the great adventure: June 2009

Friday, June 26, 2009

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ perfect fit . . .

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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It never ceases to amaze me how well Austin and I fit together. It's almost as if we were . . . made for each other! lol!

Okay, I know that sounds really corny, but it's absolutely the truth. But not in the way that it's portrayed in movies and books and on TV. In the Hollywood version of made-for-each-other-ness, the stars align, there are violins and fireworks, and the main characters just "know."

I'm finding, though, that in the "real world" it's even more wonderful because you find out a little bit at a time. The pieces coming together a little more every day. I think that is so much better than a huge "a-ha!" moment, because what can compare to that one moment? We're learning to treasure the tiny moments :)

Some of the pieces were obvious, like the ones in the first picture. Austin is a financial whiz, and I'm definitely not. Where I'm emotional, he's logical. I am consistently in awe when I see another area in which where I leave off, he picks up, and vice versa.

Some of the ways that we mesh together are a lot more like this:

(Yes, those are puzzle pieces, to see them put together, click here, how cool is that?)

Can't help lovin' that man of mine! Praise the Lord for this beautiful mystery called marriage! :)

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me at katylinvw{at}yahoo{dot}com and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays Union 28 will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you Union 28!

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash Giveaway WINNERS!!!

AWESOME!!!!!

The Birthday Bash Extravaganza has come to an end!!!

I have had such a great week, thank you all so much for attending and entering and commenting!

Here are all of our winners:

~ Giveaway #1 from hopeink ~
Daja at in other words . . .

~ Giveaway #2 from juicychristians~
Anne at Our Homeschool

~ Giveaway #3 from Define Your Space ~
Ashley at Jaded Mission

~ Giveaway #4 from 3 Lambs Graphics ~
Nicole at Taulman Times

~ Giveaway #5 from Daydream Studios ~
Stacey at Our Families Journey . . .

Congratulations ladies!!!

I'll be in touch early next week to work out the details of getting your prizes to you! :)

Again, thank you all so much for celebrating the 1st birthday of ~ My Husband Rocks! ~ With us!!! It is always so exciting and inspiring to read the stories of all you wonderful women who are striving to love and encourage and respect your husbands in this small, fun way :)

Love ya!

Friday, June 19, 2009

MHR~BB Giveaway #5!

Today marks our 5th and final giveaway for this year's My Husband Rocks! Birthday Bash Extravaganza!!!

Today, the wonderful Anna from Daydream Studios has provided our giveaway prize!

When I was searching for giveaway sponsors and prizes, I ran across this photo:

and instantly fell in love with it! They have such phenomenal work on their site, but this was the one I could not get off of my mind, and she has generously agreed to send this to one lucky winner! So start racking up those entries!!!

There are many ways to earn entries into this giveaway, but must complete at least the first one for any of the extra entries to count:

1. Visit Daydream Studios, look around, then come back and comment on this post with your favorite item in her shop!

Once you have done that, you can earn additional entries by doing any of the following {You must leave a comment here to let me know you have done an extra entry! One entry per comment. No comment = no entry}:

2. Post the button on your sidebar AND write a post announcing the birthday bash, linking back here!

Here's the button code:

3. Tweet this giveaway post with "@katylinvw" in the tweet.

4. E-mail a MHR prompt/theme idea, or an inspirational article to me at katylinvw {at} yahoo {dot} com (This one is worth 5 extra entries!!!)

5. E-mail 3 friends inviting them to the birthday bash, and copy my e-mail address (katylinvw {at} yahoo {dot} com)!

ALL of the giveaways are open until 12:00AM Saturday, June 20! Be sure to enter them all!
Giveaway #1 from hopeink
Giveaway #2 from juicychristians
Giveaway #3 from Define Your Space
Giveaway #4 from 3LambsGraphics

TODAY ONLY!!!!
Any of the #4 type entries will get you 10 additional entries in EACH giveaway, and posting your own ~ My Husband Rocks! ~ post will get you 10 additional entries in EACH giveaway! :)

Good luck! :)

P.S. Don't forget to check out the other party posts below!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash Edition: He's Proud of Us :)

Today is the final day of our Birthday Bash Extravaganza!!! I have had so much fun! Thank you everyone who has participated thus far - especially our giveaway sponsors and guest-bloggers!!! You are all fantastic!

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Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Whenever we meet new people, or spend time with people that we don't see very often, we get to talking about our life. You know, the house, work, the dog, and invariably in the course of the evening the blog will come up.

