Heather and Jay's Wedding!

Samuel with Grandpa George

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We had a great trip to Chicago this weekend for my sister's wedding. We had started saving for the trip ahead of time. Then unexpectedly, a family gave us $500 for our trip and another family said they felt led to give $200. The Lord provided the finances we needed. Thank you, Jesus! We left early morning Wednesday the 21st and got there Thursday evening. We had a great time on our drive listening to music and teachings on our ipod. When we hit the Chicago city limits we were in heavy traffic. But in the midst of that I just started laughing for no reason. Then I realized the Lord was filling me with joy and I couldn't stop laughing for about 10 minutes. (I experienced this laughter again on our way back to Wyoming, right before hitting traffic in Minnesota.) This made our drive through about an hours worth of traffic very enjoyable. When we got to Chicago Cody dropped me off at Birthway's while he spent the evening with Jay and another friend Michael. I went to Heather's Blessing Way Party where we had some food and blessings were given. Afterward we went bowling! I haven't bowled in at least a year and a half. I bowled a 145! I was surprised by how well I did. It was fun to have a ladies night out with Heather and her friends. Then on Friday night we had the wedding rehearsal and dinner which was Chicago style hot dogs (yummy). My Mom, Dad, brother, Tim and sister-in-law, Tara arrived in Chicago that night. It was so great to have the whole family together again.

Heather and Jay's wedding was on Saturday. The wedding started at 3 pm at my sisters church. It was a beautiful wedding. Instead of having the minister do traditional vows they had friends read excerpts from different books for the vows. Then Heather and Jay shared vows spoken from their hearts. While they lit the unity candle, I sang a song called, "My Romance." For the benediction I sang, "The Gathering of Spirits" with two lovely ladies who have beautiful voices. It was an honor to get to be a part of Heather and Jay's special day. They had tied their rings to a ball and Samuel was the ring bearer. The plan was for Samuel to throw the ball to Jay. Samuel did throw the ball and it bounced at Jay's feet. He did a great job :) The wedding reception was a lot of fun. It's one of the best receptions I've ever been to. They had a Mexican buffet and a dessert buffet. The food was delicious. They also had a live karaoke band and sooo many of Heather and Jay's friends sing professionally. The talent would definitely have been competition for American Idol. The reception went from 5-midnight. Samuel had a great time dancing and hanging out with the other kids. He eventually fell asleep in my arms around 11. The next day Jay's mom, Annie had a buffet put together at the hotel from 10:30-12. It was sad to say good-bye to my family. The weekend seemed to go by so fast. But I am thankful for the time we got to spend together. I am 28 weeks and I know the next couple months are going to go fast. My parents and sister plan on coming out to see us when Abigail is born, so it won't be long before we'll get to see each other again!

On our trip back to Wyoming, we ate at Outback Steak House that night for dinner. As we were leaving the restaurant we noticed a lady sitting outside on a bench. She looked like she had been crying. We talked with her and found out she had just gotten out of an abusive relationship and had run out of gas. We got to encourage her, pray with her and helped her get some gas. I love living for God. It's so enjoyable to partner with Him.