Obviously, wedding week was busy with last minute preparations and celebrations. Between my arrival Sunday evening and my departure Saturday afternoon, I helped with writing name tags, designing quite a few signs, decorating the church, setting up the reception hall, throwing the bachelorette party, rehearsing for the wedding, attending the rehearsal dinner, experiencing all that the wedding day entails, and tearing down my mom's and sister's 9 months of hard work afterwards! Post-wedding, I also managed to sneak in 2 games of Dominion with mom and the big brothers :)
It was far from vacation (which is how all of my Spanish co-workers described it), but it was definitely a week that I will happily remember for the rest of my life. After all, who wouldn't be excited about welcoming a man THIS excited about Newsies into the family?
Waiting outside the Newsies theater in NYC, May 2012
Mike had already become part of our family, playing countless strategy games with my brothers over the holidays, making my niece blush, schmoozing with my mom, and showing love and kindness to my sister throughout life's twists and turns. But it was time to make it official.
Mike is one of the most supportive, godly young men I have met. I'm glad he will always be there for my sister to lean on!
A mandatory element of wedding preparations was the bachelorette party and for the sake of not embarrassing Ali, I won't reveal too many details of what that entailed. But I can tell you that we did lots of blindfolding (which in turn made Ali a bit carsick... oops!), made fake confirmation calls to a stripper, bowled, ate, painted our nails, and enjoyed some quality girl talk. It was a great girls' night and it was wonderful to see my sister hanging out with some of her best friends from all over the United States.
The whole gang at Houlihan's
Doing our nails in the log cabin
Then, of course, there were the wedding morning festivities...
Josh and B finishing breakfast while the girls started getting dressed. Look at that smile!
The SUPER excited flower girl getting her hair done!
The bridesmaids all done up and hanging out before putting our dresses on. (No, contrary to one of my co-teacher's beliefs, these were not our dresses!)
Once we got dressed, we started the lengthy photography process...
All of the bridesmaids watching as they took pictures of the beautiful bride
The adorable flower girl
The bride with all her bridesmaids, acting "natural"
But it was totally worth it, because it led to beautiful photos like these ones:
The newlyweds trekking through the weeds
Credit: HannahBeth Photography
Stunning.
Credit: HannahBeth Photogoraphy
Like I said before, I will definitely remember Ali's wedding week for the rest of my life. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate alongside Ali and Mike after watching them grow up together over the past four years. They are an inspiring young couple who is seeking after God first and above all. Although there are so many unknowns in their lives, they are open to adventure and to God's unexpected and unimaginable plans. I'm so proud that I have such wonderful people as my siblings.
Though I must admit I struggled with twinges of loss throughout the wedding process (Of course I'm not only referring to the fact that Ali moved all of her clothes out of her closet in Hershey this week! ;)), I was also able to use the past few months to reassess where I was putting my hope and how I was planning my future.
I realized that in the back of my mind, I had still hoped that the dream that Ali and I had once imagined would come true: We would live together and work together in her first years after college, teaching in the same district and sharing clothes, late night chats, and meals. I had hoped we could, as adults, relive those morning drives from home to HHS, singing along to Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around Comes Around". When I made the decision 6 years ago to go to college 10 and a half hours away from home, I hadn't anticipated how much I would miss life with my mom and sister. Time spent living life together during the past few summers has become incredibly precious and I had looked forward to the possibility of a future where we could reclaim our day-in and day-out relationship.
But in that plan that I had, I hadn't accounted for the twists and turns and unexpected surprises that life would sent us.
Ali changing her major away from Elementary Education.
Me packing up and heading to Spain to teach.
Ali and Mike getting married.
Me applying for a job in China.
Of course, there are million details and experiences that come with and among and between those events. And though they have lead us to places we perhaps didn't imagine, we would never want to change them. Ali and I have lived, we've learned, and we've become people who are eager to see what God has for us next.
What God has for us.
Not what my plan says.
What God's plan is.
