on one knee (are you holding your breath here? I know i was!)… And he starts “Mirjam Lipstok, kas sa … " (HE IS TRYING TO ASK ME IN ESTONIAN!!!!!!) “I know i remember this, hold on…” Me: “it’s okay!” (insert encouraging smile and raised eyebrows!) Him: “Kas sa abiellud minuga?” (which means will you marry me?) He didn’t say it entirely right, but i knew what he meant, i fall into his hug and kiss him. I cry and say yes, of course!!!! And i get a ring on my finger and it is exactly perfect. Modest, no bling, special! He designed it himself. I cry. A lot. And shake a little. And cry a bit more. I can’t believe this happened! I kiss him more. And just stay in his embrace and don’t know what to say other than “I love you so much”.
He explains that his parents are waiting upstairs for news and that he asked them to give us privacy. He explains how he did want to do it while we were out, but couldn’t find a perfect moment. How he wanted to do it before i call my parents, so we’d have something to say… I cry. A lot. This is so real. This is happening. I try to gather myself, but can’t. I keep drying my tears and they come again. I am happy. More than i have ever been. This man, oh wow! Unbelievably perfect for me. And proposal! Just the way i would’ve wanted. Just the two of us, no big fuss, no bling, no crowds. Just us. And God. I am so happy! He is amazing and i am more in love than ever before. And still crying.
It took me over an hour to gather myself. To stop shaking from this joy, overwhelming joy and excitement. But also a tiny bit scary reality! But mostly joy! We somehow get us upstairs and surely receive congratulations and hugs and more tears with Peter’s mom. :) I can’t stop this. This is amazing!
We have dinner together and then comes the strange part. Texting and emailing and facebooking people! And calling my parents. And making my mom cry :D We spent quite a big amount of time letting people know that we are now engaged!

It was quite late, i think 10-11pm when we finally got around to putting all our phones down, and thinking we should celebrate. Somehow. We went out to carnival ride. They had this carnival in town and we figured that we might do something there. Most of them looked pretty boring or scary. But we found one. I had to take my new ring off, as it was a tiny bit too big, and put it in my pocket. I climbed on a ride next to my fiance (strange calling him that then) and held on as the thing started turning. I was still high on emotions of the proposal. Still emotional. But so happy! Oh how God has blessed me with this man!

3. january.

As a new year has begun i get an idea that we should do goals for this year. What do we want out of this year. We make goals for us as a couple, but also for us individually. It ends up a good summary and good things to strive for this year. Writing this now at the end of march, i can say it’s been good to have that.
As it’s sunday, we go to church. And i meet all the people there. And i knew ahead of time that we are gonna be on stage and pastor will ask us some questions. I didn’t want to know questions before, as i would’ve then overthought them. So our time comes and we get up, i worry oh how i look, but interview goes well. Then some people pray for us as a couple and one man comes up and shares a picture with us. He sees us as a bee and a flower. Being beneficial for each other. I can’t remember more details, but just that, but it’s good. Also a bit random. But good. Yes, we sure have been beneficial for each other.
There’s some lunch at church, but i am not hungry much today. People congratulate us on our engagement, that we also announced during our interview. :) We had a sneaky way to do that. I held my left hand just out of site and then Andrew, the pastor, asked me to see my left hand, so i stretched it out and people got it. It was fun!
After church we went to visit Peter’s dad’s side relatives (grandma and auntie for Peter). I love their home! It’s looking very much vintage in all the nice way. With rosy couches and all. Very lovely home. And very lovely warm people. We had a chat there, took photos with them and then left them.
Oh, some random thing about Australians. See in Estonia, you say bye and you walk out the door. Very straight-forward. In Australia, it’s very often, if not mostly, you say, “So i gotta go”. And then you keep talking 15min. Or so. You get to the door maybe by that time, you say again “Yeah, i gotta go now”… and it continues while you step outside and get to your car. It can continue more when you are already in the car. It takes time to leave. Something i need to learn. And something i have noticed. It’s strange, but at the same time interesting to see, how they have no rush. Like having all the time in the world. It’s kinda cool.

So then after that, we went shopping again somewhere, unsuccessfully.
But then went to dinner with Peter’s siblings and their spouses. I asked how often they do it, and i don’t think they do. So it was honored to have gotten all of them together just for me. It was a fun night, getting to know his siblings and their spouses a bit more. One of them didn’t come as we’d seen them already and i think they had to go somewhere. Anyway, it was really cool to have them together and had an evening with laughter and good company.

4th of january.
So a lot of this can be boring, because the time we had was limited, we had to pack as much as possible into two weeks. Many of these things were just a huge to-do list, because we did want to experience, see, meet and do as much as possible, but at the same time, i had the option of saying no, if it got overwhelming or too much.
We started our day with brunch at a place called Mangrove Jack’s. It had a really nice view and i enjoyed it. For some reason i remember being emotional in the car, but can’t remember why. But as always, Peter was patient and kind and comforting. I am so blessed!
We then went to town to see if we can resize a ring i had given Peter. See i was wearing a ring as “promise ring”, but now i had a real engagement ring, so i gave my ring to him. But surely, it was too small. So we went to see if we can make it better and to fit him. Yes, we can! They accepted the job.
More shopping.
Then we packed some things into the car, meaning clothes and props, and headed to botanic gardens, where we were supposed to meet Bec, Peter’s sis, who was supposed to take our photos. Engagement photoshoot. I had so much fun and seemed that Peter was also enjoying that. He was a bit nervous beforehand, but seemed fine during the photoshooting. We did some in the botanical gardens, then drove off to different locations, to do more photos. And changed clothes in the car while the other waited outside. I loved how the photos turned out. So nice working with her!

We then went out to eat and later got dessert from local supermarket.

to be continued…