Well, yes, so I did a little proposin’ and Thao did a little acceptin’ on Saturday morning – so now it’s all nice and official – the engagement part, at least. We have been planning this for a couple of months, but it took me a little while to get the ring delivered here to the U.S., etc., thus the delayed formal proposal.

We’re getting married here in Vietnam on December 26th and 27th. We’ll be having a ceremony and party out in Thao’s hometown of Long An on the 26th, and a party at the Majestic Hotel here in Saigon on the evening of the 27th. The party here will be small – 10 tables, which means only 100 people. The ceremony and party in Long An will be larger – Thao is telling me around 400 people for the party part of it, at least.

We were going to do all of the above, plus another ceremony and party in the U.S. in February. Of course that was back before Thao’s visa application was denied – so for now it will have to just be an all-Vietnam affair.

The ring I gave Thao was my paternal grandmother’s engagement ring. It’s 65-years-old and is very pretty. A different style from most rings today, I think. My mom helped me buy a new diamond to go in it and had it mounted, etc., then we had a friend of a friend bring it from the U.S. to Vietnam. Thao really likes it – I caught her sneaking looks at it on her hand all weekend when she thought I wasn’t looking. She also really likes that it was my grandmother’s.

Below are a few more photos from this weekend in Mui Ne.

A fishing boat at sunrise – just after we were engaged:

Later that day, we rented motorbikes and rode about an hour up the coast to some big white sand dunes. Here are Tim’s girlfriend, S, and Thao:

Me, slope-lopin’:

Thao and S coming on up:

Thao and I up on the dunes:

Tim and S:

My fiance:

I have to admit that it does feel a little strange to be referring to someone as my fiance. I won’t go into a long email now about how lucky I am to have found Thao, and about what a great person she is, etc., but I really am and she really is. She is all of the things I ever wanted in someone – she’s real, she’s laid back, she’s honest, she’s kind, she has a big heart, she’s upbeat and positive, she likes other people, she’s interested in trying new things, she’s good with kids, etc., etc., etc. The list goes on and on. The bottom line is we have a great time together, have a great relationship, are great friends, and really love each other a lot. Whenever we do a toast we always say something to the effect of “To a long, fun, and interesting life together, and to our beautiful children.” (Don’t get the wrong idea – we don’t have any children, beautiful or otherwise, yet. We’re just being optimistic.)

But, beautiful children aside, I do think that our life together will be fun and interesting – and hopefully long as well!