Celebrating Our Eighth Anniversary
It was a rainy day in May in the surrounding vicinity, but the skies remained clear along the lake where Jamie grew up during the hours leading up to our wedding outdoors with friends and family gathered nearby. There was a light rain earlier in the day at the lake, the kind of rain that keeps heat at bay and makes days more comfortable in the late spring and summer. I was encircled by eight close friends on a dock on the far side of the lake waiting for the signal (a text) to let us know it was time for us to board three row boats and begin to make our way across to the gathered community. We rowed across the lake with purpose and walked along the bank to take our places in front of nearly two-hundred people who are each very dear to my wife and I.
After we arrived, Jamie’s bridesmaids made their way down the aisle to each take their places, and then she came around the corner with her dad. They made their way across the grassy field to the water’s edge for the ceremony to formally begin. We joined together with our friends and family to sing a song to welcome our Creator more formally into this sacred occasion. After all, without His presence in our lives, we likely would have never met.
As I looked into her beautiful azure-blue eyes, I began to weep with joy. On this day, we committed our lives to each other, and took the next step in what has been an incredible journey together. We had an added blessing in the gift of an original song that my best friend in the whole world, Willie, wrote and sang at our wedding. The lyrics of the song have rung true every day of our marriage, and I still weep freshly every time I hear it.
The night of our wedding ended with us riding across the lake on a paddle boat and then walking up the bank to our car to journey back to our home in Morgantown. This going forth across the rivers and roadways was not just how we ended our evening, but also part of our continued journey.
We have been so richly blessed over the last eight years, and we are filled with joy when we think about every new day as an opportunity to grow in our understanding of what it means to be a husband and a wife, as well as an opportunity now in this newest chapter of our adventures to grow as a father and mother to our daughter Sylvia and the newest addition to our family who is due to arrive any day now. Together, with God in our midst, and with Him leading our every step, we have been able to grow in our friendships around the world, and not only cherish those friendships we have, but also make new ones along the way.
Each new day, we learn, we grow, and we strive to savor every new experience we are able to share in together. I don’t think either of us could have fathomed the path our life would take, and the adventures we would be able to share in, but we are so filled with gratitude for the life together we’ve been given. We have been richly blessed by the generosity and hospitality of our family and friends both near and far, and we are overwhelmed with joy in anticipation of what is to come, as we write the next chapters of our story together, making memories in the wake of this life of passionate pursuit of living out the words of the ancient Hebrew prophet to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.