A few days after we arrived in Melbourne this year, Chris’s Nana called his dad and said she wanted the family to come over for a “blessing” of our engagement. It was originally just going to be immediate family, but Chris extended the invite to his cousins, aunts, and uncles. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I just thought there might be a Bible reading or two, a prayer, and maybe some dessert at the end. Little did I know that a reading would be done by Chris’s mother, followed by a blessing prayer from both of Chris’s grandmothers with my head being held in their hands, and subsequently a blessing from Chris’s dad and his two uncles on his head.

“I know that Christopher proposed, and Yvonne accepted, but an engagement is only real when with the family,” Nana said, as she commenced the event.

In their prayers, they blessed our union and wished us hope and love for our life together. They said a number of words that made me immediately feel overwhelmed. This is what it means to be accepted into this family… Everyone will be praying for our life together? And everyone accepts me as one of them? And I get to have my head held by both of his grandmothers? That day, I thought about Ed and what he would have thought if he had witnessed the event. I’d imagine he’d be so proud to think that his sister was being accepted into a Christian family, where real love and care actually exist without any strings or senseless, conditional expectations attached. I can’t imagine my brother having a prouder moment than this one.

I haven’t converted or gotten baptized or started going regularly to a Christian church, but so far, I think this would make Ed as happy as he could be.