Hitching Sherman. Our wedding in photos.

I'm so excited to share our special day with all of you here on the blog. 

First of all a HUGE thank you to Amy Daring photography for not only capturing our special day beautifully, but for being my personal florist and helping me with so much of the leg work for the wedding. Also, a huge thank you to Who's the Fairest Cosmetic's for doing our makeup and making us girls feel so glam for the day!

Going through these photos takes me right back to that day and all of the beauty that accompanied our wedding day. It was relaxed, fun, filled with so much love, lots of laughter and wonderful memories for our precious family. 

Our wedding was originally planned for March but when Ryan purchased our home we pushed it up. 

My grandad (who knows me so well) tore the sweetest reminder out of a magazine and gave it to me the week before the wedding. 

It read:

While there were so many more loved one's I wanted to share this day with, we were only able to have our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles there with us- But there was something about  just having our closest relatives there to witness our vows exchanged that made everything so special and intimate. 

Ryan's dad was his best man. I love him so much and was so excited that he was the one standing beside Ryan. 

My best friend Erika was my maid of honor. We are soul sisters, kindred spirits- whatever you want to call it, there's a level of friendship between us and our children that surpasses all understanding.

The four of us together really and truly is just too much for words.

We broke a few traditions with our wedding: one of them being Ryan and I seeing each other before we took our vows and the other being my sweet little man walking me down the aisle. 

When Jude overheard me talking about my dad walking me down the aisle he immediately interjected and said he wanted to do it. *tears*

And so he did...

"Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course." 

- Lemony Snicket

Pastor Don surprised us with a special moment where he talked to the kids in a child-like manner about what our wedding day meant for us as a new family and how they were just as much a part of what was taking place that day as Ryan and I were. It was such a sweet and unforgettable part of our ceremony.

You can't see Jason really well in the back left corner but he plays music by ear and he's incredibly talented. He went above and beyond to arrange a mash up of the music to 'As Sure as the Sun' and 'Lost Boy' exactly the way I'd imagined it. He was truly a blessing to us in so many ways. 

And so was Pastor Don. We are so thankful for him and all the ways he made our ceremony specific to us as a couple and our newly blended family. We couldn't imagine any one more perfect to marry us and pray God's best over our lives together. 

Deeply Rooted

I've given serious thought over the past few years to the idea of choosing a "word of the year". 

Last year, (or maybe it was the year before that) I chose a word to throw out there, but never committed to praying that particular word over my life. I took notice of how that word appeared literally and fuguratively over my life that year, but that was the extent of it. 

This year felt different. I really felt pressed to choose a word for the year- a word to pray over our family and watch God's faithfulness as he fulfills the meaning of the word he has pressed on my heart to choose for 2016.

For the first time since I moved away to college, I've heard the phrase forever home. 

When Ryan and I were engaged and began looking at homes I was getting a little impatient because I thought he was being too picky or that he wasn't as serious as he'd said. He finally explained to me one night that he was looking for a house that would be a forever home. 

This was so huge for me. Not only did my love and admiration for Ryan grow but my trust in him did too. I can't even explain how secure it felt to know that my kids and I could put our faith in him and trust in the fact that he was going to step up and be willing to give us stability. That we could plant our roots somewhere and know permanence in our life was beyond anything I could ever ask or imagine. 

From day one Ryan has fulfilled every promise and in that time God has been faithful in showing a picture himself to me and my children. 

While the kids were still away at their Dad's last week, I shared with Ryan my desire to commit to a word for the year not just for myself but for our whole family. 

The last few years of my life have been a season of pruning. This quote came to mind as I began to discover my word: 

Seasons of being pruned are uncomfortable and raw but they're necessary. It's an essential process in the life of those who trust in Him and critical for those who desire to grow. 

I've prayed and I've taken the time to really listen and lean in to what my word for 2016 would be. 

As I prayed, pictured my life as it is and as it could be and I thought about that quote by Christine Cane, the word that kept coming to mind was Rooted. 

"Rooted," like a living tree which lays hold upon the soil twists itself around the rocks, and cannot be upturned.

That season of pruning has given way to the opportunity for me to know myself,  what I stand for (as well as what I don't). It has opened doors for friendships and allowed love to grow. It allowed me to shed what was dead in my life so that now I can plant my roots firmly, grow deeper and expand wider.

I can not wait to look back at the end of this year and see the ways in which the Lord worked and allowed us to be rooted in particular areas as we started off the new year as a brand new family. 

Here's to 2016-

A year of being deeply rooted: In life. In faith. In love. In friendships as they grow. 

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

" 

Ephesians 3:17-21

Love remains.

I can't wait to get our wedding photos back so I can share them all with you, but until then I wanted to share my heart. 

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

We only have this one life here on earth.

The beauty and comfort in that truth is that we don't get just one shot at it. We serve a God of second chances. A God who doesn't require that we pick up the remains of the aftermath, but who completely restores our life and makes all things new. 

I'll never forget they way I felt the moment I stepped up to the alter, joined hands with Ryan and listened as pastor Don began to read aloud the lyrics to the song I chose as I walked down the aisle:

"There is good news

There is good truth
That you could never change
No matter what you do
You are loved
More than you know
More than you could hope for
After everything you've done

As sure as the sun will rise
And takes away the night
His mercy will not end
His mercy will not end

There is good news
There's a promise
That no matter where you go
You will never be alone
In the dark
In the doubting
When you can't feel anything
Oh, his love remains the same

As sure as the sun will rise
And takes away the night
His mercy will not end
His mercy will not end

Even through the night
Silver stars will shine
Hope of glory's light
That will wake us once again

As sure as the sun will rise
And takes away the night
As sure as the sun will rise
His mercy will not end
His mercy will not end"

As Sure As The Sun by Ellie Holcomb. 

I didn't intend to get teary-eyed or a little weepy, but the second I heard those lyrics I typed in bold I could barely hold back the tears. 

There was something about having that song read back to us as part of our marriage covenant that not only brought the tears; it brought the picture and purpose of marriage exactly the way it was created by our Heavenly Father to life. 

Seconds before I felt giddy, filled with joy and overwhelmed with gladness.  

As Pastor Don continued to read, I was quickly sobered and filled with humility because not only has my savior loved me at my darkest and when I didn't want to feel anything, so has Ryan. 

I stood up there with Ryan and a room full of loved ones, most of my village in that little chapel where we were wed, who have all loved me not just on the good days but also at my darkest. 

In that moment I felt so undeserving, yet so much gratitude that God would choose to give me this life. 

I feel so much comfort and freedom in trusting Ryan to love me unconditionally during our lifetime here on earth, and even more freedom in the truth that marriage is not just about us. It's not just about the song or the dress or wedding "stuff".

Marriage is a metaphor of Christ and the church. 

A picture of unconditional love. The commitment and the laying down of one's life for the one whom your soul loves.

Not just on the good days. In the dark days. In the days of doubting. 

In seasons of life when we need our savior and where God's infinite love and mercy abounds...

His love remains the same. 

In seasons of marriage when our infinite, unconditional love for each other abounds and we choose to choose each other everyday through it all..

Love remains.

Days when we love each other at our darkest. When we work together raising our children. When we laugh together until we can't breathe and our sides hurt. 

Even on the days in between when we're just content to be still and sit together without saying a word...

Love remains.