Gems From The Heart Story Contest Entries

My husband and I have been together for 18 years now, and I have quite a
collection of great jewelry. Even a special piece Joseph Schubach and I designed
together, and now is being sold on the web site. That would be item # 6656M, a
beautiful piece. My point is, that after all these years, and all this jewelry,
one day I mentioned to my husband that he had never actually given me a ring
himself. One that he had solely picked alone. I said this to him after he
jokingly gave me a twist tie ring, ( one of those things from a loaf of bread)
and I kept it. He asked me why I was keeping such a stupid thing as that. And
that's when I told him it was the only ring he had ever given me himself, and it
meant more to me than all the others, because it came from him alone. At first
he didn't get it, but then he must have felt kinda guilty, because this
Christmas I received a ring that he picked out all by himself, a beautiful one
at that! So no matter how many I already have, this one has some sentimental
value. The rest are just baubles, as he calls them. Beautiful baubles, I call
them!!!  But it took him 18 years to pick out a ring for me, and it may be
a small one compared to some others, but it's a start. He did good! And I still
have the twist tie one too. Thank you, Jenette
Barrett

You’ve
heard the song by George Straight, “Check Yes or No?”  Well this evening as I was sitting in church,
the same pew I’ve sat in since I started coming a few months ago, I noticed a
young lady who’d caught my eye on more than one occasion.  As the service progressed I continued to
periodically glance her way.  Soon it
turned into making a fake stretch or just merely glancing her way.  I couldn’t help myself but be drawn by her attractiveness.  Well, I was so fed up with myself and this
childish play that I had to do something about it.  Thank goodness for the back of church
bulletins.  In my note to her I
introduced myself as a likeable fellow who had goals and dreams, failures and
faults, just like everyone else does.  As
I finished the note I realized I needed her number so maybe, just maybe, if she
called me, we would hit it off.  So, on
the bottom of the note I so childishly wrote, “Would you want to be my friend?
Check yes or no” and left her with my number.

10 months
later I found myself looking to buy us a house and trying to afford a ring for
our engagement.  We’ve all heard third
times a charm and it’s been proven in my life because this is actually the 3rd
marriage for both me and my beautiful fiancé. 
But what makes this one so different and so unique is not the note but
the ring.  Since being engaged and not living
together the nights are difficult and lonely for my fiancé.  So with me absent she needed something to cling
to…this ring.  You see, her past
marriages have been straight from a horror film.  The torment and abused her and her two boys
faced was more than most could bear in their entire life.  But Jennifer is strong.  She is a survivor and her faith in God has
brought her thru many storms.  So, even
with her insecurities being rampant, her fears haunting her, and her slight
brain damage, due to an ex-husband ramming her head into a wall, she has this
ring to hold onto at night.  It serves as
a gentle reminder that this relationship has been brought together by the
Lord’s perfect will and a hope of a better tomorrow.  This ring is more than a stone but a cure.
It’s a medicine that can cure insecurity, doubt, restlessness, and fears.  Her humbleness and appreciation for the ring
is unfathomable compared to what she really deserves. 

I know that
maybe moissanite isn’t the “real thing”, but to Jennifer and me it says more
than that and it gives more than that too. 
It gives hope.  It gives promises
of a better day.  But more so it gives
her something to hold onto while I’m not with her at night.  Diamonds may last forever, but nothing gives
hope like moissanite.     

Brooks Ford

This story begins at the Phoenix Zoo.  It was the
crisp, clear autumn evening of Saturday, November 3rd, 2007.  I had gone to
a singles event that night in support of some single friends who were much more
interested in the dating scene than I was.  In mingling at the event, a
tall and oh-so-handsome guy caught my attention.  I can’t say what
it was about him, and I never spoke to him that night, but my head was
definitely turned.  As the event wrapped up, I left with friends and
remember thinking that not speaking to him that night was a regret.

A couple of days later, in an amusing twist of fate, I
noticed him online and thought, “How odd!  I think that’s the
Zoo guy!…Send him a note.”  I did, and he replied, and we
struck a chord with each other that truly resonated.  (And for those of
you who are curious, his name is Eric though “the Zoo guy” has been
an ongoing label of love.)

We had an amazing 2008 and it’s been the romance and
love of a lifetime.  We were both very cautious about marriage because we
had some unexpected heartbreaks in our marriages before, so when it came up, it
was always “…IF we get married.”  I knew Eric was the
man for me, but was shocked by what came next.

