The hour - The day - The week

It's been a week and a half since my last post :)

So much has happened....

One week ago today, I was waiting anxiously for the moment when the doors of the church would swing open, and my bride would be walking toward me.

It was an amazing day.

The night before I had been up until just after midnight helping get things set up, (that pales in comparison to a number of people who were up until 3AM, and several who worked round the clock), but on Sunday morning adrenaline had kicked in to keep me in a wide awake state.

The hour.

The toughest hour was the hour from 10AM to 11AM. Trying to pack the car for our honeymoon, get dressed, and then waiting at the church, was so packed with suspense I'm surprised I didn't break out into a cold sweat. Or did I? Anyway, that hour ended when I was standing at the church and the bridesmaids started walking down, followed by the most beautiful bride there ever was.

The day.

 Much of the day was a blur. Thankfully, we had awesome photographers, (My sister and her husband, and Cherith's brother in law) so many of the memories are immortalized.

The ceremony seemed to be over before it had really started, though someone afterward told me it took about 50 minutes. If it did, it was probably the quickest 50 minutes of my life. The rest of the day was simply one amazing glow. Until about 5PM, when my body decided that it had had enough, and that it wanted rest, RIGHT NOW! :D By the time we finished with the photography it was 7PM (sunset), and it was 8 by the time we actually left for our honeymoon destination.

 

THE moment. Walking out of the church as husband and wife, flanked by the groomsmen and bridesmaids, who formed a 'guard of honor', up the aisle.















 

Isn't she just the most stunning bride ever?

The week.

Which week? The one before or the one after the wedding? I think it might be safer to stick to the one before. :) There was a stack of things to do that last week, in preparation for the wedding. Thankfully, quite a few people were willing to help out, and, "many hands make light work". Even with all the hands, it was hardly light work. Cherith's sister Bethany seemed to bear the brunt of organising and arranging things, and often had to choose between her college studies and wedding preparations. I'm hoping she doesn't suffer for 'neglecting' her studies! :) In the end, one or two things simply didn't get done for lack of time. But I don't care. The day was fantastic, fabulous, and incredible! It was a fairytale wedding.



I'm not hoping for a 'fairytale marriage'. That would be too much. Marriages take lots of hard work. But I know we will be happy together, as long as we keep up all the little things that got us where we are today, on honeymoon. Love, respect, courtesy, honor, patience, humility, and forgiveness.

The bridal car :)

Farewell......

 Spending time with each other is very important too, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to end this right here, and go spend some time with my wife. :)

Last minute things...

So many details go into a wedding... And this is a small wedding...

It doesn't help that we are budgeting, and so doing many things ourselves, rather than buying ready made things, etc. It DOES help that there are so many people willing and able to help out! Because frankly, nothing much would happen without their help.

But a lot of work goes into this day...

It's been painful to see my fiancee struggling with all the work needing to be done, and not having a respite from it, day after day, almost the entire day. I'm glad now that we have two weeks of honeymoon after the wedding, because we are going to need the time out. At least, she will. I've felt largely useless before this week, as Cherith did most of the arrangements for the wedding while I was working, and even though we talked about everything together, I didn't feel like I was taking a fair share of the load. Even now, I wish I could do more to ease the load on everyone else. But with the work to be done, it is enough to keep a number of hands very busy indeed.

We have been making place cards, wedding programs, decorations, trying to arrange transportation, and trying to fins the right people for certain roles. It's been downright confusing sometimes, when there is no clear answer, but God has been providing very clear answers.

I'll be glad when it's all over, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying seeing just how many things God is bringing into place for the big day. Time after time it seems He has orchestrated everything to work out perfectly. Not just 'fine', but perfectly.

And as everything is coming together, I'm continually confronted with the fact that Cherith trusts God more than I seem to. For her, every problem is simply something more to trust God with. Yes, she is worn out from everything, and yes, she get's frustrated, or feels overwhelmed by it all, but she doesn't lose sight of the fact that God is taking care of things......

And He really is... So why should I stress?? Why????? With God in control, even the weather is behaving itself. 3 days ago the forcast was considerable rain for the day. By this evening, the rain pattern had weakened and shifted enough so that the forecast for the day is "sunny"!

After all, in 4 days from now, it will all be over, and there will be no more wedding planning to worry about...

Missed....

So, it's been a week and 2 days since I've seen Cherith, and that, by the way, is a record. Since March, when I moved to the area where she lived, it has never been more than three days. :D Sounds crazy, but due to life circumstances we were able to spend a lot of time together.

And today! Today she's coming back! I could let out a yell... This last week has seemed like an eternity. Don't ask me why, because I don't really understand it, but especially the last four days have seemed to drag by like cold molasses! So, now, understandably, I'm excited! :)

And then, it is only a week and four days to our wedding! So now there are lots of plans to finalise. This week is supposed to be my last week of work before three weeks of holidays. So yes, I'm excited!!

Not long now.........