Update on the Birthday Boy

Somebody had a birthday yesterday.  I don't feel like such a cougar anymore now that we're the same age again, Jon milks those six months and one day of age difference between us for every drop.

It's been awesome having him down here with us, he fits in perfectly. Last weekend we had a conference with our church, La Viña, and since we have the biggest car around we went to help pick up all the food.  You could barely tell Jon apart from the Cholita women in El Abasto, the open air market where we haggled for the best deals on everything from fruit and vegetables to dried meat.

At Judah Quy, the home of the precious little ones, they have a whole list of honey-do projects for him.  He's fixed a gate, hung some mailboxes, and is working on repairing their injured rocking chair.

We got him some duct tape for his birthday, maybe that'll help with the rocking chair.  The single female missionary theory is that if it doesn't move and it should -- just add W-40, if it moves and it shouldn't -- duct tape. 

In his spare time, he's helping Angie with homework, trying not to pass out during my surgeries, falling asleep during my English classes, trying to stay awake during his Spanish classes, keeping me company while I renew my visa, finding his way around the city, fixing the car, daydreaming about air conditioning, planning to start getting involved at the missionary airport, tickling Angie, playing board games, preparing yummy meals, and generally improving our quality of life down here.  So don't worry, he's not bored, and if he were, I'd surely find him something to do. 

Our young married couples' small group celebrated his birth with the traditional cake-in-the-face Bolivian fun.   

God has been SO good to me.  I've been hesitant to shout from the rooftops how great married-life is, because I know there are lots of people who'd love to be married, but more so, because I'm not sure at all that the institute of marriage is in itself wonderful; waking up next to anyone else in the world for the rest of my life frankly sounds pretty dreadful, but spending the rest of my life with Jon leading our family is like a dream come true.

"Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires." - Psalm 37:4

Favorite Moments from a Favorite Day

It’s been a little more than 7 weeks since we tied the knot. We’ve slept in the same state for 24 of those nights, but our trend just made a major improvement when Jon arrived in Bolivia Sunday!  He brought our new CD of wedding photos and it made me think I should write down my thoughts about that incredible day, or these pictures won’t keep their stories intact for long.  So, I’m sharing a few of my favorite moments with you, and hope you’ll share your favorites back with us, and thus we’ll preserve the memories.  If you didn’t get to join us for the ceremony, here’s a little taste of the highlights.

Angie, the prettiest flower girl ever.  (Courtesy of Heidi Janecke)

My little girl is confused about whether she wants to be a tomboy or a girlie girl, and new hormones surely aren’t helping.  Either way you’re gonna be hard pressed to get her into a dress, (what if a set of parallel bars suddenly appear, she must always be ready to do a flip!) So, seeing her all glammed up was such a treat, even if she was eager to switch into shorts before the reception even began.

A little more realistic shot of us.

Jon’s the much more traditional of the two of us, hence he was the one who wanted to wait till the aisle to see his bride for the first time. But he did allow me a small concession; a “first touch.”  Instead of the recently made common “first look” where the bride and groom see each other and get photos before the ceremony, we chose to just hold hands around the corner of the building, getting a picture with the two of us, without giving anything away.  This was my favorite moment of the day before walking down the aisle, all the hustle and bustle were instantly replaced by calm when his hand was in mine, right where it belongs.

Our only regret about the wedding, was not having it video recorded. I’m still half-waiting for someone to fess up to having shot it on their smartphone. Honestly, if we had more regrets about other things we probably wouldn’t care so much that it wasn’t immortalized on DVD.  But as it was perfect even in its flaws, we hate to see all the unforgettable moments inevitably forgotten.  Can anyone guess what hilarity is captured here? Read on...

Jon’s friend from college, Tim, married us, and his message was one of the most special, yet unscripted parts of the day, culminating in the vows, where he asked Jon to take me as his husband and the father to his children.  Yeah, you heard right, he read the wrong vows, bless his heart. Jon had more sense still about him than I surely would have at that moment and so he hesitated instead of repeating what he’d been told. I likely would have said whatever Tim told me as I floated around on cloud nine.  

