Be All There: 9 memories of our wedding day on our 9th anniversary!

9 years ago today we said "I do"...or was it "I will"?

I am the kind of person who analyzes, questions, hesitates, prays, wrestles, and seeks counsel regarding big life decisions. But for as MASSIVE of a decision as "until-death-do-us-part" is, it was one of the easiest and clearest decisions of my life. No nerves. No second-guessing. No stress. No hesitation. No question.

No walk-in-the-park either. What marriage is?

We have been through things. We have struggled with things. We have grown through conflict. We have experienced joy and sorrow the likes of which we never could have pictured on that fall day in Wheaton, Illinois on October 12, 2002.

We get to celebrate our anniversary this weekend by going to our 10 year college reunion. Although we never really dated on campus (our romantic relationship didn't start until the very end of college), I can't wait to return to our old stamping ground with my husband/best friend/father of my children and remember where it all began.

OK, enough sappy-schmaltzy talk. Back to the point of this post.

In honor of our 9th anniversary I am going to share 9 fun-facts/memories from our wedding day

mostly in an attempt to see if I can actually remember 9 things...

#1 We have lousy wedding pictures. Our blessed event fell at a pre-digital, pre-creative time for wedding photography. The pictures do document the day, but they certainly aren't exciting. We never even ordered a wedding album. (It wasn't the photographers fault. I blame the non-creative time period.)

# 2 We were married by my high school youth pastor. It's kind of funny to be married by the guy I used to watch dunk himself through basketball hoops. Kind of funny, and kind of great.

#3 I had 6 family members participate in the music during our ceremony. Watch out Von Trapps.

#4 The music of our ceremony and reception included:
This Day (seating of family members) Jesus, Be the Center (unity candle/couples prayer) Be Thou My Vision & Great Is Thy Faithfulness (congregational hymns) I Will Be There (first dance) Father's Eyes (father-daughter dance) Volare (last dance)

#5 Our first kiss as husband and wife was a bit awkward. We should have had a game plan, or at least agreed on a final number of smooches. The pastor had to say, "that's enough for now." Awkward.

#6 Our guest favors were soapstone bowls we hauled back from Kenya in our suitcases (wrapped in socks and underwear). We bargained for all 120 of them at various markets in Nairobi. I think they cost about 23 cents a piece.

#7 My family surprised me by making me lip-sync at my own wedding reception...with my maid-of-honor sisters as back-up singers/dancers. Did you catch that? It was a surprise...to me...the bride. The three of us girls used to frequently do lip-sync performances of "The Boy From New York City" as children, so I guess they figured I was a good sport and the words would come back to me. They were right.

#8 When the night ended and we left the reception to head downtown Chicago to our hotel Chris accidentally took one of the guest's jackets, thinking it was his. We did not discover the jacket mix-up until the next morning. I have no memory of how we got the jacket back to this man. Did we?

#9 Some of our groomsmen put various phallic shaped vegetables in our departure limo. Classy.

Happy 9th Anniversary to us!
Thank you God for an amazing and adventure-filled 9 years.
Can't wait to start our 10th.