6 years ago...

Internet, I'm sure you're probably sick of my annual anniversary post... Recounting one of my favorite days of my life thus far {February 2, 2008}. But just go along with it...

This year as I think back on this special occasion, I'm so thankful for the people who were involved… and the way the Lord continues to use them in my life to encourage my heart.  

For my girlfriends throwing me a personal shower with an amazingly decorated cake ;) , then throwing a bachelorette party... And takin dance lessons with us... And helping address envelopes, and helping me make the boutineers, and helping with the tear down after the reception, and standing next to me while I vow to love him with my whole heart for the rest of my life on earth and to serve The Lord with him. Oh how I'm thankful for these ladies. They are all still in my life... Distance, stage of life, busyness... It can all get in the way- but I'm thankful for each of these ladies.

{one of my favorite pictures of a couple of these special ladies}

We are equally as blessed by the guys that were involved with our special day. We are so blessed to have had a wedding party that both the bridesmaids and groomsmen all knew one another and pretty well in fact.    

{yes they were singing as they patiently waited for the girls to get ready for pics}

The guys also suffered through {secretly they enjoyed} dance lessons, and a couple of them wrote a song for our wedding and performed it on the big day.  We heard the song for the first time at the rehearsal 6 years ago today.   If you're interested in hearing it… just let me know next time you see me and I'd LOOOOVE to play it for you.  They recorded it for me as a gift after the wedding.

{Ben and Bryce signing and playing 'The Only One' on our wedding day}

The dress.  I felt like a million bucks on my wedding day.  My dress flattered me perfectly, was exactly what I wanted - SIMPLE … AND it only cost $250 off the rack and no alterations necessary.  That. never. happens.  {at least from what I see on TLC}  I bought the first dress I tried on.

{a person could have hid under there… I'm sure of it}

The first look.  I'm SO glad we ended up having our first look before the wedding.  I know it isn't for everyone.  But it was perfect for us.  Below reflects me walking into my groom… down the isle.  Just me, Scott and the photographers in the room.  It was so nice to get all of that stress/excitedness/anxiety of seeing each other over with early on.  

We took some pics of the 2 of us around the church before we loaded up on the Excursion Limo that took us downtown a little later.

{My favorite picture from the day}

{He is such a stud! I got to marry him!}

{I don't know why.. but I love that my dress took up most of our seat}

{Scott and I love skylines - so it made perfect sense to take pictures at Liberty Memorial downtown KC}

{I don't even know how this happened - the photographers had the fancy glasses, and one of our groomsmen or bridesmaids had the sparkling grape juice.  Loved this moment so much}

{We are pretty lucky to live in KC.  We have beautiful buildings here… like Union Station where we took this pic}

{Such a sweet moment with my brother right before I walked down! Love that they captured this moment for me.}

{Another sweet moment I'm so glad I have documented.  Prayer with my cousin, John who officiated the ceremony.  I'm so thankful for him}

During the ceremony the girls prayed over me before the vows… and the guys prayed over Scott.  I don't have a great picture - but below you can kind of see that my uncle Rick is singing in the background.  He is singing 'The Wedding Song' which is the same song he sang at my parent's wedding. 

{Thankful to have been showered with prayer moments before I became Scott's wife}

{We are blessed by our community then and now}

{First kiss as hubby and wifey}

{One of my favorite pics of us leaving the ceremony.  So thankful to have been married in my home church.  The place we serve together… the place we hold so dearly in our hearts.}

{The table decor - yes that is a cake on each table! The beautiful decor at the church and most at the reception were thanks to Scott's aunt, Cheryl.  She has a serious gift for this stuff!}

{Our first dance. … the one we took lessons for :) I love this picture… I'm so giddy!}

{We opened up the dance floor after this and danced the night way! Please let me keep my southern baptist card}

Ahhhh….. I love getting to walk down memory lane each year.  I am so thankful for the past 6 years.  The Lord has used Scott and our marriage to truly encourage, challenge, and grow me in all of the right ways.  I'm so thankful for a husband who desires for the gospel to be the center of our marriage and our home.  Looking forward to many more years to celebrate!

Haven't been around for my previous walks down wedding day memory lane… feel free to check these posts out:

5 years of loooooooooove

5 years ago tomorrow

The engagement story

Anniversary-ness

Fall reminds me of..

some great memories growing up.   I don't even know why they were flooding my mind on my way home today... But I couldn't help but smile.