Anyone who has blogged for any amount of time know that most people who you spend time with IRL don't usually "get" blogging. And if we're honest with ourselves, we didn't really "get" it until we were bloggers, it's the nature of the beast, lol :)

So, whenever the topic of my little blog comes up IRL conversation, I tend to kind of gloss over it and hope to be able to move on without the other members of the conversation thinking I'm crazy or wierd :) Not Austin, he likes to go into vivid detail about my hits and followers and comments, etc. And you know what? He usually focuses most of his emphasis on MHR. Not in an egotistical "My wife writes all about me every week" kind of way, in fact nine times out of ten he probably doesn't even read the MHR posts about him. What he loves about the whole thing is the impact it has had on the other couples who participate. And he gets MHR, probably more than anyone else I know IRL, he really understands the whole point and purpose behind what we do, and he is so proud of us :)

If you ever get to hear him talk about it, you'll see what I mean. He can explain the hows and the whys and the whatnots of it WAY better than I can! I sure love that hubby of mine :)

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P.S. If you write a MHR post today, be sure to comment back here with a link to it because maybe, just maybe, it may be worth some extra giveaway entries (a lot of extra giveaway entries)!!!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

MHR~BB Giveaway #4!

We have such a fun giveaway today!!! :)

Wonderful, fun Amy of 3LambsGraphics has generously offered up today's giveaway prize!

Especially for our birthday bash giveaway, she has created an 8x10 version of her "Let's Stay Together" Fine Art Giclee Print!!!

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There are many ways to earn entries into this giveaway, but must complete at least the first one for any of the extra entries to count:

1. Visit 3LambsGraphics, look around, then come back and comment on this post with your favorite item in her shop!

Once you have done that, you can earn additional entries by doing any of the following {You must leave a comment here to let me know you have done an extra entry! One entry per comment. No comment = no entry}:

2. Post the button on your sidebar AND write a post announcing the birthday bash, linking back here!

Here's the button code:

P.S. Don't forget to check out the other party posts below!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash: The Battle We Face

Today our second guest blogger takes the stage! Heathahlee of Butterfly Genes has graciously agreed to share with us, and let me tell you, this post is downright convicting! Heathahlee is another blog-friend who has been there from the very, very beginning. She was commenting on the blog even before MHR and she jumped on the MHR bandwagon from the very first week! She is insanely multi-talented, in addition to writing, she has music in her heart and loves to serve the Lord with that gift (check out this post to see what I'm talking about), and she has an adorable Etsy shop here! To read about the origins of her blog name, click here! Enough prattling from me, I give you Heathahlee:

The Battle We Face

I recently read the book, "Every Woman's Battle." It is about the battle in our minds and our emotions. How often do we compare our husbands to someone else? Another woman's husband...a co-worker...a family friend. We start innocently enough...

"I wish MY husband would send me flowers for no reason like Mandi's does. He's so romantic! I wonder what else he does for her?"

"Dave is such a good dad to his kids! Kylie is so lucky to have a husband like him. I wish my husband took more time with our kids."

"Why won't my husband pick up his dirty underwear off the floor??? I have asked him to a jillion times! I'm sure Mike does...his wife brags all the time how neat he is."

What we've done is opened our hearts to someone who has no business being there. That's dangerous territory. We must, as 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "...take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." If we don't do this, we are setting ourselves up for misery at best, and the ruination of lives at worst.

"What?" You may say..."I'm not having an affair! Good grief! How can these innocent complaints be anything CLOSE to an affair?" Well, they may not start out that way, but if you don't do what that verse says and nip it, nip it, nip it! you open more and more doors, until your heart is so hurt by what you've allowed yourself to believe (your husband isn't good enough to you, someone else would meet your emotional needs better, it's God's will for you to be happy, etc, etc.) that you are open to the very thing you said you'd never do. It's a slippery slope, and one that could be avoided if we would just "take captive every thought".

I know marriage is hard. I am married to my best friend...my soul-mate. We are so very close. I love him more than I ever thought I could love someone. But you know what? I've had to battle with this very subject. I have had to learn to take those thoughts captive. Even in my strong marriage the temptation is there to compare my husband with others. I can imagine how much easier it is when you are in a marriage where your husband is emotionally distant.

So, what are we supposed to do?

Matthew 22:37-38 says "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."

As Shannon Ethridge says in "Every Woman's Battle," "While avoiding unhealthy emotional connections and relationships is important, it's not enough to guarantee success in keeping our hearts guarded against compromise. The secret to ultimate emotional satisfaction is to pursue a mad, passionate love relationship with the One who made our hearts, the One how purifies our hearts, and the One who strengthens our hearts against worldly temptations. The secret is to focus your heart on your First Love."

