Monday, June 1, 2009

Wonderful Weekend

Spent Friday in a theme park with the boy-child. His school choir was in a regional competition after which all the groups headed into the park with the awards ceremony and trophy presentation scheduled just before closing time. We had a blast! His school racked up: four trophies (3 first place), a couple of "Superior" ratings (the highest), and a couple of ribbons for individual performances.

Best news of the weekend: My friend who had not awakened from laparoscopic gall bladder surgery four weeks ago opened his eyes and was waving. When I finally got to see him Sunday evening he was sitting up and we had a nice, although brief, chat. I didn't realize until later that he was riding a bed pan and I had come at a most inopportune time.

Sunday morning as part of our worship service we surprised the group with a renewal of wedding vows ceremony right in the middle of the sermon. They are celebrating their tenth anniversary this week.

Their love story began twelve and a half years ago. She was the mother of two girls, ages 9 and 6, whose husband/daddy had recently divorced the family. The hero of our story had a painful past himself; he and his wife going separate ways after the death of a child.

So these two wounded people met for the first time, at a softball game of all places. Introduced by a friend of hers, who happened to be a co-worker of his. A friendship grew and blossomed. They dated for over two years.

The time came when they believed that marriage was the next step in their relationship. It was time to make known to their family and friends that this was a permanent relationship, and in their hearts they were committed to each other for a lifetime.

On the day of the wedding, as they exchanged vows and rings, the handsome groom not only gave a ring to his new bride, but matching rings to her daughters; for now he considered them his daughters as well.

Not only was a marriage born that day, but also a family. God has added to it over the years and God has continually moved in their hearts to heal past pains. God is doing something new and wonderful.

They adopted a little girl seven years ago, and the oldest daughter has married so there's now a son-in-law in the mix. It was neat as they exchanged their vows which included the phrase, "I still take you..."

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