Operation D21: The Story

Lep loves surprise, but surprise was the chief difficulty with the whole operation.  How to plan it without Kara knowing about it?  Given the sensitive person that Kara is, she did catch wind that something was up.  The significance of possibly being engaged was weighing on her, and she brought it up to Lep.  Fortunately Lep was able to navigate the conversation without revealing too much of his plan.  After expressing her feelings, Kara agreed to trust Steve for when he thought the time would be right.  Given what she had just communicated, she expected this to be sometime in the spring of 2006.  Lep had a predicament on his hands though, because he was hoping to pop the question over Christmas break.  After Lep talked with Kara’s parents the following weekend, it was agreed that Kare was ready to make the step, that it would be hard no matter when he asked, and that Christmas time was a great time because she’d have ample time around her family.  

With the green light, Lep booked out December 21st with Kara, telling her that he’d be taking her out for the day.  Behind the scenes, Kara’s sister, Kati, and good friend, Julie, were informed by Lep of his intentions.  He asked them to accompany Kara on the scavenger hunt without letting on the end result.  

On the morning of December 21st, things got off to a rocky start as Lep, Mike, and Ryan woke up a couple hours later than they intended to since they still had a few things to finish up.  Like always, Mike, Ryan, and Lep’s Parents, Dave and Sharon, rallied big time and scrambled to get everything done without falling too far behind schedule.  The film crews got setup for their first clue, and Lep met with Julie at Starbucks to review the day with her.  He also gave her the first clue.  So at 11 am when Kara thought Lep would be at the door, Julie showed up instead with the first clue.  Operation D21 was started!

Throughout the scavenger hunt, Lep was at his uncle and aunt’s (Jim and Trish’s) house coordinating the film crews, tracking the girls’ progress, and preparing for the proposal itself.  Throughout the day, the film crews would drop off a tape where Mitch would go through it and edit it, putting together the movie on the fly!  

When evening came, it was time for lep to head to the boat, where Kara and him would, and Lep would ask the question.  Dave got a camera set up (hidden behind a coffee pot), and Sharon came up huge with her world class fajitas.  When Kara arrived, there was much to talk about, but Kara still didn’t totally know what was coming.  She knew something was up, but Lep had surprise through obviousness.  Kara’s thoughts were something along the lines of, “Steve isn’t going to propose.  We talked about doing that in the spring.  Realistically though, Kati and Julie probably wouldn’t have spent the whole day with me on my scavenger hunt if this was just some Christmas present of Steve’s.  What is he up to?”  

After a scrumptious meal, it was time for the main event.  Lep got nervous, and became as stuttery as a 16 year old learning to drive a stick.  Lep had 4 mini-wardrobes placed behind Kara that were covered by purple lunch bags.  The first three represented the original qualities that Lep had repeatedly since their first relationship conversation in Maui: Kara’s great faith, delightful/heartfelt personality, and her incredible beauty.  With the first three wardrobes uncovered, it was time for the fourth and final one.  Inside was the ring. and after expressing his desire to spend life with Kare, he got down on one knee and asked the question.  And Kara said yes!  Yahoo!

It would seem appropriate to end the story there, but there was still one more surprise.  Lep quickly cleaned up the kitchen, and while pretending to take out the garbage, he slipped out the tape from the video camera and ran it up to his dad who was standing by to pickup the tape and bring it back to Mitch.  After closing up the boat, Lep and Kara got in the car.  Lep said that they needed to quickly stop by Trish and Jim’s, where his parents were, to show them the ring before we headed over to Kara’s.  When we knocked, we were let in, only to be greeted by many of our friends and family.  Good times and what a blessing for us!  And as if that was not enough, Mitch had completed the draft of the movie, thus we all watched the day’s activities as it was projected on the wall.  Absolutely awesome!

We have so much fun looking back on the day.  While the proposal itself was very significant, we were equally blessed by the outpouring of people’s help and time to make it happen.  The day wouldn’t have been near as great without the people.  We are truly indebted, and look forward to helping others in return however is needed.