Letting your thoughts wander to one relationship is THE best thing you can do. The relationship between you and your Savior! Get in the Word. Read books on being a godly wife. Don't focus on what is lacking in your husband, focus on what is NEVER lacking in your Heavenly Father!

A few months ago I had to confess some thoughts to my husband that weren't healthy. I begged God to not "make" me tell him. But I knew the Holy Spirit only wanted the best for me and my husband. I confessed to him and asked his forgiveness. Thankfully he readily gave it. But I never want to have to go to him with that kind of confession again. And you know what? Ever since I confessed to him, it's been easier to take those thoughts captive.

Have an accountability partner that you trust will keep your conversations confidential. Someone who will speak truth in love. Just knowing I have the freedom to blurt out some of the things that go through my mind is so freeing. I am not in bondage to my thought life, and you don't have to be either!

So what if you do all of this? Will it guarantee your marriage will be better and your husband will be all the things you want him to be? Not necessarily. But your relationship with God will be so much stronger He will show you the next step. You can trust Him with the most trivial of things in your marriage...even dirty underwear!

I strongly suggest Shannon's book...get it here!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

MHR~BB Giveaway #3!

Halfway through our party week, and today we have a doozy of a giveaway!!!

The generous gift comes from the sweet and talented Angela at Define Your Space!

I am so excited about this giveaway prize, in fact, I'd like to keep it for myself! Angela is going to allow the winner of this giveaway to select one of the personalized wood signs from her site (valued at $28)!!!

Here are just a couple of her great designs:

There are many ways to earn entries into this giveaway, but only the first one is required to be entered:

1. Visit Define Your Space, look around, then come back and comment on this post with your favorite item in her shop!

Once you have done that, you can earn additional entries by doing any of the following {You must leave a comment here to let me know you have done an extra entry! One entry per comment. No comment = no entry}:

2. Post the button on your sidebar AND write a post announcing the birthday bash, linking back here!

Here's the button code:

P.S. Don't forget to check out the other party posts below!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash: A Husband's Covering

Today we will enjoy the first of our guest bloggers!!! Sarah Mae at Like a warm cup of coffee is one of my oldest blogging friends. She has been there since the very beginning, in fact, she commented on my very first MHR post! She is also one of the most talented bloggers I know. Her series Marriage is Hard is chock full of great insight and wisdom. She has also written a great series called "Ex Prep" - Does your husband have ALL of your heart? She always delights and challenges me with her incredible depth of insight, and today's guest post is no exception, so without further ado:

A Husband's Covering

Life can sure beat us up sometimes. As if it isn't enough that we deal with our own lies and wounds, many times we also have to deal with attacks from the enemy. It is on those days that I am especially grateful for my husbands covering.

What Is A Husband's Covering?

For me it is a place of safe vulnerability. I am willing to give up myself and surrender to my husbands protection and wisdom. It is vulnerable because I am essentially saying, "here I am, I trust you to take care of me and make wise decisions on my behalf." It is safe because the Lord has granted a husband the special place of "head" over his wife. If God ordains something, I know I can trust it...I know it is a safe (albeit sometimes scary) place to be.

When we feel discouraged, we run to the feet of Jesus. But you know what, we can also run to the arms of our husbands (instead of our girlfriends) and let them help us. We need to be asking our husbands what they think, and then we need to be willing to accept their covering over us and heed their advice. I have found so much freedom in doing what my husband thinks is best. At first there was fear (what if he's wrong?), but now there is trust. I trust God, who put my husband over me for my good, to work things out for His glory.

Even when I'm tossed in the waves.

Even when I think I know what is best.

Even when his covering isn't quite perfect.

I choose to place myself in the safe, vulnerable covering of my husband.

Try it, if you haven't. It's turns out to be a pretty tranquil place.

"A head is given to a woman for protection, safety, and shelter. We must not run from the safety of our own head....The woman must cultivate a very high view of her head, both the position God has given him over her, as well as the authority God has given him. When woman adopt this high view, submission is seen in an entirely different light. Submitting to someone whom God has placed over you with loving authority is a relief, not a burden." Nancy Wilson,The Fruit of her Hands

www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

MHR~BB Giveaway #2!

Keeping this party going in style!!!

Today's great giveaway comes to us from the uber-talented Nathifa over at juicychristians!

Nathifa makes gorgeous jewelery, like this:

and this:

And she has offered for our birthday bash a $15 gift certificate for one lucky winner!!!

