Haybales to Highways--The Last Chapter In My Pre-*Wonderful* Life

Inspiration strikes me at the oddest times--today, for instance, as I was making preparations for the Walk my family and I were participating in (story to come later) I was looking for a suitable bag to hold all of our snacks and accessories. I came upon my old college book bag

(with the word SHELLY emblazoned on it in rainbow letters of course)

and figured that it would be perfect. I opened it up and dumped out it's contents: the knife we used to serve our wedding cake, all of the response cards from the invitations and some of the silver floating rose candles used in our centerpieces. I dumped them aside and didn't think about them much until I got back this afternoon. After I laid the girls down from their nap I started rifling through the response cards--reading through who came, who didn't, all the little notes etc.

And then it hit me--as I was looking through all of these cards and they were filled with names of people who have passed from this life (my own dear Grandmother), from couples who have split (too many to name), family members who have since become estranged (again, too many to name), children who have grown up, friends who have married and started their own families, best friends from high school and college who I haven't seen in YEARS

(sarah, pattylynn, rachelbeth, beck, lyd and deb {i miss you all})

it was such a special event--

it was such a HUGE event

My parents rock for putting it all together while I was living in NJ b/c I couldn't bare to be away from Mr. W for any more months than necessary!

The week leading up to our wedding was one of the most stressful of my life (up to that point anyways), as we learned the intricate pattern of dancing between three sets of families expectations--being blessed and annoyed at turns--navigating the disagreements of the week--it wasn't very fun at all but thankfully it culminated into our wedding extravaganza so we could finally be married and alone and happy and alone and married and alone

(this *true love waits* stuff wasn't easy or fun but it gave our marriage the most beautiful and lasting and special foundation)

I watched our wedding video tonight to refresh my memory about it all and I came to a few conclusions:

1. I was HOT (literally and figuratively--who was that young, pretty, thin girl and seriously, who builds a BRAND new church without AC--HOT HOT HOT!)

2. Our wedding was the longest wedding in history (45 minutes felt like a week!)

3. My mom's voice was beautiful (mine wasn't half bad either)

4. I can't believe I talked Mr. W into singing high harmony with me on "From This Moment On" poor guy!

5. One shouldn't watch a wedding video during an introspective moment--b/c seeing my Grandmother walk down the aisle, take pictures of me, dab her eyes with a hanky were all too much for my heart to handle.

The things I remember best about that day were looking at Mr. W during our vows and the preaching and smiling so much that by the end of the ceremony my cheeks HURT!

Crying after we walked out of the church from the relief and JOY to finally BE MARRIED!

Being greeted by my numerous relatives and friends who were in attendance (our wedding was stinkin' huge! 15 attendants, seriously?)

[{Aside from being married, the most important thing I wanted from that day was to have the pastor share the story of salvation with all of my relatives--I"m so thankful that so many unchurched or rarely churched people got to hear the WORD.

(His Word is powerful, it does not return void, AMEN!)

And even though the devil tried to distract everyone before the salvation message with a sweetly fainting ring bearer, the pastor got the message across loud and clear!

Glory be to God!}]

The smile on my face as I walked down the aisle as Mrs. Wonderful was electric.

What a wonderful gift to be married to my sweet husband!

God is good.

God has blessed me more than I ever thought possible through my marriage and my husband. I'm so thankful for the highway that lead me away from the haybales--and even though I miss just about everything from the country--there is nowhere that I'd rather be than anywhere with

My Mr. Wonderful.