Three Years Later

Happy "Mr. and Mrs. Day" #3!!

Today is our third wedding anniversary! In some ways it feels like we've been married for more than 3 years but in other ways, there are times we still feel like newlyweds. I wanted to post some photos from that day of days and to share "our story" with you!

LeGrande and I met on a blind date...yep, a blind date! I was in Ireland with World Harvest Mission from 2000-2003, and one of my jobs was to coordinate the annual Dublin Prayer Conference, which brings American church members to Ireland for a week to expose them to the ministry there as well as to open their eyes to how they can partner with the church in Ireland. Many people (me included) end up leaving the conference planning to return to Ireland as a missionary.

A couple from Greensboro came to the conference in June, 2003, just after I had made plans t0 stay on staff with WHM in Ireland another 4 years. Though I was single, I desired to be married and just did not see how God could bring it about given the lack of Christian guys in Ireland and the fact that I lived too far away and would be gone too long to entertain a relationship with anyone in the US. Despite this situation, I had prayed about it for a long time and had felt the Lord asking me to pray not just for my future husband, but for the connection that would bring me and my future husband together. I thought this sounded a little crazy, but I started praying for it in the spring of 2003, just before the conference.

I met our future matchmakers, Phil and Jan, in June 2003, and kept in touch with them after the conference was over. When I returned to the US in the fall of 2003 to support raise for the next 4 years, they asked me if I'd like to meet their son's best friend. I declined, thinking that the last thing I needed was the distraction of a guy just as I was planning this long-term stay in Ireland. A few months later, in January 2004, they offered to introduce us again. Again, I declined, but at this point, God had made it very clear to me that I was not being called back to Ireland (that's another story in and of itself!) and I was in a time where I was really struggling with what to do with my life, as well as grieving the loss of my plans to be in Ireland. In May of 2004, Jan called me one more time and said that she really felt like LeGrande and I needed to meet. She said all we had to do was come to dinner and if we did not want to see each other again, so be it! I reluctantly agreed, thanks to a gentle push from my Mom. Turns out LeGrande was also reluctant to meet me, but he came anyway. On May 21, 2004, we met and hit it off instantly! We stayed up till 1 am talking and if you know us, you know that that is about 5 hours past our bedtimes...so it had to be good to stay up that late for! We dated all summer and fall and on November 27, 2004, LeGrande popped the question and I said yes!

We married on June 18, 2005 and were married by my team leader from Ireland, who was home on furlough at the time. I think our wedding was beautiful...from the friends and family who stood with us to the music and the sermon, to the reception afterwards. It was the most amazing day of my life. I have never felt God's presence more acutely than I did that day as we stood together to become husband and wife.

Now, three years later, I look back at these photos taken of us when we had only just begun our marriage. This week I have wondered, What would we have thought if someone had told us that just three years later we'd have battled infertility followed by a miscarriage...that some of the days to come would be filled with pain and shared dreams shattered. I would have been scared to death. I am sure I would have tried my hardest to prevent those painful days from occurring.

The truth is, no bride and groom know what is ahead as they pledge their love, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, so long as they both shall live. No Hallmark wedding card prepares couples for the day that darkness and broken-heartedness meets them. This innocence is part of what makes a wedding beautiful...

My mom reminded me last week that at our wedding, the song that my sister sang during communion was called "Shine on Us."

Lord Let your light, Light of your face

Shine on Us

Lord Let your light, Light of your face

Shine on Us

That we, may be saved

That we, may have life

To find our way In the darkest night

Let your light, Shine on us

Lord Let your grace, Grace from your hand

Fall on us

Lord Let your grace, Grace from your hand

Fall on us

That we, may be saved

That we, may have life

To find our way In the darkest night

Let your grace, Fall on us

Lord Let your love, Love with no end

Come over us

Lord Let your love, Love with no end

Come over us

That we, may be saved

That we, may have life

To find our way In the darkest night

Let your love, Come over us

Let your light, Shine on us

In remembering the song that was sung as a blessing over us, I found comfort in the fact that despite not knowing what was ahead, that we were asking for God to give us light, grace, love, and life in ALL the seasons that were to come- both the ones of joy and the ones of sorrow. And He has done that. Three years later, our marriage is a stronger one, with a love between us that is truer and deeper than I could have ever imagined that it would have been as I pledged my vows as a bride. I know it is because of God's love and grace for us. I can only hope and pray that our marriage will continue to grow as we walk through all the seasons that are to come...holding onto Jesus and to each other.