• Archive of "marriage" Category

    1st Anniversary Trip to Pelee Island

    July 27, 2010 // No Comments »

    Whoa, 2 full weeks since I posted about the beginning of our 1st anniversary trip to Ohio for a wedding.  Time flies…

    On July 4, like good American patriots, we left Ohio for the promised land of Pelee Island on the Canadian side of Lake Erie.  I get excited for weeks beforehand when I know that I am gonna be able to get up to Pelee.  I love it there.  No hustle, no bustle, no cell phone reception or email.  Just the beach, the water, books, and people I love.

    This time around, our friends Matt and Sharon and their son Deacon were among the number of loved ones that we got to share some time with.

    The weather was hot, but gave us plenty of reason to lay on the beach and play in the water.  We did some boating, some tubing, made smores, shared stories, watched movies, and soaked in the enjoyment of fun and relaxation throughout the week.

    On top of all this, Amy and I continued to celebrate our anniversary.  Here’s our attempt to capture the specialness of the occasion.  Between the hitting, crying, bugs, and neighborly interruptions, I’d say we pretty much nailed it ;)

    We also managed to successfully tote the top of our wedding cake (which had already made its way from Davenport to Elgin), to our hotel in Ohio, in the car to Sandusky, and then on the boat to the island.  It was a well traveled cake, but tasted amazing. Every layer of our wedding cake was different and the top was no exception – tie-dye!

    So here’s to an unbelievable and unforgettable 1st year of marriage that was capped off by helping one couple celebrate the very beginning of theirs and spending time with another couple on the doorstep of a decade.  Cheers!

    Some additional pictures from the trip here.

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    Posted in Amy, love, marriage, travles, video

    1 Year Anniversary

    June 30, 2010 // 2 Comments »

    This weekend will mark year one of marital bliss for Amy and I and it’s be an incredible year in more ways that I can possible say.

    To celebrate, we’ll be heading to Ohio so that I can officiate a wedding ceremony for 2 of my former students who will be living in the Chicagoland area and then we’ll head up to one of my favorite spots in the world, Pelee Island, with our friends the Matt and Sharon for some fun and relaxation.

    For anyone who remembers and enjoyed the recap from 2008, Amy and I are working on a recap of 2009 and hope to have it finished by the time we come back.

    So, you married veterans out there, as Amy and I reflect on our first year as husband and wife and do our best to ask some helpful questions of ourselves as we charge on into the future, what words of wisdom do you have to offer?

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    Posted in Amy, friends, love, marriage, travles, wedding

    Married

    July 21, 2009 // 3 Comments »

    From 2 days to just over 2 weeks, the last 18 days have been some of the best of my life.

    Our wedding was amazing – everything we had hoped it would be and more.  I don’t think I mentioned this before, but in stark contrast to horror stories I have heard from others, Amy and I had a blast putting our wedding together.  Much of that was thanks to the fact that we both get a kick out of infusing stuff with as much meaning as possible so we really enjoyed thinking imaginatively together about the elements of what we called a weekend celebration of marriage (hope to share more about this in a future post).  Aside from that, we are just fortunate enough to have a lot of friends and family that were excited to pitch in and help.

    Our wedding photographer/videographer, Tim Miller, who you should definitely check out if you are in need of some mad skills, is sending Amy and I 2,300 pictures to sort through.  Until we have the professional stuff all put together, here’s a slide show of random pictures from some of our friends and family.

    Right before the wedding weekend kicked off, Amy and I invested in a Sony CyberShot that shoots video in HD.  Here’s some of those videos.  (Hint: If you have the time – just under 30 mins. total, they will automatically play in order.)

    Amy and I both want to say a huge thanks to everyone who contributed to and attended the most significant weekend of our life together – much love.

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    Posted in Amy, marriage, pictures, video, wedding

    1 More Week & Then I’m Free

    June 28, 2009 // 4 Comments »

    This is my last week as a single guy.  Come Sunday, I’m a married man and I couldn’t possibly be more excited about it.

    Handicapped by a devastating view of what freedom is really all about, marriage is often portrayed as the end of freedom – think Seinfeld, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, etc.  Here’s 3 reasons why, in opposition to that sort of notion, I am so excited to get married that all have to do with a new freedom I am about to embrace.

