It's HERE!!

Take a look at what arrived at my office this morning...









That's right... our Wedding Photos arrived! Eeeee! I'm so excited! And they came wrapped so nicely in a cute little box with a bow. And the CD case... BEAUTIFUL! I know it looks like a mini photo album in the picture, but it's not.

I can't wait to share photos of our special day with the blog world. SOON!

Tommy & Christine are MARRIED!

Here's to the new Mr. & Mrs!!

This weekend we had the pleasure of attending the wedding of Tommy and Christine...



Tommy and Jason have been friends for probably about 8 years now (much much longer than I've been in the picture!), and have seen each other through some serious highs and lows in that time. Tommy moved to Florida several years ago (where he met Christine!) and as a result, he and Jason have drifted apart a little bit as their lives moved in different directions. But over the course of this weekend's festivities, it was clear how much these two mean to one another still, despite the miles between them. We were honored to have been invited to not only the wedding, but also the lovely rehearsal dinner on Friday night in the North End... mmmm, Italian!


Jason & I strolling the North End after the Rehearsal Dinner, and then all dressed up at the wedding!

The wedding ceremony and reception were both held at the Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston - the oldest hotel in America that is still in operation. Everything was so beautiful!

Jason's good friend, Mike, is also close with Tommy, so he flew in from Colorado for the weekend and stayed with us. Mike has a Canon Rebel digital SLR camera. I've had my eye on a Digital SLR for a while now (more on that in a future post), so I was super excited to use Mike's camera, and pretty much commandeered it for the whole night! It was so fun! Here's what we captured...


ceremony


L-R: bride's parents, groom's parents, bridesmaid/groomsman (that are married to each other and just announced they're expecting!), bridesmaid with two groomsmen, and finally the best man/groom's brother & maid of honor/bride's best friend


Father/daughter dance & Mother/son dance

When it came time for the cake cutting, Christine went first and totally smashed it in Tommy's face! He had frosting everywhere, even up his nose! Aaand... he didn't even retaliate! I was shocked. And impressed!




the boys, Mike, Steven, Tommy & Jason

Tommy's brother & best man, Steven, also came prepared with a bag full of cigars. All the guys enjoyed them together on the roof deck. It was stinky, but provided a great photo-op with the bride center stage!



As I mentioned before, Mike was in town for the wedding, and stayed with us. Jason and Mike have been friends since they were little kids, growing up together in Vermont. We don't see Mike much because he lives in Colorado now, and Florida before that. Mike was in our wedding, so we've actually seen him twice in a months time now... but our wedding weekend was crazy! So it was great for these two to spend some quality time together.



I tried to get artsy, and took some detail shots of our table...



Finally, Jason and I had a little fun with the camera.





We had such a great time at our first wedding since our own!

Many years of happiness to Tommy & Christine!

Water baby

Tucker has a love/hate relationship with water. If it is a mass of standing water that he can enter on his own, he LOVES it. If it comes out of a faucet, he HATES it.

Last night Jason and I took Tucker down to the beach to let him run around. The one we took him to is certainly not the best representation of the beautiful coastline we have here in Massachusetts, but is the closest beach to our house, and the only one we know of that allows dogs during the summer (in the evening only of course).



This is Tucker just before we left... notice how fresh and clean he is!



The tide was so low last night. I've never seen it quite like that before. The beach was so rocky, and there were little puddles of water that were just overflowing with little snails. Tucker had a blast exploring the beach and all of it's wildlife.



Jason was in his own state of bliss, as well, as he enjoyed his new favorite activity (much to my chagrin!), while we strolled along the shore.



We came across this cool pier that leads out to the ocean from some family's backyard (lucky!), so I made him "pose" under it for me. He didn't want to do it, so of course he made goofy faces at me... that's my man! Always a joker!



And finally, I'll leave you with some photos of our Tucker swimming... he would probably do this forever if we would let him! We throw a rock. He swims after it. He turns around when he can't find it (because rocks sink. duh.). He swims back to shore. He shakes. Then begs us to do it all again. And again. And again!



