The Decade Before

Depending on what time of day you're reading this, you can close your eyes {which makes it hard it read, I know} and imagine your two favorite Shaffers cooped up in a car trekking to Florida for a WEDDING. Because four years ago right now, we were in the middle of doing just that.

 We played games and drank extraordinarily large amounts of coffee and pulled over at a rest stop for a quick 3 hour nap before resuming our trek.

And if you're reading this in the late morning or around noon, you can imagine us stuck in traffic for three hours, with no access to a bathroom or lunch. You can imagine a bride-to-be crying because she thinks all her cakes are going to melt in the backseat when she is literally less than five miles from her destination.

If you're reading this in the afternoon, you can imagine us taking our first peek at the beach where, in one day, we would exchange vows, or you can imagine me curled up on a bed trying to sleep off the sick yuck that came over me after 24 hours in a car with little sleep.

{You can also read all those fun stories here if you'd like.}

If you're reading this in the evening, you can imagine us at our "rehearsal dinner," which was a gathering of the family and friends who had come to town, all packed into the little condo where my parents were staying, eating delicious snacks prepared by a handful of my friends back at home.

It was a busy December 1, four years ago now.

But you know what else? There was a busy decade leading up to that.

This week, I organized my collection of journals, which date back to 1993 in all their embarrassing glory. As I put them all in date order, I opened one at random and read Ryan an entry from the summer of 1994, when I finally got my driver's license.

I say "finally," because I was the one teenage weirdo who actually did not CARE to get a license. Driving petrified me. I got my license because my mother {wisely} dragged me to the branch to take the test before my test waiver ran out. {I don't know if they even still do those anymore, but back then, if you had a high enough score in driver's ed, you could skip the driving portion of the test and just take the written portion. But the waiver only lasted so long, and mine was about to expire.}

I read Ryan the journal entry about how I'd been so nervous, I was shaking, but I got my license and it would not need renewed until 1999. And by that time, I wrote, I was sure I'd be married anyway and have a new last name for the license.

1999...2012...you know. Similar.

So I journaled about the happenings of my life until 2002, and actually I kept right on "regular" journaling even then, but I added a prayer journal to the mix in 2002.

And for the next ten years, God heard more than a few prayers. This many, actually:

{Overlook the hair. I hadn't prepped for a photo opp that day.}

These books hold my prayers, my wrestling, my questions, my faith, my offerings, my failures - all as I prayed for a husband I had yet to meet.

In these pages, God began to mold me in earnest to become the woman I needed to be. He had to do a lot of bending and breaking of my stubborn will, say many no's to my begging requests, and teach me much about Who He is and who He made me to be.

These ten years, in all fairness, weren't my favorite. And I'm sure some of the words attest to that. But these years were so necessary. Such foundations were laid in this time. And the girl who took the longest.car.ride.ever.to.Florida could only do that with such confidence because of the ten years represented in these fifteen books.

December 1, 2012 was a whirlwind of a dream come true. {Not the traffic jam or the feeling sick part. But the "carriage ride" to my wedding and the beauty of being surrounded by a representation of those who loved me.} But dreams come true because of the years leading up to them when God molds His children.

Don't resist the molding. {And I remind myself of this as I say it to you.} He has His holy reasons. You can trust them to lead to beauty.

I Dare You Not to Cry

I had a lovely post all dreamed up for today...and then Ryan checked his email and found a preview of our wedding video.

We cried all the way through it...more tears than we shed on our wedding day, I think!

I can't really say much to top this, so this may go down in history as my shortest post ever...but watch the video below.

{An enormous THANK YOU to Seth Cohen, our videographer, who did an amazing job capturing our day and went far above and beyond what his contract said to stay and capture pieces of our reception. I can't wait to see the full version.}

Bless the Lord oh my soul...oh my soul...worship His Holy Name. Sing like never before...oh my soul..worship His Holy Name.

Rebekah + Ryan from Visual Effects by Seth on Vimeo.

Ryan's Vows

Ryan and I wrote vows to each other...and the day after the wedding, I shared mine with you. Ryan sent me his and I saved and saved them so I could pair them with some photos....and then I put up all the photos and failed to post the vows!!! Good night, Irene.

But I love these words SO MUCH. I had to share...hope you love. {And hope you love the now-repeated pictures.}

Thank you, Bekah for saying YES to life with me. I am amazed to see God’s hand at work through us in such a short amount of time and I love it. During our courtship and engagement I learned with every situation that you were exactly what God intended for me after such a difficult change in my life. I saw in you the qualities that I desired in a wife and fell in love with the woman behind them.

 Not only do I see a Godly woman in you, but also a woman who wants to be a wife in every meaning of the word. I see in you a desire to love, to cherish, to adore, to respect, and to treasure the husband you have prayed and waited for ever so patiently.

Thank you for accepting me for the man that I am, not trying to change me but work with me to become a great team. You see my faults and love me anyway. You have seen my struggles and helped me work through them. You see the differences between us and embrace the excitement of trying new and great things that may be just a little bit out of your comfort zone. Through these things you have shown me love without limits and that is very hard to find.

