Our Little Girl

She has no idea how much we already love her! We saw her for the first time on ultrasound when I was only 13 weeks and 5 days along, and there was no doubt in my mind, from that point on, how much she was going to change our lives.

She was meant to be, a God send. We had one conversation about how God is in control and if he wants us to have children, well, we'd have children. One week later, I felt funny. That's the best I can describe it. Different. Funny. Weird. And we just knew.

I'm not sure whether you'd call that "trying" or "planning on it" or whatever, it was a leap of faith because for some reason we knew that if God wanted it to happen, it'd happen, whether or not we were "trying" or "planning on it" or even if it was an "oops" or even if it took us years. It's all in HIS timing. It all happens because God wants it to happen. That's one fact that rebounds itself over and over again throughout our lives, and this little girl is a reminder of God's sovereignty.

When we saw her moving around and listened to her heartbeat for the first time, all the while crying, praising and thanking God for this life, there was confirmation once again that He is in control! He created a beautiful, baby girl. And there is absolutely, positively, no denying, that after 13 short weeks our baby is in fact, a living, breathing BABY. Praise God!

"For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works,

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them."

- Psalm 139: 13-16

Wedding Day, July 24, 2009

Our wedding day was perfect.

The week before, not so much.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. In fact, I began making a list. I'll share that list with you. It's funny now, but at the time it brought me to tears....

1. On our way to steam my dress, my dog Nita (who was half black lab, half pit bull, so she's big) got sick. She puked and had the runs ALL OVER MY CAR. I had to pull over every 30 seconds so I could shove her out before she made a bigger mess than she already made. Good thing all my wedding and teaching stuff were in bags, or it would've been ruined. She probably puked a total of 10 times and pooped at least 4. Yuck! It took more than 30 minutes to clean out my car.
2. The first steamer we had didn't work, so Kyle bought a new one while he was in Denver. Then that steamer made no effect what-so-ever on the wrinkles in my dress. So Grandma, bless her heart, went out and bought a new iron and carefully did it all herself. My dress ended up looking perfect. That was all complete the night before my wedding, and we started this task on Wednesday, so imagine our frustration.
3. On of my bridesmaids, candlelighters, wedding singers, and an attendant broke down on their way up the mountain. They were stuck in Evergreen, which is about an hour and a half drive from Fraser, an  hour before rehearsal began. So my brother, who is a groomsman and Kelsey Romsheck, one of the ushers went to get them. The rehearsal began at 6, but they did not arrive until around 7:30 - 8ish. I'm just glad they were safe!
4. To make that situation even worse, I had asked them to stop by the mall to pick up my garter. I received a phone call from the girls and THEY NEVER ORDERED IT! So they accomodated by giving me one from the store, but it wasn't the one I wanted, oh well, I sucked it up.
5. When I got to the rehearsal, everyone was parked in the spot where we were having the ceremony, making it impossible to set up and practice. Which should've been done before rehearsal began, but we ran out of time!
6. I tried printing off my "responsibility list" for my host couples, ushers, personal attendants, etc. before the rehearsal and they would NOT print. So I just left my computer out and they all referred to that.
7. The bridesmaid's dresses were a disaster. The company who made them totally messed each dress up. First of all, they looked nothing like the pattern. They were HUGE on the girls, even after being measured to have the dress fit them. They were crooked. They hung weird. They were ugly. The night before we spent at my mom's resizing, refitting, and basically trying to redo the entire dress. We were supposed to hang out and have a relaxing evening at the Woodspur Lodge. That didn't happen. The girls sucked it up and made them look beautiful regardless, because THEY are beautiful (it had nothing to do with the dress).
8. The hair dresser didn't work out. So with six girls needing their hair done, I only had one person to do it. My poor Aunt Tammy. It ended up working out, but I was doing hair, Tammy was doing Hair... thankfully everyone was willing to pitch in.
9. My mom and Grandma Eileen were making cakes and due to a lot of different reasons (altitude, cake pans, ingredients, whatever) the cakes kept sinking in the middle. Thanks to their diligence it ended up being perfect.
10. This happened the week before the week before my wedding, lol, but it's definitely worth sharing. After they slaughtered our roasting pig they froze the poor thing upside down, spread eagle. Which made him HUGE! He weighed approximately 270 lbs and when his legs were spread it made him tall and wide. The box Micah's cousin made for transport was too small, so they had to cut off teh pigs feet in order to even get it to fit in a vehicle to transport it. Thankfully Micah's cousin and her parents worked everything out. I don't know how, but the pig was at the wedding and tasted yummy.

BUT the day was perfect, and thanks to A LOT of people, everything went smoothly... no glitches. Beth James did an amazing job with pictures and by looking at them you'd never know we had all those issues. Check out her website: http://studiojimages.net/

I thought I'd continue telling you about our wedding day through some of my favorite pictures...

We got ready at Woodspur Lodge in Winter Park, CO and it was a perfect start to the day, being with my besties...

On my way to the Fraser Rodeo Grounds in Fraser, CO to see Kyle for the first time and take pictures. I couldn't wait, I was so excited to see him!



