Our First Anniversary

This weekend we celebrate our First Anniversary as a married couple! God has blessed us so much already…as Jeff likes to say, “It just keeps getting better!”

That picture is from a wedding shower our church had given us two weeks after the wedding. Instead of keeping the bows for the “bouquet”, we stuck them on each other!

You can look at a whole gallery of our wedding photos here. I have to warn you, there are some incredibly silly photos in this collection. That’s my brother for you! He is the bagpiper you’ll see in the kilt. Jeff’s twin brother and his wife were our best man and matron of honor. My niece and nephew were flower baby and ring bear. Of all the weddings I’ve ever attended, I think ours was the most unique!

Enjoy the weekend and I’ll return on Monday.

Jewelry: A Spectrum

If you haven’t guess already, my thoughts and practices regarding jewelry are similar to cosmetics: less is better. Note, however, I said “less” not none. I’ve been mulling over my autobiography of jewelry and came up with some patterns:

• I wear jewelry I have picked out, rarely those trinkets others have purchased or given to me. I chose the design of my engagement ring (more on that later) and wedding band. My parents like to buy me things when they travel so I try to wear it occassionally. Maybe I have a jewelry chip hardwired in my head as to exactly what I like. That is probably why I wear very little.
• I prefer gold over silver because it matches my skin tone. [What of 1 Timothy 2:9, you are wondering. That is a whole other post but let's just say...I like balance.]
• I do wear a wedding band and engagement ring(with diamonds). Jeff insisted he wanted to give me a ring. So what’s a girl to do? Go pick it out! Whenever I have the ring cleaned, I’ll gaze at the sparkling stones and sigh. There is a man who loves me very, very much!
• When I am covered I do not wear earrings. The gypsy look is not my style.
• I have to remind myself to put in earrings in the mornings. I forget half of the time! My parents actually wanted me to get my ears pierced when I was 12. The first job was poorly done and I had to let them heal over. They encouraged me again at 16 and that time they took. I choose small stone or small (tiny) gold hoop earrings.
• If all my jewelry was taken tomorrow, the only things I would mourn would be the pearl necklace my late grandmother gave me which I wore on my wedding day and my rings.

To sum up: I like “pretties” but they do not own me.