October 11, 2008 was such a happy day. On that day, we were united as one in marriage. Here are some photos from that day... You can see all the photos here. I can't believe they are still on the photographer's website.
This is one of my FAVORITE pictures from the entire wedding. My grandmother looking on in the background is so precious to me. So glad that our photographers captured this.
Celebrating with a little champagne!
Beautiful bridesmaids. Love these women.
The jewels
First time Dan saw me in my dress. Such a sweet moment.
Sweet moment...
We had a super fun wedding party.
This is the church that I grew up in. So thankful to have gotten married in this special place.
Another one of my favorite pictures. Me, my grandmother, and Dan with his grandparents.
Things got a little emotional. This comes as no surprise to anyone that knows us.
Officially married.
Aside from the band and dancing, this is my favorite part of weddings- the cake. Our wedding was no exception. We shared the top tier from our cake on our first anniversary, and it was still delicious. Cake is my love language.
The band was great. Everyone had a great time dancing the night away.
Sparklers at weddings scare me. All that hairspray in my hair + open flames....shudder. So, our guests threw rose petals. No danger there.
So much has happened in the last four years. So much joy mixed with so much pain. There is no one else in the world with whom I would want standing beside me besides my husband.
Stay tuned for updates from our Colorado anniversary trip we're taking next week.
We sang this song in church on Sunday, and it has been in my head ever since.
We have launched into the world of Reproductive Endocrinology, and with each test result and each procedure, this is where I want my heart to be....fixing my gaze on God alone and trusting him completely. My heart longs to be a mother, and only God knows if that will ever happen.
I will trust him completely. I will mourn the babies that we have lost. I will wait, and I will praise Him.
Psalm 62
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.
So let's rewind to about 2 weeks before my last post.
When my husband and I graduated from seminary in May, we were so surprised when his parents offered to take us on a graduation trip to Bermuda. We said yes of course, and were whisked off to an island full of beauty and culture.
This post will be Bermuda in Pictures...(does anyone remember old slide reels? Pretend we're sitting in my living room with a sheet on the wall and I'm clicking a slide reel...it's much more nostalgic that way)
Dan and me about 30 seconds after we got to the hotel. It was BEAUTIFUL and made me want to buy a sailboat.
Sailboats everywhere...
More sailboats...
Dan and me swimming out to this massive rock. I am, in fact, wearing a swimsuit.
The hotel's sister resort had an amazing beach with these cute waitresses serving you round the clock. Dark n Stormy at 11 AM? Don't mind if I do!
This is a huge cannon in the quaint little city of St. George. St. George is the oldest settlement in Bermuda and the third successful British settlement in the Americas. It was first settled in 1692!
Bermuda also played an important role securing America's independence: During the revolutionary war Bermudians stole much-needed gunpowder from a magazine which supplied neighbouring the forts protecting St. George's, and then smuggled it out of Tobacco Bay(over the hill from St. George's) to George Washington. Cool. huh? Thanks Wikipedia for the reminder...
This is a European-style cathedral that was never finished. It was near completion when the church members had a disagreement that was so disruptive that construction was stopped and this beautiful Cathedral was never finished. How's that for Christian love and brotherhood.....It's from the 1870s.
We had to take a minute and read the Summit Daily News while we were there. The Summit Daily is from Summit County, CO, where our vacation home is located. We actually sent this picture in, and it was printed a few weeks ago.
Daredevils...D and his dad jumped off of these rocks, even though they were strictly instructed not to. We're glad they survived.
This little lagoon was possibly our favorite little spot on the island. The sand was pink and the water was warm. It was like something from a movie.
We had a great time...Stay tuned for part 2. More pics and stories to come!
These are some of Dan's good friends- they call themselves the Oviedo 7, even though there are 8 of them. Go figure. These men and their wives and children have been a blessing to us throughout the last 3 years. We are so thankful for our little RTS family. We're spreading out all across the world, (Florida, North Carolina, Japan, Bangaladesh, England) and I will miss these people dearly.
These are the 14 people that have walked this journey together. MAC 2012- I love them. They all have supported me and challenged me more than I would have ever dreamed, and it has been hard but wonderful. I will miss so many things about each of them as we all go our separate ways.
2 of my besties! Elizabeth and Kim- We need to keep thirsty Thursdays going. Skype maybe?
