Goodnights on Fire: We Still Do

Cody and I celebrated ten years of marriage this June, so we decided to renew our vows. We thought it was fitting to renew our commitment to each other in front of friends and family. Marriage has taught us a lot. And we've been through really tough times, but no matter what valley we walk through, we are walking through it together.

We borrowed our friends' wedding venue. Check it out at Southwind Hills.

We enlisted the help of our friends: Pastor Tracy Carlson to officiate, Pastor Trent Langrehr and Chance Ballard to lead us in a little praise and worship, Sharlee Rother Photography to capture the moments, Leah Sandefer to style my hair, my mom to make my birdcage veil and brooch bouquet (complete with my Mima's brooch, Cody's grandma's jewelry and a brooch Cody bought for me when we were dating), April Kirby to video the event and a friend of a friend to arrange the flowers.

I went with the mason jar theme. Painted them myself, but left the floral arranging to the pro. Everything was perfect and beautiful. Simple, yet elegant.

We invited a tiny crowd of 30 people to witness our renewal. These are people who have walked along with us, carried us, supported us, laughed with us and prayed for us over the last ten years. It was perfect to have them there with us.

Noah was tickled to get to share in this day with us since he wasn't around for the first one. He was adamant about two things: 1.) walking me down the aisle and 2.) getting to say something during the "I Love You" part, as he called it, which are the vows. After Cody and I read our own vows to each other, Pastor Tracy asked Noah to come up and say something. He stood up, turned around in front of everyone, opened his mouth to speak then said, "I"m too scaredy cat.", turned back around to us, waved for us to bend down to his height and managed to push our faces together for a kiss. So Cody and I kissed a little early. Our son knows the kiss seals the deal.

We also exchanged new wedding bands. Cody got me an anniversary band that matches my wedding band, so I have lots of sparkle on my finger now! I got Cody a whole new wedding ring. Over the years, his band gets scratched up and doesn't keep its finish. So I purchased a practically identical band made of a stronger material called tungsten, that will keep its finish and is scratch-resistant no matter what Cody does. It's a handsome ring. I was leery at first about getting him a new band because I am so sentimental, but it's just a ring. So we have new rings to symbolizes our re-commitment.

As part of the ceremony, we asked our friends and family to write a blessing on a small rock that was later placed in a giant mason jar. The idea for this came from Joshua 4:1-9. The Israelites had just crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Joshua commanded a member of each tribe to get a rock and stack them together as a monument of where God had delivered them from, so all the generations after will know what the Lord has done. So we first each wrote our own blessing rock and placed them in the jar. Then asked our friends and family to come up and place theirs on top of ours. For the next decade of marriage we are stepping into the promises of God!

My favorite part of the ceremony, other than the reading of our vows where I bawled (like ugly cry with snot bubbles) like a baby, was praise and worship. It's rare I get to stand next to my husband and worship the King of kings because I'm usually leading. We made sure this portion of the ceremony was honoring of the One who saves, the One who brings hope and the One we love. It was incredible.

After the ceremony, we enjoyed drinks and a dessert bar filled with all our local favorite desserts: chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles from Crimson and Whipped Creamery, brownies and iced sugar cookies from Dara Marie's, cheesecake, Momma Linda's fudge and chocolate covered pretzels. Our friends and family had a great time playing dress-up in the photo booth, too.

It was fun to get to do a wedding over again. This time was different than the first. Not that the first time didn't mean the same or as much. We've just done life together for so long now. The pretty and the messy parts of life. We've learned a lot about love and grace and forgiveness and hope. What a perfect way to celebrate us. Ten years and counting!

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...