I was floating from the very beginning, probably somewhere around the time my dad found us bridesmaids and flower girls hiding in the stairwell and told me he was getting verklempt. But the euphoria only rose until it peaked at the instant when, we’ve been told there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  For those of you who weren’t present and searching for a tissue, after Jon and I took communion to Ben and Amanda’s sweet Spanglish rendition of “Your Love Never Fails”, Jon left me confused and alone as he took off stage right. I wish there was a picture of my concerned expression. It crossed some of your minds as well that maybe he’d gotten cold feet at a very inopportune moment and was heading for the door, but really he was retrieving a hidden stool and Bolivian bowl to wash my feet as his first act of service. Ooh, I love service, and I LOVE surprises, and that was the best one he’s ever pulled on me, I doubt he’ll be able to surpass it, no matter how many years we're fortunate enough to have together.

The only time my smile possibly stretched as far and naturally across my face that day, was watching Angie and Jon dance their father-daughter dance. 

I shocked even myself by thoroughly enjoying my dance with Jon and with my dad (were any of you even there for those 10 minutes? It felt like that tiny dance floor was the whole world.) 

But even more fun than dancing, was beaming as Jon sauntered over to Angelica, Prince Charming on an invisible white horse, and like an appropriately shy little princess in response she blushed and hid her face before accepting his hand and following him to center stage. The pictures don’t do justice to the perfection of the music, “La Niña de Tus Ojos,” a song about a little girl and her Father’s love that gave her an identity when she had none, nor how Angie just talked to him the whole time as if the magical dance floor had engulfed her as well and she too left everyone but Jon behind. Maybe the common denominator wasn’t the small square of hardwood, but that man who makes you feel like the only one in the world when he listens to you or holds you close...

The second father-daughter dance. (Courtesy of Nick Szmiot)

Another small regret is that because Tim went so far off his notes, none of his really personalized and pretty hilarious message with such phrases as “Giddyup!” and “To quote the philosopher John Mayer, 'It’s cold Baby, come back to bed,'” were written down. Please do share with us your favorite quotes from the ceremony so we can piece back together his one-of-a-kind pep talk. We’d love nothing more than to hear your favorite part of the day, so we can cherish the memories along with the photos, the rings, and all the reminders of when we officially launched this new little family.

All photos not otherwise captioned are by All Angles Photography. We love those guys!!!!

An Awesome Whirlwind Tour

Twelve days ago, I wrote to you from a Florida airport, just as I am now. Then, I shared a schedule of things to be accomplished in my quick trip through the Southeast U.S. Now, with all of those activities successfully checked off my to-do list, and then some, I'm headed back to Bolivia to rejoin Angie.

Amazing ribs with some of the CVM family!

The trip was even better than anticipated.  The food was incredible: BBQ in Kansas City, pork tenderloin in a supporter's home, Panera bagels with the Auburn CVF leadership, frozen yogurt with the Tuskegee CVF leadership, pizza with both student groups, Krispy Kreme with my husband, wedding cake with dear friends, and the salads at the Shortcourse were nearly enough to tide me over till December when I return to the land of blueberries, cranberries, croutons, and ranch dressing!

Sharing Fro Yo and ministry ideas with Tuskegee's Christian Veterinary Fellowship leaders

Even better than the food were the relationships.  Reconnecting with old friends and getting to know brand new ones in Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky.  I LOVE my new/future job! Working as CVM's Southeast Regional Rep for a week by sharing at the Shortcourse and CVC, then road-tripping it down to my alma mater to meet and encourage the new students and faculty advisors, gave me a great taste for what life and work will be when we return from Bolivia in December and settle into our new routine in the States. Serving in South America is great, serving in North America is going to be wonderful too. Thank you for staying with us as we follow God's lead.

Sami Jo's big day!

To top it all off, I had the honor of standing up with my sweet friend Sami at her wedding yesterday. After six weeks of wedded bliss Jon and I are big advocates of the institution and so excited to share it with friends!

The first wedding where we didn't have to catch the bouquet or the garter, a great feeling!

In the midst of all the hustle and bustle I snuck in a fun quick lunch with my family, a surprise picnic with my new mother in-law, and we found a missionary friend to stay in our house while we're all in Bolivia for three months. God truly blessed my time in the States, and it sounds like Angie was thrilled to shock all her friends by showing back up to school this week after saying "goodbye" to everyone last semester. Taller, with longer hair, more beautiful one day to the next, and with all her new English, I'm amazed anyone even recognized her!