Dan and me with Dan's parents after the ceremony
Dan and me with my parents and brother, Neil after the ceremony
We are extremely thankful for our families and for their support and encouragement over the last 3 years. They have supported us emotionally and financially and through their prayers, and we could NOT have done this without them. We are SO blessed.
Love this man! We were so blessed by being able to go through seminary together. Graduating together was such a unique experience, and I am so thankful that we are DONE! The Lord has been good to us even in the midst of incredible trials that we never would have expected. The last 6 months have been so, so hard and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else but him. I am so proud of him, and he is going to be a great pastor.
So the question on everyone's minds: What's next? We have a few exciting things in the works for the next few years. Dan has accepted a position as a church planting intern with our church, New City. Through his apprenticeship, he will be preparing to church plant sometime in the next few years. We have a pretty grueling assessment to get through in July before that can happen; please be in prayer for us!
I will be working June-August at RTS filling in for our clinic director while she is on maternity leave. After August, only the Lord knows. I have some options for starting a priviate practice, but Dan and I have both decided that some time off would do my heart and my soul good. I'm planning to spend a lot of time at the beach decompressing from the last two years and the intense last 6 months.
I'm also planning to spend LOTS of time in the kitchen experimenting with sprouting, fermenting, tincture making, etc. It will all be documented here on OCF, so buckle up!
I just need someone who could help me get some sleep
Who could help me get some sleep
This isn’t easy
This isn’t clear
And you don’t need Jesus
Til you’re here
Then confusion and the doubts you had
Up and walk away
They walk away
When a heart breaks
This isn’t easy
This isn’t clear
And you don’t need Jesus
Til you’re here
Then confusion and the doubts you had
Up and walk away
They walk away
When a heart breaks
Funny that the first time I heard this song, I thought, "Wow...it sounds like Ben Rector had a miscarriage."
Ben rector didn't*, but I did.
And though our hearts are broken, we both cherish the 10 weeks we had with that little one growing inside me. We had so much fun telling our families and celebrating Christmas. We dreamt about Christmas 2013, which would have been our baby's first Christmas. December 30 all of our dreams were crushed when we learned that our baby did not have a heartbeat. Three agonizing weeks later, my pregnancy finally came to an excruciating end. A friend of mine said that the moment that you decide to have children your heart is forever changed. My heart is forever changed because of the life and death of our first child.
The Lord has been so near to us during this time. I have hardly been able to find the words to pray to move toward him, but the beauty of the gospel isn't that I move toward him, it's that he moves toward me in my brokenness. In times when my heart couldn't even form the words, I been lifted by those in my community who have ceaselessly prayed for us. I haven't spent much time in the word in the last few months, but have been more honest and closer to the Lord than I have ever felt.
For some reason, God saw fit to have our baby bypass this broken world all together and bring it straight to Heaven. I long for the New Heavens and New Earth where someday I will hopefully meet our child there. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
*Ben Rector is married...so his wife might have ha a miscarriage. Or...that song could totally not be about miscarriage at all. For me though, it is.
We're crunchy because we do things a little different around Casa de Crunch.
Hamburger Helper? Wheat Thins? Diet Soda? Basically anything that comes in a box? Not in our kitchen. Homemade yogurt? Soaked Granola? Raw milk? Absolutely. We make a lot of things from scratch, including face wash and deodorant. We question a lot of conventional medicine. We're generally...different. There are so many reasons for this; we'll get into that later.
Not only are we crunchy in the "natural, hippie" sense of the word. Our lives are full of Crunch lately. A quick thesaurus search on the word crunch made that pretty clear to us! Some of the words that appeared were: Test, tight spot, economic squeeze, difficult, crux, moment of truth, pivotal moment, decisive moment. We know though, that every crunch makes our love and our faith stronger. We hope that chronicling every crunchy moment here on OCF, we'll be able to look back and see how much the Lord has truly stretched and blessed us along the way.
We love Jesus like crazy, but only because he loves us. We find all that we need and all that we are in Him. I'm a counselor; hubby's a pastor, (we know...our future kids are going to need some serious therapy). We're graduating from seminary in May, and can not wait to see where our lives take us after graduation.
*Writing a first blog post is incredibly anxiety producing. You can only have your "first time" once, ya know.
