In Sickness and In Health

The above picture was taken on my wedding day (clearly). But I want you to look at is the background of the picture. Look at the large bottle of gingerale. Look at the small bottle of hand sanitizer. See the way I am reclined, slouching, in my chair as I waited for 6:00 to finally arrive. Now listen to my story.....

We got home from the rehearsal dinner quite late on Friday night. Jaclyn, my sweet sister was 4 or 5 months pregnant with Grace. (Who is now almost 6 months old!). Jaclyn laid on Mom and Dad's couch... she wasn't feeling well. I was so sad for her. She went on up to bed, but as I was getting ready for bed, I heard her in the bathroom. She was throwing up alot, over and over again. I started praying "Lord, please let Jaclyn feel better, and protect her baby too". I got dressed, and went to bed, realizing this was my last time to fall asleep as a single woman.

I went through all the things I needed to do tomorrow morning. I needed to finish packing, since the Best Man was going to come to my house and pick up the suitcase so Grant could go ahead and take it to the hotel and check in. I needed to get a few boxes of things to the reception hall. And I needed to be at the hair place by 11:00, as I had so clearly told my girls. I was exhausted and really wanted to get to bed so I would feel rested on my wedding day.

About 1:00am, my stomach started feeling weird. "Nerves", I thought. By this time I had heard Jaclyn running into our bathroom about 20 times, and I thought "I'm just feeling sympathy pains for her, this is all in my head". However, at about 1:30, I was up and running. Thankfully, I made it to the toilet in time. (Nice image there for ya). I remember thinking "Oh, sweet Jesus, you do remember that it is my wedding day, right?". I heard footsteps outside in the hallway and then a knock on the door. It was my mom. "Sweety, are you okay?". She opened the door, expecting to see Jaclyn, and there I was crying and just a hot mess altogether. My sweet mom, hugged me, told me we were gonna get through this.

She walked downstairs and said to my dad, "Jack, it's not just Jaclyn, it's Jenny too". My dad replied "Me too". It was at this moment that we realized that my wedding day was clearly not going to go exactly as planned.

Mom, Dad, me, and Jaclyn were all sick with a virus. And it was spreading. I truly believe that by the power of prayer, I stopped throwing up at 7:30am. I was still feeling nauseous, but I was not feeling so awful. Mom, Dad, and Jaclyn, followed by her husband Jeremy were pretty sick the whole day.

Our friend Penny had a friend who was going through chemotherapy. She very generously donated some pills she takes to help with nausea. I remember sitting in that chair you see in that picture, chugging gingerale, and being told by the sweet wedding coordinator that she had places some buckets in the first pew for my parents if anyone should need them. Nice.

But, we did it. We all made it down the aisle. Jaclyn had to sit down in a pew halfway through the ceremony. But I would much rather her sit down than fall down!!

By the end of it all, we counted THIRTY-FOUR people that got sick. Our whole family, several members of the wedding party, a groomsmen ended up in the hospital for dehydration since he was throwing up so much.

It's so funny though, cause when you look at the pictures, you would never know. There was a very short moment when I thought, "I have been planning this perfectly for over a year. Why would God do this?"

I think it was to show me that things are not MY plan, they are HIS. And in spite of it all, my wedding day was perfect. It was beautiful. And even though my family sat at the reception the majority of the time, they had a great time. My mom's fever broke around 9:00 at the reception and she really perked up. Now, that we look back on it, it's quite funny!

Anyways, that is the story of my wedding day. Praise Jesus we didn't have to use the buckets!

Heading to Texas

Friday is here! AND.... tonight we're going to TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be still my heart.

It's gonna be a short trip. You see, my dear friend Laura is getting married next month, and I am a bridesmaid. This weekend is one of her showers, and I haven't been able to make alot of things for her wedding since I am in Louisiana, but I really wanted to come to a shower! So we will get there late tonight, and tomorrow morning is the shower (at my mom's house). I'm really excited for Grant because he gets to play golf with some of his old college buddies. He hasn't seen them in a really long time and he is so happy!

Anyways, we are gonna try to get out as early as possible. It's a 5 hour drive and if we leave too late we don't get there till midnightish.

Love to all!

Mercy

I'm feeling a little bit convicted. I've been getting a soft whisper that has turned into a firm statement in my ear all day from our Lord. He clearly is trying to drive a point home. I hear you Jesus, I hear you!!