First of all... when I was little I thought that God changed the colors of the leaves JUST for my birthday.  :)  I've ALWAYS loved this display of God's beauty in nature.

My next door neighbor, Renee lived next to one another for 15+ years.  Several years when we were younger she would take me for a ride in her wagon for my birthday. We would stop at each pile of leaves on our walk around the block and we would pick out the most beautiful leaves we could find.  We would then put them in a zip lock bag and they would go under my bed until the next year.  When the next year came... we'd take the zip lock out and dump the leaves and fill it up with the new favorites  for the year.  I'm not sure how that little tradition got started... and to be honest, until today I had completely forgotten about this birthday activity.

Since I was thinking about Renee- I also started thinking about how we used to have this fancy gold envelop that had a velcro closure -- it was a gift certificate holder back in the olden days when gift certificates were not on plastic debit cards.  {I hear a gasp from all the youngins} So we would write notes to each other and hide the envelope around the outside of our 2 houses and to get the note- we'd have to find the hidden golden envelope!   Just makes me giggle b/c my love language via the written word really did start early!

I had completely forgotten about this memory as well.  I love when the Lord brings back special memories like these.

What memories come flooding back into your mind around this time of year?

Update on life as I know it...

Dear Internet, it is amazing how often I thought about how badly I wanted to update you on life... and yet how little time I found to do so.

Here is an attempt to bring you up to speed {Insta-style} on life since May 14th (my last post).  

This precious baby girl was born.  Her name is Olivia Grace and she is absolutely beautiful.  Want to learn more about this beauty and her adorable family?  Check out her momma's blog: Candace's Calling.

Tuesday Girls happened again this summer.  It. was. amazing.  I enjoyed every single Tuesday of this past summer.  We spent our time discussing Follow Me by David Platt, feel free to read a great review of the book here:  Challie's Blog (A great resource I am sure to use before reading most any book I considering spending time to dig into) 

Got some pool time with this lady.  Unfortunately a few moments after this picture was taken, thunder clouds rolled in and started making all kinds of ruckus.  Fortunately, we made it back to my house literally seconds before the downpour.  Call it stubborn {we REALLY wanted pool time} I call it grace.

Oh my goodness... Whitney came into town and we went to dinner one day.  It was so amazing because we were talking about her desire to grow her family.. and a few weeks later we find out... SHE'S PREGGERS!  Can't wait to meet this new little one in 2014!

I have to tell you what a blessing it has been to spend some major time with this group of humans.  {Please excuse the KU swag in the middle... we love him regardless of his sport affiliations... THAT is true community} :)   Oh... Jen started her doctorate this summer... I feel so sophisticated to say one of my best friends is going to be a doc soon!  So proud of her... she will make an amazing administrator for our educational system.

Mom and I went on a flea market day trip to Springfield and back.  Of course we had a couple of stops along the way.  I realize it isn't pictured here... but we DID actually stop and find some goodies at some of my favorite flea markets on the way there and back.

These are the faces we get during Insomnia {youth lock in}.  I love these ladies.  I'd love any commentary on what you think the faces are saying to me.... :)  

So excited to watch the Lord challenge them to grow closer to Himself.  Asking the Lord to use me however He sees fit to encourage their spiritual growth.    

I got to see my brother over Memorial Day weekend.  It was so good to see him.  He was growing out the beard since a few days later he'd begin basic.  So. proud. of. him.

ROAD TRIP with Jamie and Greg to Branson.  To say we shopped until we dropped is an under statement.  This girl knows how to shop.  Seriously!  Had such a blast getting to have a girls car on the way there... and of course stopping for some required BRAUMS on the way.  YUM!  

Just a Tuesday night spent crafting chatting with these lovely ladies.  Have I mentioned that I love my church body.... and the community the Lord continues to place around me?!  

Weekend to Springfield with a couple of my favorites! Got to watch Jen do what she does best... teach. She brought the word to a group of ladies who will lead at her alma mater.  Enjoyed my favorite tacos on this planet as well as my favorite improve comedy show downtown.  I still think we could have swam in the pool... #shouldhavejumpedin

Little sister reunion!  Ok... so I don't have a biological sister.  But in HS the senior guys and girls were paired up with freshman guys and girls and we were encouraged to be their big sister/brother and help them get acquainted with HS.  I couldn't have been paired with anyone better.  Katie and I don't keep in touch like we should... but when we get to reunite it is an instant comfortable connection.  I'm so encouraged to hear how the Lord is using her in her community in northeast MO!  