Eric’s birthday is November 2^nd, so I had
planned on taking him out to dinner for his birthday.  We celebrated with
family on his actual birthday, so we planned the evening alone for November 3^rd. 
He requested a restaurant on Mill Avenue, so we headed that way and before I
knew it we were on Galvin Parkway.  He said he wanted to walk around the
Zoo for a while, and it being his birthday celebration, who am I to
argue?  I confess seeing the main gate closed at the Zoo deterred me, but
he seemed to think that we should sneak in through the open side gate.  At
this point, I’m thinking, “Hey, I have a zoo membership! 
It’s not like we didn’t pay…” 

After leading me down a short path, we came across this cute
stone cottage
that is tucked away in the Zoo.
  As we approached the white
glass-paned window, it was alight with candles everywhere…the
windowsills, the perimeter of the floor, and on the shelves lining the
walls.  Then I noticed the table in the center of the room, which was set
for dinner and glowed in the bath of candlelight.  I looked in wonder at
this fairytale setting and then turned to him, and the grin on his face told me
this was for us.  He said to me, “Happy Anniversary”
(it was a year to the day since I had seen him at the Zoo event.)  There
was a gorgeous arrangement of tiger lilies and roses (my favorite) in the
middle of the table, and dinner was magically waiting.  Our favorite music
was playing in the background, and we dined in the most romantic setting
I’ve ever seen.  To be back at
the Zoo, where it all began, meant so much to us.

After dinner, as we took a walk around the Zoo, he asked me
to stop and close my eyes.  I did, and when he asked me to open my eyes, I
looked up to see Eric, only to find him on his knee before me, holding a
ring.


  
There was a sign that said “Will you marry me?” in
white lights between the palm trees,
 
and another white linen table with more
flowers, champagne flutes, and Martinelli’s. 
 
He had the most
sincere and honest expression in his eyes when he proposed, and then he said to
me, “I promise I’ll never break your heart.” 

Being no fool, I said yes…multiple times to be sure it
was real. 
I’m the kind of girl who doesn’t like to overlook
the moment, so I was absorbing all this and didn’t truly look at the ring
until we got home.  Once I did, I couldn’t believe how exquisite the
ring was.  It was as if Eric knew exactly what I’d choose for
myself:  the stones, the setting, the sizing.  Even more amazing,
Eric had sketched out what he wanted and taken it in to meet with Joe
Schubach.  This sketch became my engagement ring, thanks to the
unparalleled skill and knowledge of Joe Schubach and his wonderful team.
 

Without hesitation, we then met with Joe and his team to
find the perfect wedding ring for Eric.  Now we are simply elated to get
married and begin our grand adventure in life together! 
The best part is how excited our 4 combined children are to be forming
this new family…we couldn’t be happier!

Judy and Terry Pool’s Story: 

      Terry
and I were married 40 years when he became gravely ill with cancer and
then was taken from our family quite suddenly in 2002.  The month
before he passed away, he took me to breakfast (on Mother’s Day) and
just like a man on his knees proposing, (he was not well enough for
that but I felt proposed to) presented me with the most beautiful diamond
ring – some would even say it is a bit ostentatious. 

      The
story behind his giving me the ring on Mother’s Day follows. 
We were married for many years and together we brought 5 lovely and
wonderful children into the world.  As things go, after 18 years
we separated from each other for 8 months.  Like a lovestruck college
kid, Terry began courting me all over again, this time with much care
and the kind of typical courting he did when we met in 1961, complete
with dinners, candy, flowers sent at my job, waiting for me to get off
work to see that I got home safely, etc.  Our children who were
growing fast at this point were aware of his motives and talked him
up to me all the time, and soon we were remarried in Lake Tahoe, Nevada
on June 30, 1979.  He had me leave my plain band at home and gave
me a lovely ring he designed and had made for me which consisted of
two large (1/2 carat) diamonds and the birthstones of all five of our
children.  It was so pretty and I was flabbergasted.   

      Soon
after our remarriage, we moved to Arizona.  I wore the ring of
course every day until one day in early 2002 he asked me to give it
to him so he could have it cleaned and buffed. 