When I was on my way to the office this morning, I got myself all worked up. I was driving and thinking about something that someone did recently that offended me. Who and what does not matter, but I was fuming. The longer I drove the more my internal dialogue was saying "How dare you!" and getting myself all into a tizzy. This person's actions was upsetting to me and I was thinking of all the things I would say if I could let loose. I would confront this person, quote scripture, and prove that I was right, and they were wrong.

I walked into the office and checked my email. I have mentioned before that I am a subscriber to Oak Hills Devotionals. Oak Hills is Max Lucado's church, and he sends out daily devotionals every morning. It's sitting right there in your inbox, waiting to tell you something. Ironically enough, here's what Pastor Max shared with me today:

Do not try to punish others when they wrong you, but wait for God to punish them with his anger. -ROMANS 12:19

Have you ever noticed in the western movies how the bounty hunter travels alone? It's not hard to see why. Who wants to hang out with a guy who settles scores for a living? Who wants to risk getting on his bad side? More than once I've heard a person spew his anger. He thought I was listening, when really I was thinking, "I hope I never get on his list". Cantankerous sorts, these bounty hunters. Best leave them alone. Hang out with the angry and you might catch a stray bullet. Debt-settling is a lonely occupation. It's also an unhealthy occupation ...

If you're out to settle the score, you'll never rest. How can you? For one thing, your enemy may never pay up. As much as you think you deserve an apology, your debtor may not agree. The racist may never repent. The chauvinist may never change. As justified as you are in your quest for vengeance, you may never get a penny's worth of justice. And if you do, will it be enough?

So immediately after reading that, I was like "Wow, God knew exactly what needed to be in my inbox this morning!!" But that's not all. I did pretty well all day, my anger subsided and I didn't think much about it. Then this evening, Grant and I went on a walk and were talking. Again, I started getting my feathers ruffled. We came back from our walk, I put the laundry away, and opened my new Beth Moore Bible study that I started on Saturday. This is one of the scripture verses from today's study:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God"- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

Here is what sticks out to me today. I have read that verse so many times. The word compassion really jumped out at me tonight. God is compassionate and merciful on us, and we are His instruments to show that same compassion on others. He is merciful on ME! How is it that I am not bestowing that same mercy on others? I look at my past, the wretched mistakes and decisions I have made, the times that I have done everything but turn my back on my Savior, and He had mercy on me! How then, am I not showing that same compassion, mercy, and grace on others?

A Little Update....

Well, the hubby and I had a very nice weekend. Grant's parents drove in from New Orleans Friday evening. We just visited and went on to bed. Saturday morning we had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel (YUM) and Grant and his dad played golf while his mom and I went shopping.... holla!

I used my Ann Taylor gift card that my sister, Shannon, gave me for my birthday back in August. I got TWO shirts. (Okay, so I spent a little more than my gift card supplied!). THEN I went to Nine West and bought these really cute little brown loafer type shoes. They are perfect for work, and for fall! I am a major fan of Nine West, especially because they are one of the few stores that consistently carry size 5's. Being a size 5 woman is hard, cause no one carries your size! But they are really cute.

Then we stopped at Lifeway and I finally bought Beth Moore's Jesus: 90 Days With the One and Only. I have been wanting this book for a long time and I finally bought it. I've already done days one and two and I am SO excited to learn more about the life of Jesus. I am eager to see what He is going to do in my life through this book!

Yesterday morning we went to church, had some pretty good mexican food for lunch, and then headed to our newest obsession: house hunting. Ladies, we are looking for houses, AND I think we found one! We would have to build it, but the price is right and the house is ADORABLE. We are probably meeting with a mortgage company this week to see if we could get approved for the loan, so please pray!

This would be our first house and so this is all so new and scary for us. (Personally, I can't believe we are old enough to be doing this!). I will post pictures of the model house as soon as I get a chance!

So I have to make fun of myself a little bit. Yesterday afternoon after we got home from looking at the house, I laid down to take a nap. I was laying in our bed, on top of the covers, with just a little blanket over my legs. Well, I could hear my cell phone ringing in the kitchen, so I was kinda startled and was trying to get up to answer it. I rolled over to get out of the bed, but I didn't realize how close to the edge I was! I rolled right off the bed! And to make matters worse, my legs were all tangled up in the blanket so I couldn't really plant my feet well. AND to make matters worse, in the big fat middle of my falling down, I pulled a muscle in my leg. So I went down with a boom, Grant comes running and I am laying on the side of the bed, hardly awake, startled, and crying cause my leg was hurting. My sweet husband literally sat beside me and prayed for me. Haha.

I hope everyone has a wonderful wonderful week! Love you ladies!