Of Weddings, Reunions and Australians

    We had the opportunity to travel to Ohio this past weekend to celebrate the wedding of one of my good friends, Anna. Her and I traveled together in Life Action and we also got to meet up with other LA friends on this trip! We left our house Friday around 11:30pm and arrived at our destination Saturday around 4:30am.

    To sum it all up, the trip was amazing. We had perfect weather, we got to see friends that we haven’t seen in years and to top it all off our host mom, Diane, was from Australia! If you know us, you know that our dream trip is to one day go to Australia. I’m sure we looked like complete nerds expressing our fascination with Diane’s home continent, but she was very gracious. I just love Australian accents, I could have probably fallen asleep listening to her read the phone book. Anna, because she is amazing, had arranged for Jonathan and I to stay in a host home instead of a hotel. I was worried that it might be a bit awkward, not knowing them and all, but it wasn’t. They were very hospitable and relaxed.

    After sleeping for a few hours at our host home it was time to get ready for the ceremony which started around 1:00pm on Saturday. Because our host dad had left early we ended up driving our host mom with us to the church. Which was fine with us, more time to listen to that fabulous accent! ;) The church was close and we arrived in no time. En route, Kellie texted me and told me that when we get there she would take me downstairs to see the bride who, in her words, was “AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!”.

    Jonathan dropped me and our host mom off at the door and I walked in trying to find Kellie’s amongst all the unfamiliar faces. And then she appeared smiling that gorgeous Kellie smile and we hugged. I hadn’t seen her in over 3 years and it was so very good to see her again! Being well acquainted with long-distance friendships has made friend and family reunions one of my favorite things.

    Kellie took me downstairs and I finally got to see the bride! Kellie wasn’t lying about the way Anna looked. She was stunning. The dress was perfect for her, all ivory and with just the right amount of detail. Her hair was in soft curls framing her face and she looked natural and beautiful as a bride. 

    I also got to see Crystal and Jordan and their adorable, two year old son Evan. We all had a few moments in the dressing room with Anna ‘oohing and aaahing’ over her dress and rubbing Crystal’s pregnant tummy ;) Then it was back upstairs to wait for the ceremony to begin. I found Jonathan upstairs and eventually we were escorted to our seat by one of Anna’s younger brothers. And there we sat and waited for it all to get started.

    I wish I had taken more pictures to share on here but I wanted to enjoy this wedding and not be worried about getting a good shot the whole time. Besides, if you really want to see amazing pictures just get on Facebook and check out Amanda Weis Photography. They did a superb job with the photography.

The ceremony site was decorated simply but beautifully. Lots of tulle and candlelight. It all seemed to reflect Anna’s personality. She’s your sweet, servant-hearted with a dry-humor-sarcastic side, kind of girl. Knowing her over the years had definitely been a privilege.

    Weddings are so special and I love seeing them done the right way. It definitely brought tears to my eyes to see Anna walking down the aisle so graceful and beautiful and so ready to become Stephen’s wife. And it didn’t help that when I looked onstage at Kellie she was tearing up too! All in all,  the ceremony was perfect. I love how they included both sides of the family and especially brought honor to Jesus Christ through it all.

    Then it was on to the reception. I didn’t know you could make a gym look so lovely. More tulle and twinkle lights and flowers! Once again, simply and gracefully done.

     We loved relaxing at the reception. Catching up with Jordan and Crystal, Nathan and Amanda, and Kellie and Anna was so good! I sure hope it’s not that long before we see them all again. Soon it was all over and time to crash. As much as I love dressing up I was ready to put a t-shirt and jeans back on. We ended the day by watching a basketball game with our host parents back at their house.

    One of the highlights of the trip for me was getting to go with Kellie to Starbucks the following morning on our way home. She lives on the other side of the country so visits with her are pretty scarce. We sat at the coffee shop and talked like no time had past since seeing each other everyday when we were Base Camp teachers together. I love (even crave at times) good, Christ-honoring fellowship. It’s so rare and talking with Kellie was a refresher for my soul. And through the whole thing, Jonathan just sat there patiently listening to all the laughter and girl chatter. I love that man! After dropping Kellie off and saying our good-byes it was time to head home to ol’ Kentucky. We were ready to see some hills again. Ohio is beautiful but a bit flat for us ;)

    I thoroughly enjoyed myself on this trip and thank God for all the safety we had driving back and forth. We are blessed to know such amazing people and so happy we got to share in Anna and Stephen's big day!