MORE wedding photos!

Update: 150 photos have just been uploaded to Facebook, so check ‘em out! (Please let me know if the link doesn’t work for you.)

On Facebook, I mention which photos are my favorites. What’s your favorite?

Wedding photos!

I’m so excited to share our wedding photos with you! I’m also really excited to tell you about our awesome photographer, Tim Trace. He’s laid-back, professional, fun and a good friend of ours as well!

Check out Trace Photography!

Joe’s favorite anecdote

This is the ever-so-funny story that Joe likes to share with our friends and family when they ask how married life is so far.

One night we were lying in bed, discussing different aspects of marriage and, in particular, how some things are more difficult than we had anticipated. Looking at Joe, I said, “I just didn’t know you would do so many things that would annoy me.”

It’s true. I didn’t. (But I still love him.)

The perfect wife…

…has dinner on the table at 5 o’clock sharp. Her house is immaculate. She’s always agreeable, pleasant and pretty. She doesn’t pick fights or get angry about petty things. She never raises her voice. Why would she? The perfect wife never gets angry.

I’m not this woman. I can’t have dinner on the table at 5 o’clock because I don’t even get home until 5:30. Joe usually does the dishes (and most of the rest of the cleaning…). Our house? It’s a mess. I still haven’t finished unpacking. And I do get angry about petty things. I have even (*gasp*) raised my voice. I think the right word would be “yelled.” I honestly didn’t know I had it in me.

One night I was crying to Joe about how I’m not perfect. (Apparently I’m the only person who was surprised by this revelation.) He told me he doesn’t want me to be perfect. He doesn’t care about any of the things I’ve placed so much pressure on myself to be and do.

Joe said, “You only need one thing to be a perfect wife. And you already have that.”

He pointed to the photo hanging behind me, above our bed.

Fail Us Not

We sang this song in church a few weeks ago. It’s good enough that I think the video is worth passing along to you. Check it out!

Are you good enough for this?

When you talk about scholarships for college, there’s a category called merit-based awards. Basically, what that means is that if your high school grades and standardized test scores are high enough, you’re going to get some money to go to school. If they’re not…well, sorry ’bout your luck.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. Life with God is different. The ultimate reward in life, salvation, is given to us by no merit of our own whatsoever. Basically, you can’t be good enough to deserve this. You can’t earn it. But you can have it. For free.

It’s like a free ride to college for the kid that flunked out of every high school class. It doesn’t make sense. It’s not fair. But that’s the backwards wisdom of God.

Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seat.

Joe and I have been reading Sit, Walk, Stand by Watchman Nee. It’s his commentary on the book of Ephesians. Our pastor is also doing a sermon series on Ephesians right now. The book and the sermon series seem to be creating the perfect storm for application and growth in my life.

In chapter one, Nee asserts that before a follower of Jesus can do anything for God, he or she must first learn to accept and live in what has already been done. He refers to this as sitting because we are already seated with Christ.

I made a choice to give my life over to Jesus when I was very young. I grew up going to church and I am very familiar with parts of the Bible that talk about being saved by grace, through faith. Basically, what that means is that Jesus saved me, not through any of my own merit – my own talent, intelligence, good looks or smooth talking – but only because he loved me and had mercy on me.

I knew that. Why, then, have Watchman Nee’s words been piercing me to the core and challenging me like mad?

Newly-wedded and learning a LOT

After such a lengthy absence, it’s hard to know where to start. I thought about taking time to outline and craft the perfect post, but instead just decided to jump right in and see where this goes.

So, I’m married now. Joe and I thought our wedding was an absolutely perfect day; we loved every minute of it. We honeymooned in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, then came back home to begin real life.

Real life – talk about a learning curve! Tomorrow will mark four weeks of marriage for me and Joe. In those four weeks, I’ve been learning so much – about how to be a wife to Joe, my own identity in Christ and how to communicate well.

When people ask me how married life is so far, I automatically respond, “Good!” with a cheery smile, but to be perfectly honest, in the back of my mind I’m usually thinking, “And hard!“

So far, most of the challenges in marriage seem to come from the fact that I just have so dang much to learn – about who I am and, more importantly, who God is. In coming entries, I’m going to try to unpack some of what I’ve been learning and how God has been challenging me.

I’d love to hear from other newlyweds (or not-so-newlyweds who remember those early days) out there – what were the early weeks and months of marriage like for you? How did you grow and change? Did you have disappointed expectations? How did you (or how do you) deal with that?

Snapshots

One thing I prayed for the weekend of our wedding was that Joe and I would have moments – big and little – when time just slowed down and we could almost take a snapshot with our mind, remembering exact details and marking down sweet memories.