My sister, Mel, was pregnant with my cute little nephew Gary and he was moving around!

My poor brother, Matt. I used to make him play wedding growing up and this is how we took all our pictures. Funny.

Marley hated his tux!

We had this hayrack set up for our wedding party to ride before and after the wedding. So before the guests began arriving we took this hayrack ride to a friends house just down the road and continued snapping pictures. The hayrack ride was our favorite part of the day, it was so much fun!

 

"It's flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord." - Song of Solomon 8:6

When dad gave me away he had this whole spiel about how he has loved me since the day I was born and always will, he ended it with, "do you want me to put your hand in this man's?" I bawled so hard I couldn't even say yes, no I earnestly nodded.

Exchanging Vows.

First Kiss as Husband and Wife.

Time to Celebrate!

Engagement: October 11, 2008

Our journey with Christ began when Kyle asked me to marry him. Our engagement was challenging because the way we had lived out our relationship beforehand changed.

Kyle and I had a long distance relationship for a couple of years, that alone was a challenge in and of itself. I graduated from Doane College in 2007 and Kyle in 2009. So when Kyle decided to ask for my hand in marriage he drove 10 hours on Friday (AFTER classes) to ask my dad permission and then down 4 hours the next day to ask me. Wow.

Once he got to my house, he brought me flowers and made me dinner. After we ate I got up to begin dishes and putting away leftovers. When I turned around Kyle was on one knee asking me to be his wife. My response was immediately one of surprise, “SHUT UP!”

How romantic of me… obviously I didn’t hesitate in my recovery with a solid, excited “YES!”

And there begins a journey neither one of us are ready to forget.

My dad had some requirements for a full blessing. 1. We had to stop having sex and wait until our wedding night. And 2. That we find a solid Christian book guiding us on what it means to have a Christ filled marriage. Kyle took both those things to heart. The first requirement was extremely difficult, but for the 8 months we were engaged, from the time Kyle gave my dad the word until the day we were married we fulfilled his request. The second requirement was actually quite fun. The very next day after I said “YES!” Kyle took me to Cheyenne where we searched Barnes and Noble for “that” book. There was only one. Seriously. So we took it as a sign that it was the one. A Marriage After God’s Own Heart by David Clarke was incredible. Clarke taught us how to pray, fight, love, and most importantly how to put Christ in the center of our marriage.

"A Marriage After God's Own Heart" by David Clarke

Still there was one thing missing. Christ.

As a pastor’s daughter I had grown up surrounded by the teaching of God’s word. Kyle believed in God, but didn’t know what it meant to receive Jesus Christ as his savior. Since high school, neither one of us were interested in following God or glorifying God, so although this was a great book we were missing something.

Until, we decided that Doug at the Winter Park Christian Church would be our pastor. The first day of counseling we walked in completely different than how we walked out.

We cried through the tough stuff of our past and then Doug asked us if either one of us had accepted Jesus Christ as our savior. I said as a child I had, but was not living my life as though I had. Kyle told him that he believed in God, but had never prayed for Jesus to enter his life specifically. So right then and there we prayed and Kyle accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and I reaffirmed my life for Him. It was an amazing experience to share as a new couple. And I will never forget it.

We spent that summer apart once again. After he graduated he got a job as a chemist in the town where I worked, so he moved in to the duplex I had been renting and I moved in with my sister.

I spent the summer planning my wedding and working to afford it. When the day finally came it was a joyous event and we can glorify God knowing that we began our marriage with Christ as the center and we can die knowing we did everything to the best of our ability glorifying Him in it.

My dad ended up taking our engagement pictures, didn't they turn out fantastic? :)

Divine Providence

Kyle and I were meant to be. God put us together. How he did it is a rather humorous story and one worth sharing because it made us realize that nothing is of our own doing. I do not believe in coincidences and our relationship began with a sombrero hat!

It’s amazing how he used this seemingly unimportant object to demonstrate how he is in control. And it all started because I was upset with my sorority that they didn’t like my idea of hosting a Gamma Phi-esta. The symbols for my sorority were Gamma Phi Iota and thought the theme was rather clever. Back in those days we were heavy partiers, but despite this fact HE had plans for us that we never even saw coming. He had His hand in our lives from the very beginning, even when we weren’t following Him.

After my frustration with the party theme rejection I decided to have my own Gamma Phi-esta, which lead me from quad* to quad and eventually I lost my sombrero. I searched and searched, and did not succeed so I headed back to my quad for the night.

That’s where I found the sombrero, sitting on Kyle’s head. I proceeded to yell at him explaining that it was my sombrero and he needed to return it. He promptly returned it, probably regretting ever putting on the crazy ladies hat, explaining that he had just “found it.”

As the evening progressed we talked and laughed about the stupid sombrero and before I kicked him out for the night he asked me when he could see me again. To which I replied, “Look me up on Facebook!”

To this day I’m so glad he did.

* A quad at Doane College was a living space with four bedrooms, a main living room area and a shared bathroom.