Another "happiest day of my life" stories

I almost always think about it before I ever say, "This is the happiest day of my life" because in general, I'm a pretty happy person with LOTS of happy days.  Sometimes those days are simply that the 3 of us laughed a lot and spent time together.  Sometimes it's an EVENT, like the one I'm about to tell y'all about.  Sometimes it's just a general peacefulness that is perceived as happiness.  But whatever, I feel like we have moments when we feel like THIS is the happiest day of my life.  I'm going to tell y'all ONE of the happiest days of my life :)

June 26, 1999 dawned hot and humid in Woodstock, GA, but it wasn't unbearable.  I had been 20 years old for 4 months and felt pretty much on top of the world.  It had all come together in just 10 short weeks.  The venue, the food, the DRESS, the rings, the tux, the wedding party, the invitations ... ALL of it.  Even the honeymoon; 5 fun-filled days in Aruba in an all-inclusive resort.  We had managed to secure a rental car for the duration even though neither me nor my soon-to-be husband was 25 ... but that's a WHOLE 'nother story, lol.

Why had my wedding been planned and pulled together in a mere 10 weeks?  Well, speculation from family members was that I was already pregnant.  The reality?  The love of my life and I had decided that since we were engaged, it made sense to move in together.  You know, learn a little responsibility, pay all our bills, etc?  We WERE looking with potential room mates, but when I casually informed my mom I was planning to do this, I'll NEVER forget what she said to me.  Her "angry" eyes drilled into mine, and she said, "WELL, YOU'RE GOING TO BE THE ONE THAT TELLS YOUR GRANDPARENTS YOU'RE 'SHACKING UP', NOT ME!"  So of course that led to a pretty short argument that ended with,
"Well, why don't we just get married then?"

"FINE!"

(pull out my pocket calendar) "How about June 26th?  It's a Saturday".

"FINE".

Long story short, that actually led to June 26th being the real date, and I jumped on the details.  Dress from David's Bridal, Bridesmaids were my sister, future sister-in-law, and my friend from work.  I'd lost touch with many of my best high school girlfriends and felt awkward asking them to actually be a bridesmaid, but I did invite everyone.  Invites ordererd from Party City, the venue was right up the street in Woodstock; a historical house with a gorgeous garden and a nice, big, open "carriage house" where we cold hold both the service and the reception.  The original plan was to have the service in the garden, but what if it RAINED?

The only hitch in the entire process was the cake.  Oh, that cake, lol.  My future mother-in-law had a 'cake lady' named Mrs. Sailor that had done an AMAZING job on her 25th anniversary cake.  She arranged to have her make mine.  The design I had picked was a simple basked weave design with peach, baby blue, and navy blue flowers piped on.  What was delivered was a BLOB with these horrible neon green, neon pink and bright blue blobs all over it.  When it was removed from the box and set out, all I could do was laugh hysterically, it was that bad.  Fortunately, when the caterer saw it, she asked me WTHeck design I had told the lady to do, I explained it her, and she whisked it away to see if she could fix it.  I was whisked away to be coiffed and dressed, and right before guests were scheduled to arrive, I saw the cake again and it was AMAZING.  No longer a blob, it had an elegant basket weave pattern on it, and a few of my loose while lily flowers had been placed on top because icing flowers were NOT happening at that point.  I hugged my caterer and felt a sense of relief that was done.

After the ceremony, we took pictures outside, and I was EXCEEDINGLY grateful we'd done it indoors because I was sweating everywhere ... and my flowers were HEAVY.  They were beautiful, but they were huge and heavy.  Once the dancing began, there was lots of crying, lots of laughter, and lots of fun.  I am so grateful to everyone that participated that day, it WAS at that point the happiest day of my life.  David and I are celebrating 15 beautiful, glorious years today.  We've weathered amazing times, and hard times, and our relationship is all the stronger for it.  One year ago in 2 days, we trekked all the way across the country to continue our life together in a completely different place and situation.  It's been hard, but it's also been amazing.  I can not WAIT to see what the NEXT 15 years brings us; if I know US, I know it certainly won't be boring :)

Just a June update ...

Well.  The month of June is almost over!  Can't even believe it.  We're coming up on ONE YEAR in CA.  We left GA on June 28th.  7 more days :)  Our plan thus far is to stay in our apartment for one more year, then move into a house.  My job is going GREAT.  I've gotten a very substantial raise since I began in October, and I'm getting a fair amount of daily overtime right now, so I'm just enjoying it and appreciating it.

David always has job drama.  His newer second job is going great.  I wish it paid more, b/c then he might consider making it his primary, but he's making less at that job than I started with at mine.  His Kings job is just such a freaking mess, I can NOT understand why he can't find a position with ONE company that has its head NOT stuck up its rear end.  My husband is AMAZING.  He's authoritative, he's got a great business sense, and he's a wonderful salesman.  It KILLS me that he can't find a freaking GOOD job; one w/ decent hours and one w/ decent pay.  So I pray for him, and I ask for friends and family to pray for him.  Yes, I still want to win the lottery, but I'm praying for his work situation to be GOOD for the first time in his life, with little to no drama.  We're both willing to WORK for a living, I'm just hoping God will bless us with a situation that's quite literally workable and livable.

Anyway, I'm doing my monthly soul-winning today.  I WAS going to go out door to door, but truly ... I feel like at the moment, I will reach more people by this blog than I will knocking on doors of people's homes that honestly don't want to be reached.  That's the beauty of a blog; you read it if you're interested, and it's on YOUR terms.

We've been doing a series on God's blessings on our life.  Many christians interpret God's blessings to be financial ones, when in actuality, that's pretty far from the truth.  There are countless stories in the bible about men that were blessed, yet suffered great trials.  For instance; the story of Joseph.  He was sold into slavery by his own BROTHERS, thrown in a pit, and was in bondage.  But the bible says he was surely blessed.  He had God all throughout his ordeal, and at the end of it all, ended up the right hand of Pharaoh and turned out to be a great leader.  But he lost everything.  Job lost his entire LIFE, his family, his things, everything on earth that defined him; through it all, he never lost his faith in God, and eventurally emerged with a new family, restored wealth, and lots of happiness.  The key of that story is FAITHFULNESS.  I have a few good quotes here that I'm going to throw out.
"God's blessing can NOT be measured by our PLEASURE".
"The Bible strengthens us from within.  When you get connected to God, you are not beaten down by outside forces".
"God has invested in us, and he expects a return on that investment".
"Integrity is doing right by CONVICTION, not CIRCUMSTANCE".
And the final one:
"FAITH has everything to do with what you BELIEVE.  FAITHFULNESS has everything to do with what you DO".

At the end of the day, you KNOW what you're supposed to do.  Read your bible, obey your bible, walk with integrity, work hard in your life, and tithe.  Doing these 5 things will make sure you are blessed by God; maybe that doesn't mean great financial riches, but it DOES mean always having food on your table and a roof over your head.  It means having a job to go to every day. It may mean good health, or a wonderful, loving family.  Blessings are also a MINDSET, we have to be appreciative for what we have.  When we do the above 5 things, God will help us to HAVE that proper mindset so that we can see and enjoy the blessed life we lead.