There are many ways to earn entries into this giveaway, but only one is required to be entered:

1. Visit juicychristians, look around, then come back and comment on this post with your favorite item in her shop!

Once you have done that, you can earn additional entries by doing any of the following {You must leave a comment here to let me know you have done an extra entry! One entry per comment. No comment = no entry}:

2. Post the button on your sidebar AND write a post announcing the birthday bash, linking back here!

Here's the button code:

P.S. Don't forget to check out the other party posts below, including the first giveaway, here!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash: Let's Talk Commitment

When it comes right down to it, a great marriage is not built on the "fireworks." Don't get me wrong, fireworks are great and fun and wonderful, I rather enjoy them myself, but the glue that really holds a marriage together is commitment.

One of the best biblical examples of someone who committed herself to another person for no apparent benefit for her is Ruth. If you've never read the biblical account, I highly recommend it, she's got her own book stuck right in there between Judges and 1 Samuel in the Old Testament.

Ruth is not an Isrealite, she's a Moabitess. But she married an Isrealite, and in doing so became the daughter-in-law of Naomi. Unfortunately, Naomi's husband died while they were living in Moab (they had moved there to avoid a famine in Israel), he was soon followed by both of his sons, so Naomi had to move back to their old home town of Bethlehem (because part of the law given through Moses was taking care of the widows in the community, and I'm not sure, but it would make sense that the Moabites wouldn't feel much loyalty or obligation to an Israelite widow). So Naomi starts out on the journey back to her homeland with both of her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, in tow. Shortly into their walk back to Bethlehem, Naomi realizes that Ruth and Orpah will probably be better off just to go back to their own families and try to start their lives over again. Orpah agrees and heads back to Moab, but Ruth is insistent that she will not leave Naomi:

Ruth 1:16-17
But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severly, if anything but death separates you and me."

I don't know about you, but I always thought that that would make a great wedding vow. Ruth states unequivocally her commitment to Naomi. This is not because Naomi is particularly loveable at this moment in time. In fact, quite the opposite. Naomi is bitter and hurting and had just lashed out at Ruth and Orpah as she was trying to send them back to Moab (Ruth 1:11-13). And in just a few verses, she insists that the people who great her in Bethlehem stop calling her "Naomi" which means "pleasant," and start calling her "Mara" instead, which means "bitter." How's that for you? It's like she's saying "I am going to be in a perpetually terrible mood, and I want my very name to remind me to stay that way." Not exactly one of those people that everyone wants to spend their time with.

But Ruth does not sit around feeling sorry for herself, or complain to Naomi, or nag her to cheer up, or anything like that. Throughout the rest of the story Ruth first looks for and executes a plan to support Naomi, and then obeys her without question - always treating her with the utmost respect.

My Women of Faith Study Bible notes say it this way:

She offers to give of herself - not because Naomi is particularly lovely or deserving at the moment, but on the strength of her commitment to Naomi. . . . Her commitment keeps her from focusing on changing Naomi and sets her on a course that will transform a woman from Moab into the great-grandmother of Israel's most famous king . . . and part of the lineage of Christ, the King of kings!

How radically would this change our marriages? I'll tell you right now that it will not be easy, not in the least. But, oh boy, would it be worth it! This is the commitment-glue. The extra push that keeps you from rolling your eyes in disrespect when your husband makes a grumpy demand, and choosing to respect him - even when he doesn't deserve it.

Wouldn't that be a beautiful thing?

Monday, June 15, 2009

MHR~BB Giveaway #1!

Let's get this party started!!!

For our first amazing giveaway of the week, we go to hopeink!

She has an adorable Etsy shop, you just have to see it!!! And for our Birthday Bash Extravaganza, she has generously offered . . .

. . . drumroll please . . .

. . . A personalized "Love Defined" print!!!!

There are many ways to earn entries into this giveaway, but only one is required to be entered:

1. Visit hopeink, look around, then come back and comment on this post with your favorite item in her shop!

Once you have done that, you can earn additional entries by doing any of the following {You must leave a comment here to let me know you have done an extra entry! One entry per comment. No comment = no entry}:

2. Post the button on your sidebar AND write a post announcing the birthday bash, linking back here!

Here's the button code:

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash Extravaganza!!!!!

Woo hoo! Today is the day, the official kick off of our ~ My Husband Rocks! ~ 1st Birthday Bash! I am sooooooooooooo excited! The actual birthday was Saturday, June 13th, but I decided that one measley day was not enough of a celebration, wo sere gonna do this as a week-long blow-out!

Can you believe it's already been a year! When we first started MHRF I didn't really know if it owuld catch on, but now we're 184 bloggers strong, and we have partnerships with some phenomenal people! Union28, Love, Actually, and Firewives.com!!! Thank you all!!! And a BIG thank you to all of our giveaway sponsors: hopeink, juicychristians, Define Your Space, 3 Lambs Graphics, and Daydream Studios!!!