    1) I don’t have any regrets from my season of singleness so I am free to embrace the adventure of marriage. I embraced, celebrated, and enjoyed my singleness.  Happily, I had good friends and mentors who taught me that singleness is a gift and should be treated as such as long as God grants it.  Shame on our culture (especially any Christian culture) for making people feel inferior for being single for as long they are able to embrace it as a gift.  Spend your single years pining away for a companion and you are all but destined to struggle with being married.

    2) I don’t have to play the dating game anymore anymore so I am free to pursue God in the context of a covenanted relationship. I can’t count the number of couples that have spoken of marriage as a context which brought them face to face with their own selfishness and shortcomings like never before.  With all the guessing, ambiguity and semi-commitment of dating, this just doesn’t happen.  Again, fortunate enough to have come across people and books that dispelled lies about the purpose and aim of marriage, I am anxious to embrace marriage as a crucible toward Christlikeness.

    3) Amy is not “The One” or “Mrs. Right” (since these only exist in fairy tale land), so I am free to never ask ridiculous questions like, “Did I marry the right person?” Don’t you love how freeing that is?!  The ability and opportunity trade in a cheap and shallow freedom along the lines of, “Well if this isn’t working I can always just bite the bullet and admit that I made the wrong decision,” for the true freedom of moving forward in the context of vows made and kept, is priceless to me.

    And though it doesn’t pertain exactly to freedom, it’s nonetheless true that a big part of my excitement has much to do with the incredible woman who said, “Yes.”  To partner in life and ministry with Amy from here on out is the single most exciting thing that has ever happened to me.

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    Posted in Amy, love, marriage

    I Live With a Girl (and I think she might be Wonderwoman)

    June 22, 2009 // 8 Comments »

    Oops!!  Update:  As my brother pointed out, Amy is actually Wonderwoman, not Superwoman.  Props to his lady Michelle catching that one.

    OK, not quite yet really, but it’s coming quick.  For the last month and a half I have been staying in Amy’s apartment in Elgin while she stays with friends.

    1st apartment

    (mailman decided to add my name to the box since we only have 1 address)

    So here I am in this apartment, surrounded by girl clothes, girl decorations, and all other manner of girl things and I think to myself, “Wow, girl stuff is not like boy stuff.”  And I am confronted with the startling (though welcome) reality that “mine” is becoming “ours,” “I” am becoming “us”, and “me” is becoming “we.”  You’d think that for who has lived independently as long as I have, this would cause me to break out into a cold sweat as I crawl around in the darkness of stress-induced blindness searching for a paperbag to calm my hyperventilating panic attack, but I am happy to report that this hasn’t been the case.  Why?  Mainly because Amy is just about the most amazing woman ever!

    Seriously, Amy amazes me.  I have totally hijacked her apartment, separating her from all the comforts of a place you call your own while she stays in a simple bedroom with friends 20 minutes away.  She keeps most of her clothes and stuff that she needs on a daily basis largely in the trunk of her car since our lives are so sporadic and she never quite knows what she will need.  When we spend a day together, no matter how late we’re together, she’s the one that has to get in a car and make the drive home.  She works full-time while I look for work and do what I can to help plan for the wedding.  She does it all with a smile on her face and a bounce in her step.  She radiates grace and compassion and her presence is a constant reminder of God’s great love for the world and little ol’ me.  If you need any more evidence, here you go.

    super Amy Picture 1

    Case closed.  Amy is Wonderwoman… only cuter.

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    Posted in Amy, marriage, wedding

    Wedding Help

    March 19, 2009 // 15 Comments »

    Amy and I are looking for some help with our wedding and the events (including honeymoon) surrounding it.  Aside from it being a beautiful and memorable day, we are hoping to infuse as much of what we are going to do with theological significance and creativity.  We already have a good number of friends that are going to be vital in helping that to be a reality, but, believers in networking that we are, we’d just assume hear from as many folks as possible.

    So, wonderful people out there, what ideas, experiences, and resources do you have that you’d like to share – we’re all ears!

    (think… cost saving, creative enhancing, meaning infusing, deal finding, value reflecting, & God-honoring)

    Please pass a link to this on to anyone that you think might have something to contribute – facebook it, twitter it, bookmark it, whatever.

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    Posted in Amy, marriage, social networking

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