      I
gave him the ring.  Several weeks went by and I asked him about
the ring and he sadly told me the jeweler (not Joe, of course) had misplaced
it.  Well, I was as you might imagine very upset, but Terry had
the diamond “police” on the job, and assured me the ring would be
found and if not, he would replace it with the same design.  Of
course, that was a solution, but I was still kind of “naked” without
the ring. 

      In
the meantime, the cancer presented itself and all thoughts of the ring
were put on the back burner while all of us—kids, grandkids me, and
Terry along with his doctors were fighting hard to heal him from the
dreaded disease.  He was getting along pretty well when Mother’s
Day 2002 came around and he asked me to breakfast.  Just before
our second cup of coffee he asked me to give him my hand and he brought
out of his jacket pocket a velvet ring box.  I was thrilled and
said to him, “Oh, they found the ring!!”.   

      As
I described above, the ring had two large (1/2 carat) diamonds side
by side and our children’s birthstones all in a design of when each
was born.  I expected the ring to be the same.  As he opened
the box and then placed it on my hand, I could not believe my eyes. 
All of the stones were now diamonds!!  

      He
said to me, “I love you and appreciate you and you and I both know
that when I first bought the ring with the kids’ birthstones, they
were quite small and now they have grown up so beautifully and all of
them are diamonds.” 

      Well,
the tears flowed and I was never so surprised that my husband, who was
not the most romantic guy in the world, had risen once again to the
occasion by being so very romantic and caring and had just bowled me
over. 

      When
our family lost him on Father’s Day – just one month after he presented
me with the ring, we were all devastated.  We will miss him and
love him for the rest of our lives. 

      I
hope all young ladies or not so young ladies have within their lives
a love story such as mine.  But it will take some doing to top
mine for sure. 

                                                Judy Pool

                                                January 8, 2009

My story is about a wonderful
Christian Lady.  As we were dating, I kept asking her if she was sure
what she was getting herself into.  She said she new exactly.  You see
I have a very rare form of cancer only 1 in 14,000,000.  The prognosis
is no one has ever survived 3 years and I was approaching that date, in
fact I had 3 different of the best Oncologist tell me within two days
of each other, I only had two weeks left, three at the top.  She and
1000's prayed and on deaths door step I became stronger everyday.

She told me she knew what she
was doing, because she had taken a stand and that was God was a long
way of being done with me.  She said I still have thousands to help.

We continued dating and as I
talked to a gentleman in the support group I was attending and told him
of my idea of proposing he was so very happy.  I kept thinking about it
and the next week he gave me a 2.07 carat diamond in a wedding band. 
He explained to me that the ring was his wife's, who had died of cancer
a year earlier and he wanted me to give it to my sweetheart and pop the
question.  He told me when he handed me the ring and it was clutched in
my hand with both of his around mine, he said you are going to be just
fine, I can feel it in my Spirit, this ring is not given in vane, but
to a couple that will celebrate their 50TH Anniversary, he added Fifty
years of absolute love of one another and one of so much joy, he let go
of my hand and said it is only happy tears from here on.

I went and had the ring
re-mounted to a more modern style and it was so very gorgeous.  The
night came and I asked her and we both cried and hugged, I guess that
is the happy tears from here on  part he told me.

I stopped Chemotherapy the
next day, I had been going for almost three years four times a week. 
The Doctor, told me he was not going to sit around and watch a 44 year
old waste away.  He said He has watched me loose 60lbs (and I was slim
at the time before I got sick.) He has stuck around and I see him every
two to three months.

I am gaining weight like
crazy and believe the way my dear wife does and that is God is a long
way from being done with me.  I have never felt better or known love
and happiness as I have since taking my beautiful, wonderful Carla as
my wife.

It took a few months before I
was ready to  try riding my horses again. (Something I had lost all
hope in ever doing again.)  They were my life, I was the World Champion
in 96.

Last Spring I said why don't
we go for a ride and we have been riding almost everyday in the Spring,
Summer and Fall and every semi warm Winter day.

I can never look at that Hugh
diamond without thinking, I did not choose to live with cancer, however
my wife did.  What a lady of 100% Faith, she will not allow me to speak
anything about not feeling good, or hurting and the word cancer is not
allowed to spoken within our home.  She also has uplifting,
inspirational music piped in our home 24/7.

How a great big pretty rock, from a man of Faith given to a Lady of Faith has changed every moment of my life.

God bless,

Dr. Bryan G Howard