WHAT!!!!

What does a father say when his daughter sends him this photo in the middle of the night? Well, a mother gets a tear in her eye and exclaims her happiness for her daughter. A father says, 'maybe she said no...'

She didn't say no. The night of 12/28/2013 Alex officially grew up. Her boyfriend, Ben Barlow, proposed to her. She said yes.

This was really no surprise to Cristal and I, since Ben came to me first and asked for my blessing. What does a father say to this type of inquiry, certainly not unequivocally 'yes'? I asked the hard questions, and there were hard answers. But, after much deliberation, I finally did say 'yes'. I told Ben he was exactly the type of person we'd want Alex to marry...other than him not being Catholic. So I gave my blessing and I guess we'll see what happens when worlds collide. God has a funny way of bringing people together.

We've always been proud of everything Alex has done in life. This next step for her is no different. We're looking forward to adding Ben to the crazy VanDongen life...I just hope he can keep up.