Coming someday soon...

Posts about the wedding and all other related activities, such as fambly visiting. Right now I need to clean my house and do some laundry and take Megs to the airport. (Sadness.) Until then, here's the toast I gave at the wedding reception. It's long, so feel free not to read it. I just wanted to have it down somewhere to remember it.

It’s so surreal to be standing here, giving this toast right now. As a little girl, I dreamed of having a best friend—like the ones in all the books I read. One who could share all your secrets, who could know exactly what you were thinking without you saying a word, who you could cry with, laugh with, and tell anything to because you knew she loved you no matter what. When I was 11 years old, God so kindly gave me a great gift. He gave me that exact sort of friend in MB. The first time I saw her, she was wearing a pink flowered sunbonnet at church (and she will dispute this for the rest of her life, but it’s a fact, it was a pink flowered sunbonnet) and I thought “she looks like a weird homeschooler.” If she wasn’t much kinder than I am, she probably would have thought the same about me. But, despite my judgments of her headwear, after spending mere minutes together, I knew this girl was the best friend I had wished for. Little did I know what an impact she would have on my life.

 There are a million things to say about MB and not nearly enough time.  I’ll just keep it simple—my life wouldn’t be the same without her. She is a great means of God’s grace in my life and has had a huge impact on who I have grown to be. Since the day we met, she has always been there—when I’m happy, when I’m sad, in whatever situation or season of life, important or mundane. She is a shoulder to cry on, a source of advice or common sense, and is always ready to laugh at my latest misadventure or share joy in some new triumph. We shared so many things growing up—adventures at community college, countless sleepovers and late-night conversations, our Anne of Green Gables club that met in our Russian olive clubhouse—which had one meeting before our clubhouse was destroyed by a certain pesky little brother, and a great many plans and dreams. The first thing we ever did together was plan a never-performed play…and we’ve been planning away ever since. We were, and still are, girls who dearly love to plan and dream. Our favorite topics growing up were weddings and our future husbands. We would look at dresses and magazines and talk about colors and flowers and first dance songs. We also would talk about what we wanted in a husband, and of course, we talked ALOT about boys we liked. There were tears, laughter, prayers and much planning and dreaming. We couldn’t wait to get married and it seemed so far away. And yet, in what feels like the blink of an eye, here we are. God has fulfilled your dreams, far beyond anything we could ever have imagined. 

 I know we never dreamed up a love story or a guy for MB as amazing as the one she has. When she was about to go to Italy, she told me that a guy named Ben was going and I thought “Hmmm…I think I’m going to hear more about this Ben.” And sure enough, I was soon getting emails about Ben. And her pictures were full of Ben and he always seemed to be very eager to stand next to her in them. Then I got the “I don’t know what to do, he likes me” calls, and then the “Oh, he’s really an amazing guy” calls. From across the world, I watched MB begin to fall in love. I got to hear ALLL about Ben and how cute he was and what a great guy he was. And even though I had never met him, I was impressed and I told her “I think you should marry Ben.”  Meeting him only confirmed my opinion. Ben is one of the kindest, most humble, guys I have ever known. His love for MB is only surpassed by his love for the Lord. He is a man of great character. It has made me so happy to see how much he loves and cares for my friend. And Ben is also one of the funniest people in the whole entire world. If you spend more than two minutes with him, you’re guaranteed to be laughing at something he said. I told MB many times that she was never allowed to break up with Ben, not only because he was the guy for her, but because he had also become a dear friend and we couldn’t pick between them! I am so blessed to have you two in my life!

 I can honestly say one of my greatest joys has been to watch you as you have walked through all the various seasons leading up to this day. Your trust in the Lord and desire to glorify Him, first and foremost in your relationship has been such a wonderful thing to witness and is the foundation on which you are beginning your marriage today. As newlyweds you will find yourselves the recipients of lots of advice, some asked for, some not so much. Some of the best advice I feel I received as a new wife was in the form of a C.S. Lewis quote, sent to me by my mom. It says, “When I have learned to love God better than my earthly dearest, I will love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God...I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love them at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.” In the short time that I have been married, I have seen how true this is. So rather than give you a list of things to do or not to do, I simply wish to encourage you to continue to put God first, hope in Him first, be satisfied in Him and I am confident your love for each other will continue to grow. I know that God has great and marvelous things in store for you as a couple. I look forward to seeing what the future holds!