Another HS friend that came in town from OK and I got to meet her beautiful family.  So thankful to get the few quality moments I had while she was in town.  #missingher

You can bet that I've gotten a few cuddles with these two babies since we last talked.  Of course most of the cuddles came before and after our cousin {below} came to visit for a week.

Dog sitting for my brother/sister-in-law was so much fun.  I love Shylah, she is such a great dog.  She was a great sport as the cats didn't enjoy her company as much as I did.  We DID survive... and we'd gladly do it again!

After 10+ weeks of being a part with just a few minutes of phone time ever few weeks and a letter here and there... my brother and his beautiful bride were reunited!  I didn't get to go to his graduation from basic.. but I'm so thankful for this moment.  I'm excited to watch the Lord take them on their next adventure.

My mantle these days.  Enjoying my instagram prints from PostalPix.  They are adorable and work perfectly for my decor!

Went to the MU game this past weekend with Scott's family.  Had such a great time with them.  The girls went shopping while the guys went to the stadium (we had some time to kill).  Pretty sure I lost 10 pounds just from the walking and sweating.... it was blistering hot and humid.  YUCK.  But we are so thankful because by game time we had overcast which helped cool us down a little.  MU winning always makes it a great time as well.

So this happened... I was cracking up with the photo-bomber behind me after the picture was taken.  lol

PS: Isn't he so handsome?!

                         

The twins are SENIORS?!?!  Can this seriously be so?!

 

Bowling night with the youth!  I can't believe how fast these ladies are growing up.

Visiting one of our youth students hard at work during a very long 9 hour shift on a Saturday. Oh... and convincing Scott to let me take advantage of the perfect photo opportunity in the lobby.  Love him so much for bearing with my quirks.  :)  {I think he kind of enjoyed this one}

Jen and I are sure to spend some time at Starbucks... doing one or all of the following:

1. solving all of the world's problems

2. evaluating potential mates for Jen

3. evaluating potential mates for our other friends

4. playing detective - we have witnessed a few first dates, a pyramid scheme meeting, and a guy asking a dad for his daughter's hand in marriage - to name a few.

My sister-in-law came through KC on her way back home and I SO enjoyed getting to spend some time with her.  Wishing I had more opportunities for some quality time with this lady.

Starbucks date with Renee! So enjoy discussing life past, present, and future with you.  

Yesterday was Labor Day and Jen and I decided to do a sneak attack on Laina at work.  Worked like a charm - except the fact she saw us coming down the isle.  There was jumping in the isles of Old Navy... you can bet on that one.

What is new in your world?  I've missed you.

five years of loooooooooove....

where do I even begin with this guy?

I know I haven't really shared much about Scott's and I's love story... mostly because he doesn't want to be embarrassed because of his sweetness.... I tell him that it makes him more of a man than any 'man' I know! :) Or potentially because my long term memory tends to be pretty fuzzy...

I do have to give you a little summary of our story... because today I'm celebrating our relationship... and it starts at the beginning! 2001 when I transferred from my local public high school to a local christian school.... Insert Scott {student at said school} into my life.  We weren't close in HS... we were in a class of 40 students so we were around one another but he was the scrawny, goofy, super-athletic guy.

Fast forward to our freshman year of college (2004) when one of our classmates at a party and we had a little HS reunion to catch up on life.  Scott and I chatted a little during the party as we usually did at these social events.  Also basketball games were a big deal at our HS so we would run into one another  when I was home over breaks.  Next thing I know... Scott and I are talking on AIM {nope... twitter, instagram, and iPhones weren't a thing yet...} quite often.

So the summer after freshman year of college we started hanging out with a group of friend- some from HS some from Three16 {college ministry}.  Before I knew it, Scott was my best guy friend!  Of course... this was perfect because he was really good friends with a guy I had a crush on - so I figured it would work perfectly for him to match make for me.  Oh my word, did God have a bigger and better plan for me.  Now, don't get me wrong, we are still very dear friends with that past crush.... thankful we can look at that time and just shake our heads and laugh about it!

