My hope is constant in thee

When James bought my engagement ring back in April/May, he also bought my wedding ring. Last week, James left work in the middle of the day , went home and picked up the ring, and took it down to Robbin's Brothers to have it engraved (I had no idea). He had them engrave it with "My hope is constant in thee," which is the family saying that's engraved in my parents' rings and my sister and brother-in-law's rings.

As far as my parents knew, the saying came from somewhere in my dad's family. It appeared in the old family home, I believe. It was called Artornish (my sister can correct me on the spelling) and I think it was some kind of mansion in Pennsylvania (back when the family was wealthy, none of that money exists anymore - at least, not in our branch of the family!) in the early 1900s. The house burned down, I think, and the family moved out to Arizona, but the saying stayed with the family. My parents didn't know anything about where the saying originated, though.

Then, when I was in Scotland, I found a book on clans and their tartans, and I looked up the McDonald clan. My dad's grandmother's (maiden?) name was Donaldson. (Wow I need to bone up on my family history!) I was just looking for what the McDonald tartan looked like so that I could buy the right one, but there were two distinct McDonald clans: McDonald and McDonald of Clanranald. I didn't know which one to choose, but then I noticed a line on the page about McDonald of Clanranald: the family saying was "My hope is constant in thee."

McDonald of Clanranald tartan, for anyone who's interested

I think it's a nice tradition in my family to have our wedding rings engraved with a saying that goes back deep into our family history.

Anyway, later that day, James casually asked me "what was that saying in your parents' wedding ring?" and I told him. I still didn't know that he had taken my ring to be engraved. (He told me later that the ring was already engraved at that point, he was just making sure! Haha.)

Later in the week, James finally told me that he had taken my ring to be engraved. I, of course, started to cry when he told me, I was so happy. On Saturday, we went to Robbin's Brothers to pick up my wedding band, and to order one for James.

Here they are!

mine!

and his! (approximately, I think his is slightly thinner)

I'm so excited!!