And when I realized that I had once again made the foolish mistake of believing that my plan was better than God's plan, I realized also how wrong I was in thinking that Ali and I were moving in opposite directions. Yes, we will be living on different continents and no, we will not be able to share clothes, but we will be living together in God's truth and we will be sharing God's love with one another. We can move forward, not by moving in together, but by simultaneously jumping feet first into our respective next chapters of life. We can exchange stories of life in a new city, with new roommates (hers more permanent than mine) and trade new recipes (hoping that we can each find the necessary ingredients in our respective countries). Ali and I won't go for many runs together in the next two years, but daily we will both "run with endurance the race God has set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).
Ali, "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy... and I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again. It is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a very special place in my heart. We have shared together the blessings of God... God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. I pray that your [and Mike's] love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation -- those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ -- for this will bring much glory and praise to God" (Philippians 1:3-11).
Yes, I admit it. I shed tears on Ali's wedding day. Tears of joy for her new life with Mike and tears of loss for the moments that I didn't fully appreciate having such a wonderful friend across the hall from me. This definitely isn't where I expected either of us to be in June of 2014, but it's better than I could have ever imagined. So let's keep living life, expecting God to show up without putting limits on him with our meager expectations. Congratulations to the bride and groom; Mike, if I have to share my little sister with someone, I'm glad it's you!
Love from Spain,
Amber
I realized that in the back of my mind, I had still hoped that the dream that Ali and I had once imagined would come true: We would live together and work together in her first years after college, teaching in the same district and sharing clothes, late night chats, and meals. I had hoped we could, as adults, relive those morning drives from home to HHS, singing along to Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around Comes Around". When I made the decision 6 years ago to go to college 10 and a half hours away from home, I hadn't anticipated how much I would miss life with my mom and sister. Time spent living life together during the past few summers has become incredibly precious and I had looked forward to the possibility of a future where we could reclaim our day-in and day-out relationship.
Our one and only "World's Largest" find during our summer road trip to Texas, 2010
At the Trevi Fountain in Rome during our summer vacation through Europe, 2013
But in that plan that I had, I hadn't accounted for the twists and turns and unexpected surprises that life would sent us.
Ali changing her major away from Elementary Education.
Me packing up and heading to Spain to teach.
Ali and Mike getting married.
Me applying for a job in China.
Of course, there are million details and experiences that come with and among and between those events. And though they have lead us to places we perhaps didn't imagine, we would never want to change them. Ali and I have lived, we've learned, and we've become people who are eager to see what God has for us next.
What God has for us.
Not what my plan says.
What God's plan is.
And when I realized that I had once again made the foolish mistake of believing that my plan was better than God's plan, I realized also how wrong I was in thinking that Ali and I were moving in opposite directions. Yes, we will be living on different continents and no, we will not be able to share clothes, but we will be living together in God's truth and we will be sharing God's love with one another. We can move forward, not by moving in together, but by simultaneously jumping feet first into our respective next chapters of life. We can exchange stories of life in a new city, with new roommates (hers more permanent than mine) and trade new recipes (hoping that we can each find the necessary ingredients in our respective countries). Ali and I won't go for many runs together in the next two years, but daily we will both "run with endurance the race God has set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).
Ali, "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy... and I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again. It is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a very special place in my heart. We have shared together the blessings of God... God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. I pray that your [and Mike's] love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation -- those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ -- for this will bring much glory and praise to God" (Philippians 1:3-11).
Yes, I admit it. I shed tears on Ali's wedding day. Tears of joy for her new life with Mike and tears of loss for the moments that I didn't fully appreciate having such a wonderful friend across the hall from me. This definitely isn't where I expected either of us to be in June of 2014, but it's better than I could have ever imagined. So let's keep living life, expecting God to show up without putting limits on him with our meager expectations. Congratulations to the bride and groom; Mike, if I have to share my little sister with someone, I'm glad it's you!
Love from Spain,
Amber
"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together...
there is something you must always remember.
You are braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem,
and smarter than you think.
But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you."
there is something you must always remember.
You are braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem,
and smarter than you think.
But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you."
- Winnie the Pooh