Summer nights... they are so wonderful and yet are only here for such a short time. We are trying to soak in every moment we can of our summer as newlyweds. Last night was a fun and relaxing evening for all of us, especially Tucker... until we got home and he got a bath. :-)

Gardening

I've been thinking about gardening lately. Maybe it's my new role as "wife" that has made me think I should take up gardening, I don't know. But whatever it is, I've been thinking about it... In the last week, I have brought home a catalog of bulbs, from work (who does that??), been thinking obsessively about getting some of the hosta plants my mom promised she would split to share with me, and this weekend, I started to notice the beautiful hydrangea bushes that have bloomed at what seems like every house except for mine. I even told Jason that someday I want a house that we can have a whole row of beautiful hydrangea bushes in front of.



Anyway, in the wake of this new little obsession of mine, the sermon this morning at church was about... you guessed it... gardening! God always knows how to grab our attention at just the right time.

The points of the message were that 1) the purpose of pruning is to allow a plant to bear the best, juciest fruit possible, 2) while necessary, pruning is usually also quite painful as it's happening, and 3) the person doing the pruning is actually loving the plant, because even though it may hurt to be pruned it is necessary to bear the best fruit.

I'm sure you can guess, but the point here is that God is the Master Gardener, and is continually pruning us, his children, so that we can best serve him. Jesus said in John 15:1-5...

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch that doesn't produce fruit,
and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they
will produce even more. You have already been pruned
for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you.
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch
cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine,
and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.
Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who
remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.
For apart from me you can do nothing.

This got me to thinking... Do I produce fruit? Or am I just a waste of space? Most of the time I feel like a waste of space, with the same old mundane routine day in and day out. Am I open to God's pruning? Willing to accept whatever challenges he should bring my way?

This morning, the pastor said "A life that is fruitful is a life that has the features of Jesus running through their veins."

Do others see the features of Jesus in me? Am I loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and do I have self-control? Whew! Probably not. But I also know that apart from God, I can do NOTHING! I NEED Jesus at all times... and if I don't have him then I AM a waste of space.

This morning was a good reminder that I need to remember to ask God to be with me at all times, and to help me appreciate any painful pruning that He may be doing in my life.

By American standards, Jason and I don't have a lot. It is so easy for us to get wrapped up in the sinful materialistic desires of this world, and let that change our attitudes. It happened just this morning, even in the wake of this great sermon. Jason and I stopped at Crate & Barrel to do some post-wedding shopping with some of our gift cards. When our plan A, plan B, AND plan C of our attempt to get seating for our dining room table, failed, I got REALLY discouraged. I was bummed that nothing seemed to be working out, and we just don't have any money to make our desires work out at this time. And so I pouted. And almost left the store with nothing because I was in such a bad mood. And the worst part is that I KNEW it was stupid... that I shouldn't let furniture shopping affect my attitude. And I kept thinking there are starving children in Africa! But that didn't change anything. See... I am completely incapable of controlling my reactions on my own. But I know that with God's help, and pruning, I can do anything. And maybe, just maybe, God is "pruning" me of my reliance on money to be happy.

Lord, I pray you will take me and shape me into the woman you had planned. Use me for your will, and help me to understand what that means on a daily basis. I pray that you will cultivate my heart so that the features of your son, Jesus, will run through my veins, and that others around me will see you in me. Thank you for your faithfulness. There is no other like you Lord. Amen.

Life Lessons

Yesterday was a good day.

We were in Vermont this weekend for the July 4th holiday. On Sunday night, just as we were preparing the fire pit for s'mores and sparklers, I checked my phone and found a text message from my mother that said the following:

Happy is getting worse.
He can't stand up so Dad wants
to take him to the vet tonight.
I don't want him to go yet....

Two weeks ago we found out that my family dog, Happy, had lyme disease, and some sort of cancer that caused him to grow tumors all over his body. His kidneys were shutting down, and he had lost A LOT of weight... not to mention all the lumps we could feel when we petted him. We were told his prognosis was anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. They gave my parents some medicine to keep him comfortable, and sent them home with instructions to spoil him with soft food.


[puppy happy]

Once he was home and eating the soft food, he seemed to perk up a bit, and get better. So when we stopped at my parents house to pick up a few things on our way to VT, and Happy came trotting out to the car like his old self, I thought, there's no way anything will happen while I'm away!