I continue to be amazed that this is my life. After all I have faced I never dreamed I would be rewarded with you and so quickly. As you know I have tried ever so fervently to live out John 14:15. I love the Lord with all my heart and in all I do I want to be obedient to Him. I want us to work thru that together however life leads. As your husband I plan to lead you and be as Christ has called me. I also want to love you like His word says and for us to live as God planned. I am nowhere near perfect, but I do know that I will always love you and will work thru any struggle that we face.

Marriage can’t be done alone, it takes both of us. God calls marriage to be a lifelong commitment and together with Christ there is nothing that can’t be accomplished. Today I fully commit myself to you and intend to live life with you that way. Thank you for taking me as the man you want for life too. I love how you light up the room every time you walk in, I love how you take nothing for granted and I love you how you embrace life with me. Let’s always live life this way and to its fullest never forgetting what it took for us to get here.

Wedding Funnies and Outtakes

You all have been SO kind as to put up with all the many, MANY wedding posts, and we so appreciate that. And as I'm writing this, it occurred to me that I was saving Ryan's vows to post with the professional pics and then I got so busy narrating those that I forgot to post his vows with them. Good GRIEF. Okay so there will be one more wedding post in the future. But trust me. His vows were amazing. You'll want to see them. 

Meanwhile...you know that for allllllllllllllll the good pictures we had, and there were so many...there were some funnies and some oopsies. And while I probably SHOULD be too proud to post them, I'm not. {I did elect against a few, in a moment of rare, wise restraint.}

But here's a few.

The night before the wedding, we had a little party, which come to think of it - I don't think I posted about that either! It was our version of a rehearsal dinner, since we didn't have a rehearsal. It was our only chance to hang out with everyone who had traveled so far for this wedding...because once the wedding was over, we were on our honeymoon and everyone was kind enough to give us our privacy.

So these first few are from that party the night before.

Reading a funny email on my phone. I absolutely love this one of Ryan, Adam and Sara because this is so them. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here, but the rest are good. 

 Yep. This is about typical!!!

I may have already posted this one...I don't remember. But good GRIEF this is dumb of me!!! Every time I see it, I see Sandra Bullock waving her hand in front of her face and saying, "WORLD PEACE!!!!"

The pictures that resulted of the three girls in the chairs...we loved. But getting IN the chair was...awkward.

 In this photo, I'm saying to Ryan, "Do I have chocolate in my teeth?" {Because we had just cut the cake.} This stupid smile is now a HUGE joke between Lynne and me. I give it to her every time I put Mid-Morning on the air.

 No idea what the HORROR was that I was viewing here, but that's quite a face!

 When we got Stephen Rudd's professional pictures, there were some crack-me-up ones of me in there. Y'all don't understand HOW BRIGHT it was as that sun was going down, and we were looking right into it. This resulted in some interesting squinting for me. I've enjoyed imagining what others might think I'm thinking as they see these pics.

For example:

"Ewww...what is THAT on his FACE?"

 It's still there! I wonder if I should remove it. 

REALLY!?!!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?

So those were our funnies. I'll resist the urge to post the rest. :) Because I'm a grown-up with good taste.

HA.

We HAVE Wedding Pics! {Part B}

I planned to put all our professional pics in yesterday's post but there were just SO many...so I saved the "photo session" until today. When the wedding ended, Stephen {our photographer} raced against the sunset to get some great photos for us to have for always, and we so love how they turned out! So...without further ado...our photo shoot!

I wanted to have my pretty fur cape and Ryan's hat in some of our pictures...so we started out with those.

 Those posts are farther apart than you might think. :)

 Leaning out to reach the post...leaning in to kiss...I do not have this much coordination. :)

 I love this shot. Fun angle!

 Looking wistfully at each other. :)

 And gazing wistfully in the distance...we were quite in tune with our wistfulness this day.

 I love this one. LOVE IT.

 Not gonna lie...I was impressed with the amount of pictures he was able to squeeze in prior to the sunset!

 I love it when the sky is fiery orange.

 Some people say it almost looks too perfect...but it's not a backdrop! We promise!

 A moment of rest in a quite hurried shoot....and for the record...I was smiling. WHY!?!?

 I generally hate my profile in any picture but I do love this picture so much.

 Sorry. More kissing pics!

 And this is one of my fave, fave, faves. Reminds me how much I adored the veil, too!

 A stroll on the beach barefoot - those shells were sharp!!

 Hand in hand...for our lives!

 We wanted a picture of our rings, and he said he didn't like traditional ring shots...so here was the first one....

 And then this one!

 Love this one so much.

 This was one incredibly awkward pose to hold but I love the way it turned out.

 He was literally holding me up.

 Oh I love this man!!!

 The groom by himself....

 This one goes in a frame. Period.

 And one of the few of me by myself!

There you go! Hope you enjoyed the photos!!! :) Thanks so much for being part of our wedding journey!