Scott is pretty good at being intentional... let me tell you.  This guy knew waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy before I did that we would end up together.  Love how the Lord did that.  He knew how much I needed to feel pursued.... especially because I have a 'take-charge' personality and it would be super easy for me to manipulate situations or circumstances to basically justify doing the pursuing for the guy.... {did I just say that out loud?}

I'm not even sure how this happened... but I think Whitney found out that Scott had a thing for me and OF COURSE told me {rule #1 of girl code: always relay important information to one another} of his affection :)  Apparently it was not God's timing because I was not interested.  We had some really good conversations when the news broke - and honestly I think it only deepened our friendship... which really felt like the first grown-up kind of thing to me.  You know... where a guy likes a girl but the girl doesn't like the guy... but yet they can talk about it and continue being friends instead of letting it be super awkward?  Or maybe it was because God knew best.  We'll go with that :)

 As our friendship grew closer, I realized how much I really didn't like it when he was dating someone. After the press release about his affections and before we started dating was probably a span of roughly eight months.  He dated 2 girls during that time... one of which told him that he and I were going to get together?!  I guess she could just tell by our friendship?  I don't know... but she was right!

Ok... here starts the mushy-ness.  I vividly remember the first time I tingled head to toe one time that Scott touched my knee to get my attention in the beginning of summer 2006.  We were sitting in a pew at a church in Grandview on a Saturday listening to a pastor talk about some research he had done on a local ministry.  It was the most confusing moment ever!  'Why did THAT make me get butterflies?'... We've been friends for several years and it was NOT the first time he had touched my knee to get my attention.  But for some reason it was different this time.

So... I kept that to myself for a few days - only because my BFF wasn't home from leading at camp until a week or so later.  I figured that gave me plenty of time to try and process what was going on with me! She came home and we had some girl talk over 4th of July... I remember so clearly because she told me 'Raylene... you never told me not to let you date him'.  You see - I knew it would be easy to just start 'liking' my guy friends because they were there and it was convenient.  I had told April to not let me date certain guy friends of ours.  Apparently I never gave that rule for Scott :)

So over the next month or so we were flirting feverishly... it was so adorable.  Internet... I'm SURE everyone around us at the time would agree with it's cuteness.

June 14, 2006 came and a few of our friends were heading over to Scott's to hang out and play games.  So of course I joined... this was such a blessing because the very next morning I was heading to St. Luke's on the Plaza to have spinal correction surgery.  While you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at me, I had sculiosis and my spine was the shape of an S.  Anyway... the few guy friends who were hanging out at Scott's that night spent time and prayed over me before I left that night.  It was one of the sweetest moments!  The next day after the 10 hour surgery and growing an inch and 1/2 taller - I was safely out of surgery and starting the long road of recovery.  I would be in the hospital for over a week and almost everyday I had friends visiting... and nearly everyday Scott visited me in the hospital and we played Phase 10 - one of my favorite games {and one of his least favorite games}

It was less than a month later - July 10, 2006 to be exact that Scott and I would have our DTR {define the relationship} discussion and start dating.  We established boundaries, expectations, and the intention of our relationship {intended to end in marriage}.  It was a beautiful discussion... I will spare you all of the details - potentially because I don't remember all of them.... but nonetheless - it was beautiful.

So there we were watching the credits of Top Gun because it was still super uncomfortable for me to ride in cars.. so we watched a lot of movies with pillows propping me up - when it happened... we held hands. {sigh}  I have to admit it was quite the transition to seeing him as my best guy friend... to my BOYfriend.  But no complaints here... I loved every second of it!

I was in college at the time just a couple of hours away - which was a very healthy thing for our relationship.  We talked on the phone in the evenings - because he worked full time and went to school part time while I did the school thing all day and was very involved with some extra curricular activities on campus.  I believe it we truly had a healthy balance of time 'together' {via phone} and away.  I didn't have texting like I do now... so it was much easier to maintain that healthy balance.

So we dated for a year and a month when he popped THE question!  Which you can read more about here!

Wow... it has been so fun recounting these memories the last few days as I prepare this post!  It is amazing that I love him more now that I did the day we got married... it is crazy to think that is possible.    Scott truly completes me.  The Lord knew exactly what I needed in a husband and have it through Scott.  He has such a calm and quiet spirit along with such an honest heart that teaches me sooooooo much.

Dear Babe,

Here are some of my favorite things about you today:

-how much you wish the Royals played all year around
-the discipline you have as you continue your education
-your non-anxious heart that challenges me constantly to not worry
-the love for the Lord that pours out of your pores - thank you for encouraging me in my relationship with Christ
-your discernment ... your wisdom comes from such an honest and caring place {so beautiful}

Ok... the tears are starting to well so I better stop there :)  I love everything about you!

Happy day-late anniversary!

Love,
Ray