Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Beautiful Things Like Friendship

This past weekend, Adam and I got the chance to journey back to Springfield. Our good friends were getting married and we were lucky enough to get to stand beside them as they said "I do." We had one long day of set up and a rather tiring "morning of," but by the time four o'clock rolled around, we were all ready and everything was beautiful - especially the bride! And let me tell you about that bride, oh man did she impress me! Now I'm not gonna lie, I sort of expected her to completely freak out at some point, but she didn't. And there were enough hang-ups in those two days, that no one would have blamed her if she did. There's a good chance that I would have been found in the fetal position rocking back and forth in a corner if it had been me. But no, she stayed relatively calm. And the wedding turned out beautiful and now they are married and enjoying their tropical honeymoon.

Did I not tell you she was beautiful?
The best part of the whole weekend was getting to see some of our favorite people! Jeffrey was in town for the wedding as well! And we spent nearly all of Sunday hanging out with some couple friends who are very near and dear to our hearts. We got the chance to catch each other up on the last month of our lives. It is quite amazing what can happen in just one month in the lives of seven different people. Each one of us is now in ministry in some capacity, and it was great to just sit and hear how God was moving and shaping us all. I'm so proud of all of them. These are wonderful, amazing people; I wish you could meet them. They would change your life, I know they changed mine.

And that's the thing about friendships. They do change your life. Before you realize it, you are wiser, or more hopeful. Maybe you are a little bit more adventurous, all because of who you surround yourself with. In the category of friendship, I have definitely been blessed.


That's right ladies, he's all mine.



Not pictured: our terrifying trip back to Watertown including torrential downpours, tornado warnings, and flash flooding - which is actually a thing, flash flooding. And not only when you live near a lake or river. Out here the fields just start to fill up and pretty soon you have no highway to drive on because it is UNDERWATER! No joke. Scary.




Thursday, June 5, 2014

Two years

Monday was our second wedding anniversary. Adam and I have been married for two full years now. People kept telling us that the first few years would be the hardest, but that hasn't been our experience. If these are the difficult years then we have quite a future ahead of us. Of course, I'm not assuming that it won't get hard ahead or that we won't face trials. I know we will - we haven't had children yet! I'm just thankful for the marriage we've had so far and how much more we will grow in the future.

We were able to spend that day surrounded by our families, and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than with the people that showed us what marriage was truly about. Both Adam and I were blessed with generations of strong marriages. We had not only our parents to look to as examples, but also our grandparents. Without even realizing it at the time, they displayed dedication, perseverance, and genuine care and love. They taught us what it meant to be selfless and to truly put another person before ourselves. Now of course their marriages weren't perfect, but they kept trying. They made mistakes and corrected them. All in all, we had amazing models of marital faithfulness and love to follow, and for that I am sincerely grateful. I fully believe that it has shaped our marriage and given us a very strong foundation to build upon.

So, thank you! Thank you to our parents and grandparents for  giving us such a great example to follow. Hopefully we've learned from your mistakes, because I know we will have plenty of our own :)  We love you and look forward to seeing you all again soon!

...and sadly I did not get any pictures to document our second anniversary. I know, I'm terrible, but we were just so busy soaking up time with our families and friends back in WV that I just didn't think about it. I guess there is always next year!