"Wedding Bliss....."

Being the wife of a pastor, I see firsthand the blessings and burdens of ministry. I see the brokenness of hearts and the healing of hearts, encouragement and discouragement, friendships develop and friendships split, marriages shatter and marriages made whole by forgiveness and the grace of Christ, people running away from Christ and people sprinting towards Him. Jay is often burdened by constantly seeing a sin-broken world and the effects it has on people, but marriages in particular. We are beginning to be convinced that it's one of Satan's greatest tools to wreak havoc on relationships and the church. He will tell you though, that one of the things he enjoys most about his job is getting to marry two Godly people, devoted to God and to each other - two people who recognize their own sin and limitations, but God's infinite and unfathomable love, and it is with His love that the couple can love each other. We have had the privilege of doing some pre-marital counseling together with several couples in our home recently. We have all enjoyed this setting as it has been casual, relaxed, low-key, and authentic.  Jay and I have been able to share wisdom learned from our own mistakes, and have tried to give these couples a very authentic, real-live look into our lives - we are just as broken as the rest of the world, yet we have the hope of Christ to redeem all of our "unlovliness", and He has proven to be faithful in His redemption. With each couple we talk to, our own relationship deepens. I love too that I have been able to get to know these couples in a far deeper way than I would have ever gotten to had Jay not chosen to involve me.

We just had the pleasure of witnessing one of these couples devote their lives to one another this past weekend. Jordan and Anna quickly made their way into our hearts from the minute we met them years ago at our church. We were so honored when they asked Jay to marry them, and then asked Elijah Brooks and Ellison to be their ring bearer and flower girl!  Thankfully I didn't have to sing this time since I had enough to think about just trying to get these sweet kids of mine down the aisle! God blessed the weekend immeasurably and it was perfect from start to finish. It was a very busy weekend, but so much fun and so many memories made. The children were perfect - their behavior was not of this world!! Elijah Brooks took his role very seriously and Ellison just followed his cues - was truly amazing.

EB is not quite understanding why "Miss Anna" had to go away on a trip this week and is not here to play with him!  She adores our kids and plays with them every time she is here, and she is even EB's new Sunday School teacher. He was definitely not pleased that she was not in his class on Sunday! I have assured him that she will be back - same Anna, just a new last name.

So happy for Anna and Jordan!

Quick picture before heading to the rehearsal

Waiting on the pew for her big moment

And him waiting..... 

Awful picture - but it still shows how serious he took his roll.  I wasn't sure if he was going to stand up there the entire ceremony, but he did - and he was like a statue!  He didn't move, didn't itch, didn't flinch, didn't squirm - for the entire ceremony!  We talked for days about how we could help to honor Miss Anna and Mr. Jordan and not distract from their special moment - how we didn't need to try to call attention to ourselves, but attention to others. Well, I think he got it..., maybe alittle too much!  I had to tell him after the rehearsal that he could smile and enjoy the moment though! 

My hubby 

Another super blurry picture, but had to include this. My sweet Bizzy was my right arm - literally!  I couldn't have done this weekend without her help. I had to keep a pretty tight schedule with the kids for 48 hours to make sure we made it everywhere we were supposed to be on time. She was right by my side helping at every turn.  Please come move in with us!!!  

Wedding Day! 

Angelic! And oh, this girl loved her bouquet - she thought she was so big! 

What 4 year old boy doesn't have skinned knees right?  The poor child fell 2 weeks ago and really did a number on his right knee - left his skin on the pavement at a nearby shopping center.  Well, 2 weeks ago he was absolutely distraught because it he was worried it would show in the wedding.  We worked hard to get that knee presentable before the wedding. Wouldn't you know, 2 days before the wedding, he fell off his bike and busted up the left knee!  He cried more so because he thought it was going to mess up the wedding!  Well, I decided to just let his knees be bare - wasn't really sure how to cover them up, and thought a bandaid might be more distracting - and he hates to walk with a bandaid on his knee.  So, the skinned knees made the pictures!  

I love this picture! 

I love this gaze from my girl :) 

Mutual affection :)