So you can imagine how my mom's text pretty much sucked all the fun out of our July 4th festivities for me! I just couldn't believe this was it, and I was stuck in Vermont. I couldn't bear to call my parents that night, but when I spoke to my dad the next morning, I found out that they had not taken him to the vet the night before. My mom slept in the living room with him that night to make sure he was alright, but they had decided that in the morning they would take him. We were not going to get home until around 3 or 4pm, and my dad thought that would be too long to wait.

So yesterday morning was tough. All I wanted to do was be home with my family, saying goodbye to my Happy boy! I packed our things, made the beds, and loaded up the car to keep my mind off of what was going on at home.

Happy was such a fantastic family dog. He always had so much energy, and just loved to be around his people. He could always be trusted to be off leash and still stay with us.

And he smiled.

I know you don't believe me, but he really did. When we would see him after a long span of being away, he would run up to us all excited, and jump up and make this little snarly face. At first we thought it was strange, but then we began to put two and two together and realized that he was just so beyond thrilled to finally have his people back, that he couldn't help himself.


[Happy at the top of Pulpit Rock at Papoose Pond with our family (yes, these pictures are VERY old!)... Happy LOVED going camping, and especially loved hiking up to Pulpit Rock]

On the long drive home, the new Miranda Lambert song, The House that Built Me, came up on the iPod play list, and when she sang...

I bet you didn't know
that under that live oak
my favorite dog
is buried in the yard

I lost it! I called my dad one more time, expecting to hear how the vet visit went, but when I spoke to him, he told me they had carried Happy out to the backyard, and he seemed comfortable. Just happy to watch his family enjoy the hot July day around him. My sister and her family were there, and my brother had just gotten home from work... and they were going to wait for me before taking him to the vet!

When we finally got through all the holiday traffic and pulled up to my parents house, everyone was still in the backyard, and Happy had actually pulled himself up to a standing position. He still wasn't moving, but he didn't seem to be in any pain. So we all had some dinner while I spent some time saying goodbye to my doggie.

And then I just couldn't take it anymore. I started begging them to hurry up and finish eating so we could just take him to the vet. I couldn't stand to see him just laying there anymore. And you know what? They actually listened to me!



About a half hour later, we were standing at the entrance to the Animal Hospital, waiting for a gurney to wheel him inside. And my poor mom... Happy was such a momma's boy from day one. Before we got him, she wanted nothing to do with any dogs... she was a cat person, not a dog person. But the moment we got him, she was totally in love. She finally understood the difference between dogs and cats... dogs give love back. It's more than a purr once in a while and a rub up against the leg... it's everything. There was never a question about whether or not Happy loved us, because he did. All the time. My mom was a mess.

Once we were inside, they took Happy to another room to get his IV catheter put in, and we were led to separate room to wait for him. It seemed like it took them forever, but when they finally wheeled him in to us, it was so great! Our Happy boy told us one last time, how much he loved us. The moment he saw us, he wagged his tail! He had absolutely no energy left, but he managed to gather the strength to give us that one last little gift. We all surrounded his bed petting him and telling him how much we loved him until he took his last breath and the doctor checked his heartbeat and told us he was gone.

There were so many tears. So many tissues in the trash can. It's going to be so strange going over to my parents house and not having Happy bark his head off at the door, and greet us when we come in.

And my brother. My baby brother who is now a big strong 18 year old high school graduate tough guy... was totally distraught. We got Happy when he was 6 years old, so he probably doesn't even remember much of our family before we had Happy. This just killed me.



But as I was driving home with my new husband by my side, and our Tucker baby in my lap, I was just overcome with how special the day was. As sad as it was to have to say goodbye to Happy, I know we were so blessed. His sickness was quick. It didn't drag on for months and months, and he didn't seem to be in pain. My parents decided to wait for me to get home, which was exactly what I needed, and we were able to all stand around Happy and let him know how loved he was as he peacefully drifted off to sleep.

And then we got home... it's so good to be home. I love our home. Just me, my husband, and Tucker. Finally, Tucker is home with us! And we had a perfect end to our day... my new husband and I snuggled together in our bed with our soft new sheets, and we prayed. We prayed for our family. We prayed for our marriage, and we prayed for our children that we hope God will bless us with one day. God is so good.

Yesterday was a good day.

We are a FAMILY!

As of June 11, 2010, we are officially a family! Jason is the dad, I'm the mom, and Tucker is the baby... it's true, Tucker may be a little hairier than most babies, but we love him just the same. :-) Here goes the adventure of a lifetime...