In his faithfulness, God allowed us moments just like that. Here are a few:

• Friday before the wedding, Joe and I buckled down at my parents’ dining room table to write thank-you notes. It took the better part of the afternoon, but it was a sweet time – sitting in relative silence, my parents busy around us, searching through the Bible to find Scripture to share with our wedding party. Time slowed down and life didn’t feel hectic or crazy.
• Friday night after dinner, Joe and I left the house for a quiet corner of Panera so we could write our vows. It didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. We wrote our vows separately, shared them with each other and then revised. I think that sharing them together that evening was at least as momentous as sharing them with each other during the ceremony. We both choked up as Joe read his vows to me. They were so sweet, so precious and so God-led. That’s my husband!
• As I waited for sleep to overcome me on Saturday night, I heared my bridesmaids laughing and talking. I could hear distinct voices, giggles and laughter. It was such a joy to have my sister and friends from different parts of my life together, enjoying one another. I thought about how close Mollie is with each of those women and how each of them loves her as if she’s their own little sister. I couldn’t ask for friends that awesome (or a sister cool enough to be friends with all my friends!).
• Arriving at the church, climbing out of the car, and hearing my name being called across the parking lot. I turned to see my first best friend, Katie V., whom I hadn’t seen in eight years! I ran and met her with a big hug, crying and laughing and losing my veil in the process.
• Sitting in the parlor, waiting for the wedding to begin, was the slowest time of the day and I was feeling a little antsy, but my friends kept stopping in to say hello as they arrived – Aubree, Angie, Chelsea, Jeff, Dennis and Jolene…it was so great to see everyone! I got to talk to Katie and her mom for a long time, which was just so precious to me.
• Holding a chocolate-covered strawberry for our flower girl, Ava. She took bites and I caught the crumbs with my hand so her dress wouldn’t get stained. This was about ten minutes before we walked down the aisle, which made her mom a little nervous.
• Standing outside the main entrance to the sanctuary, holding my dad’s arm. Everyone else was already through the door and we talked about whether or not we were nervous and which foot we would step out on first as we walked down aisle. Then the doors began to open and…
• Everyone stood and turned towards me as the doors opened. I barely heard the music playing as I scanned the room until I caught Joe’s eyes. (He told me later he saw me searching for him as soon as the doors opened.)
• As Dad and I reached the front of the church, I was beaming and couldn’t take my eyes off Joe, my groom.
• At some point during the ceremony – maybe during our pastor’s message – Joe looked at me and whisphered, “Where are we supposed to be looking right now?” I laughed and told him we could look at Jeff or each other – I didn’t think it really mattered.

Getting to talk to people at the reception was such a joy. We got to say hello to everyone who came! It was wonderful. We had so many friends and family members that traveled so far to share in our joy that day. On the way home, Joe and I talked about the day and agreed that it was absolutely perfect – we wouldn’t have changed a thing!

No, I’m not blogging from my honeymoon. This is a scheduled post.

Falling asleep Saturday night, I thought, This is it. I’m marrying Joe tomorrow and this is for the rest of my life. That’s potentially a very long time [God willing].

It wasn’t a bad thought – just a thought.

I’ve been so thankful – and a couple of times nearly bowled over – this week by thoughts of God’s goodness, faithfulness and generosity.

I prayed for my husband for years. I watched for him. I wondered if he existed. And I ultimately told God that, if he didn’t, that was okay and I trusted him (God).

When I met Joe, I had different plans. I asked Joe and my parents at lunch on Friday, “Who thought on October 2, 2008 that they’d be getting ready for a wedding a year later?” Not surprisingly, no one raised their hands. That’s the way this relationship has gone. There have been unexpected surprises at almost every turn.

For several years, I’d lived with the motto, “Drive a stake.” By that I meant, Make plans and then dig your heels in. Oh, I intended to make the plans that God directed me to make. But I was pretty inflexible in what I believed those to be.

One day I was praying with a dear friend. She didn’t know my “motto,” but she said, “Katie, God is expanding the tent in your heart. He is pulling up the stakes and putting them down in new places.” I was floored. She didn’t know. But God did. And, in that prayer, God gave me the freedom to move forward in a relationship with Joe.

My relationship with Joe has been about a lot of heart change – God bringing freedom and healing in ways that I don’t think he could’ve done apart from Joe’s loving prayers and his voice speaking into my heart.

I’m amazed at God’s faithfulness. I’m amazed at his love for us. I’m amazed that he knows the desires of our hearts and, lovingly and in grace, he fulfills them.