My goal for this week is to focus on the main purpose of ~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Fridays. The reasons why we keep writing week after week, Friday after Friday, blogging all the reasons - from the seemingly silly to the passionate and poignant.

For those of you who haven't already reached this conclusion: MHRF isn't really for our husbands, not entirely anyway. Sure, our hubbies do love to hear about why we love them, and why we think they're incredible, but at the core of it all, the heart issue, is just that. A heart issue. The real point of all of this is learning to control our all-to-human proopensity to pick out and dwell up on the negatives, and choose instead to focus on the good, those things which caused us to fall in love in the first place, and that keep us falling in love all over and over again.

On top of revisiting this mystery of marriage and God-given gift of love and commitment, we're going to enjoy some very talented guest-bloggers, and a giveaway a day for the next five days!

How's that for a party?!?!!?!

Here's the button code:

Post the button on your sidebar AND write a post announcing the birthday bash, linking back here, and you're automatically entered (once) in each giveaway!!!

Be sure to come back every day to see all the fabulous prizes and party on with all of us! We're talking multiple posts per day, so check in early, check in often! There are going to be lots of other ways to get entries!!!

Happy Birthday!

Friday, June 12, 2009

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ but sometimes . . .

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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. . . I don't think he believes it.

Poor Austin. He's been under a little stress lately. And by a little, I mean stress such as would cripple an ordinary man.

Praise the Lord that mine is no ordinary man :)

He is so very sweet because I think he tries to keep me from worrying about it, but I know that he has been very discouraged lately. There are a lot of details that I'm not going to go into here, but between work and trying to get everything finished on and around the house before the end of this month, he has a lot on his plate. He is my superman! Please pray that I would be a true help meet to him in these circumstances and that we would both look to the Lord for our true strength as we try to do the seemingly-impossible!

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Don't forget . . . next week is going to be one big party! Hope you'll all be able to join us as we celebrate the 1st birthday of My Husband Rocks!!!

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Adam & Shandi's Wedding!!!

I just love weddings! So, luckily for me, a wedding just happened to be the main purpose of our visit to Colorado two weekends ago :) Getting to see my family in the mix was just a fabulous bonus!

That Wednesday, Bryce, Thelma, Austin and I loaded up our Escape and the pop-up, and headed west! Very covered wagon, don't you think, lol!

The trip itself was highly enjoyable because as much as I love my husband, it's fun to have some new faces along for a drive to which we have become frighteningly accustomed! Thelma (my mother-in-law) and I settled ourselves in the back seat and read and laughed and talked our way accross the country. Bryce (my father-in-law) and Austin occupied the front seats and enjoyed conversation and the luxury of the sattelite radio - which at any given time found its way between Christian, country, oldies, Beatles, and family-friendly comedy throughout the drive.

We stopped on Wednesday night at the Camp A Way campground in Lincoln, Nebraska.

This picture was taken the next morning, because it was pretty dark by the time we stopped!

We rose with the sunshine, well, not exactly with the sunshine, but not super late, either. Cleaned up at the VERY nice facilities, packed her all up and headed out again.

Homer & Sandra
We dropped the parents and the camper at Homer and Sandra's house in Akron, and as soon as we were settled and freshened up a bit we were on the road again to Denver to meet up with my family - but that's a whole other post in and of itself, so stay tuned, lol!

. . . but, back to the main topic (and title) of this post.
We got back into Akron pretty early in the day on Friday, and that day was spent in preparation for the rehearsal dinner and reception at the reception hall. (The hall was awesome, it had a neat little room on the back where we could have the rehearsal dinner tables set up for the smaller party on Friday evening, and not have to tear it down in the midst of the reception hall decor!)

Saturday, Austin went dirtbike-riding/semitruck-washing with the guys in the wedding party, and I spent the morning at the house chatting with the fam over cinnamon rolls and coffee :) Hoss came back in time to get cleaned up and head to the church for photos!

. . . but pics of us weren't really the point . . .

the beautiful bride

the groom and his parents

beautiful ladies . . . loved the bicep corsages :)

the whole wedding party

the happy couple

Hosser thought that the pics took a loooong time :)

waiting for the ceremony to start

exchanging of vows and rings

the kiss!

It was an absolutely beautiful wedding!!! Austin's Uncle Homer, the father of the groom, performed the ceremony!

It has taken me about three weeks to get all of these pics edited and this post composed, so this is where we're going to end for now :) maybe reception pics to follow at some point, but who knows :)

Thanks for reading!