Stacie & Andre's Wedding

I met Stacie back at Baylor, many many years ago.  And it was a joy to see her walk down the isle and marry Andre.  The weather in Florida was perfect, and the ceremony was wonderful.  I pray they honor each other and bring glory to God through their union.  Many blessings hoped for them!

Here are some pictures from the wedding.  I love watching the groom when the bride walks in, he had tears in his eyes :).

The ceremony was officiated by Stacie's friend Kelly.  "Out of 7billion people in this world, you two chose each other."  Chose, I love the purposefulness of the statement, of love, and of the ceremony.

I LOVE this picture as they walked down the isle as husband and wife.  :)

The first official announcement as they entered the reception.  

Some of you may have known, but just a two weeks before the wedding, Stacie's dad was hospitalized and in lots of pain.  After loads of tests, they didn't think he would be healthy enough to travel from Pennsylvania to the wedding in Florida.  Prayers went up around the country, and the world.  Just a few days before the wedding he was cleared to attend, and although he was in pain, he was determined to walk her down the isle and dance with her.  Even now, my eyes are filling with tears thinking about this.  As I was taking pictures as the wedding I began crying while they were dancing.  Her family are very precious people and I know how much it meant to Stacie to dance with her daddy.

Below is a picture of Christy, me, and Amy; all Baylor folk who were able to make it to the wedding.  Christy, Larry, and I actually drove down to the wedding together and stayed in a wonderful condo while in Florida.  Amy and her husband live on the other side of Atlanta, although I don't see them as often as I wished.  We had wonderful times laughing at the wedding and enjoying each others company.  What a great reason to all get together...only miles and miles away from home. 

 The Tietjen's with Stacie.

 Love my friend Stace!

 And last, but not least, the Correll-Hughes'

Again, the wedding was lovely and I pray their marriage will overflow with love, joy, and laughter! 

While we were down in Florida, I also got a chance to visit with Jennifer.  We went to Disney World, yep that's right.  And by Disney World, I mean Magic Kingdom

More to come.

Precious Memories

Early Wednesday morning (July 6th), my grandpa went to be with Jesus.  Although I know he's no longer in pain and with his savior...my heart aches.

 

Twilight & Buechner

With the title of this post, one might think I'm going to talk about my favorite books/authors. However, twilight will first and foremost always be a time of day. Not a book about vampires.

Twilight, or dusk, is absolutely my favorite time of day followed closely by sunrise, although I'll save that for another post.

So, twilight. I love the time of day when the sun sets and yet the earth, or my portion of it, is still lit by the suns remanence. Yes, part of it is spiritual for me, I like the symbolism behind the sun leaving and its effect is left behind. And yet part of it is simply the feeling I get at this time of day. Twilight doesn't last long, it's unfortunate lighting for photography, and yet I relish every moment of it. I seek to be outside and experience the fullness of what twilight offers. It's a beautiful time.

The other night, as the sun set, I was walking around part of Baylor's campus. Baylor is a beautiful campus, green (mostly), red brick which echos prestige, and many large shady trees. As I was walking around, I rediscovered another reason for loving dusk. Fireflies or what they call, lightening bugs in Texas. Having my camera with me, I desperately attempted to capture their magnificence on film. Although I caught 4 or 5 in a minute, the video doesn't do justice to the moment.

I read something about 2 years ago that challenged me to think about life a little differently. The article or book spoke about how we, particularly as Americans, take lots of pictures (guilty) in order to remember the moments, but often get so caught up in the taking of pictures that we forget to live the moment.

I was reminded of this truth once again in another book, the Alphabet of Grace by Frederick Buechner. He says,

Forgot yourself in the dream of daily life, Tolstoy says, and forget myself, yes. To forget myself in the very process of being myself, I ask no better. Perhaps there is no gift more precious than the gift of spontaneity, the ability of certain men an animals to act straight and fresh and self-forgettingly out of the living center of who they are without the paralyzing intervention of self-awareness. But the dream of daily life, no....I don't want to dream this day out. I want to live this day out. I want to live this day out as though it were the first day of my life because that is of course what it is....Live a day of it and see. Take any day and be alive in it. Nobody claims that it will be entirely painless, but no matter. Live this day out.

So I sat. And I listened. And I watched as the fireflies danced around in the cool air of the evening.

I love these moments!