My Wedding :)

Welp, the pics are finally in. Enjoy getting a glimpse at a beautiful time in my life:)

being an aunt: awesome. being an aunt with a cool house, good times, and cute kids: awesome....er. ;)

How it all went down....

well....if you haven't heard the story, here it is: About 6 months ago, at the lakes, my family was all sitting around and Zach (my brother with cancer) started on this 2 hour long passionate rampage about how girls should be more proactive about their future, seeking God and a man too! It really got me thinking.....and I thought: "hm. If I ever really wanted to get married, I would just ask!" I did have one guy on the mind: Aaron Gerber (a really neat guy from Bluffton). He up and went to Japan for a trip to see if he would like to serve there. This, of course, got my attention since I had served there too. I had never really even noticed the poor guy before but, all of the sudden, I couldn't stop thinking how great of a fit he would be for me! It was quite a battle in my mind because I really liked being single.....i kept thinking of marriage and singleness like a scale, always weighing one against the other.....then I realized something I had learned from Zach all along that tipped the scale: Life is short. I thought how much joy Aaron would bring to my broken-hearted family and how someday I didn't want to be like so many of my patients: dying in a hospital bed....alone. I really respected Aaron's spiritual maturity, personality, family, interests.....so how could I go wrong? So, instead of waiting and waiting for an "opportune" moment to talk to him that never came, I just emailed him! Something like: "so.....sorry this is awkward and ridiculously bold, but do you want to get married?" ..... I typed that email and as my finger hovered over the "send' button, I pulled a picture from facebook of Aaron sandbagging at some flood and thought: look at him serving God....how could I go wrong? Zach's face flashed through my mind, and I thought to myself: "i think i am going to change my life forever"......and pushed send. He was very surprised:) At first he thought: "no"......then: "no-brainer!"  He had pushed marriage from his mind for a good five years, always telling himself that God would have to do something drastic to get his attention for marriage.....well isn't drastic my middle name ??? We met with our elder and made it official. I really like the fact that I knew Aaron outside of a relationship first, to see his integrity and character. Our marriage isn't based on "puppy love" (which we do have ;)....but a foundation on God as our Guide, which is what lasts!
 Enjoy these pics, compliments of Amy Gerber, who did a wonderful job of capturing "us"! 

all right.....it's getting too mushy....let's move onto the fun stuff ;) :

CHECK MATE!!! stinkin!

FLOUR FIGHT!!!