Vow Renewal!!

First of all, let me apologize for the amount of pictures on this post. I was trying to narrow them down and had a hard time. I wanted to truly capture everything about the night. Second, I tried to figure out how to post these in order. I could probably go to edit html and move them around but I can't do that today. Too much sitting involved with that!!! My back is doing better everyday, however, I do have constant pain and that bites!! I'm leaving today for a wedding that I am in on Sat. so I need to limit the amount of sitting I do today.

August 15th was a glorious day! The ceremony was so sweet and so beautiful. Almost (but not quite) better than our first wedding day! I was very much in the moment and can recall almost every detail of the night. Brian really went out of his way to make this night special. And it was!! We had a small gathering of family and friends who are very dear to us join us for the night. I'll try and explain below each picture so you can get an idea. Thanks to my sister who took pictures for us with my camera that night. She didn't get to sit down too much! And another special thanks to my sweet friends Britney and Lorisa who took the time to do some decorations and flowers for the night. It was just the right touch!!! And ANOTHER special thanks to Jaron who did the video for our ceremony. It was truly moving to see. You did a great job!! And thank you to all who joined us. Your presence made it unforgettable! The Lord showed up that night! His presence was thick in that room!! And I couldn't quit smiling for days afterwards!

My sweet boy who insisted he wear a suit. We found one at JcPenney and he was smashing!!! He said ring "bears" wear suits...so be it!!

Lorisa and Brad(Britney's husband) tweaking the decorations....and playing with Adiah.

Britney trying to put a flower on Ridgedon's lapel. He also said ring "bears" wear flowers on their suits...so be it.

Ridge took a picture of me before we left for the church. This is the linen dress I wore...to bad it wrinkles so easily! Oh well!!

This was on the screen when I walked in the church. He thought of everything!

Our very dear friends, Michael and Lorisa, gave us a blessing during the ceremony. Thank you guys!!

These are some of our friends that came as well. Sarah, Liz, Lo, Brad, and Brit.

I believe we were all watching the video that Jaron made. We smiled alot...we cried alot...we remembered alot....and we thanked God alot for bringing us through all He has to get to this point. I'm so thankful! And I look forward to seeing what He has for us for the future. Its a journey!!

Our friend, Chris, did the ceremony for us. He was full of good words for us! Thank you Chris!!

Sweet ring "bear"!!

Everyone had gathered around us at the end to pray over us...Then with everyone watching VERY closely on we got to seal it with a kiss!!

The praying...

This is where we were saying new vows to each other and exchanging new rings. I was telling Brian later that this was so different from our wedding. Because when you are as young as we were when we first got married you say those vows different. Don't get me wrong I meant them then...but you say them from a different place in life. I just had no clue what I was really saying then. I remember when Brian was saying his vows to me this time I wanted to say "I KNOW! I believe you!! I hear every word you are saying! I love you too!!". Its like Chris said that night. What we were saying by doing this is...if I had known all we would go through I would do it again in a heart beat!! Sweet times!

Saying the vows...

Have no clue what we were grinning at so cheesily. But it was a good example of how relaxed the evening was...and I was too!!

After the ceremony most of us went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. This is my beautiful daughter enjoying the evening. Emily couldn't quit crying for joy that night. It was sweet!

Some of our friends enjoying each other's company.

Brian and I FINALLY sitting next to each other at dinner. He was busy mingling and visiting with everyone!!

Some of our family....Gina, the one in the black and her husband, Jason, sitting next to her took the kids home to our house for the weekend before handing them off to my parents. We couldn't have enjoyed our vacation with out you guys!! Thank you!!!

Mr. Michael with Adiah. She loves him!! I think he loves her more!!!

Natiebug extremely tired and ready to go!

At the dinner, some people stood up and gave a blessing or a memory or words of encouragement. This is Brian's dad saying some sweet words to us!

Sneaking a kiss during dinner...I love this man!

Adiah stuffed her face with everyones food plus hers. She was loving it!!

Friends!

It was such a special night! Thank you, Brian, for planning this and loving me the way you do! Happy Anniversary!!!

I will do a different post with pictures from the 2nd honeymoon! But it will probably be next week since this took me a year and a half to do.