London Wedding...{ YAY! }

Hello!  I am sooooooo happy that we pulled it off! 

First let's start with a few pictures site-seeing with family. There are so many more pictures that I will get from my mom and sister later. What can I say........I was over-whelmed at first by the whole "hosting 2 families" and getting them everything I thought they needed since they are not familiar with London and of course I wanted them to have the best time ever!!!!

But then, as time went by, I could see I was not the worst host ever and things went pretty well. Isn't it amazing the growth you can make when you have your eyes wide open and are able to recognize room for improvement (me: control, worry, perfectionist)......there are lessons to learn around every corner......

London Town!

 

 - - - { { THE WEDDING } } - - -

-for full effect, listen to Dirty Dancing soundtrack or She is Love by Parachute as that's what I listened to while writing this-
There are more photos to come, but I couldn't wait!

Where do I start??!!

It exceeded my expectations.

I planned, prepared and pulled off a wedding in Wimbledon.

Amazing how the plans God has for you can go far beyond your imagination when you trust Him and let Him lead. Of course I am not the best at trusting.......my first reaction is to take things into my own hands and do everything myself. I am so thankful to all the people who have been praying for me for years with all my decisions regarding le Rey and decisions for myself.

I have been continually blessed through these 32 years in my life, and I am humbled DAILY at the amazing things that the Lord provides. The things of this world are not forever, and I intend to cherish this moments and experiences that bless me so much.

The wedding celebration in London filled my heart in a way I did not expect! 

The venue was beautiful and the staff so lovely and efficient (lesson #1: trust that others can do their job)......Cannizaro House, I will never forget you. The staff that could see how overwhelmed I was put me at ease when they smiled and told me to enjoy it and that they would take care of everything. 

Pete, our pastor......thank you for performing our ceremony. Thank you for being flexible with our constantly changing dates, and for keeping Christ at the center of our ceremony. It was important to le Rey and I that you did the ceremony and gave the glory to God. Thank you so much!

My family could sense my anxiety on the day of the wedding as the time got closer.......thank you for understanding that I was overwhelmed. You are the best family and the way you can love me unconditionally despite my faults is amazing. Being born into our family has been/will always be the best thing that has happened to me. (lesson #2: embrace your family, flaws and all. Treasure them, even when difficult.)

Our guests were a perfect, loving combination (you were in my heart dear friends from around the globe) to support us on this wonderful day. Thank you for chatting with friends new and old, and trying the South African dancing and being so excited about my candy bar! I am so happy each and everyone of you was there! (lesson# 3: small weddings can work, even with groups of people that haven't met before....don't worry so much Kelli!)

le Rey's family, you were the life of the party! Thanks for getting others to try the long-arm dancing, for chatting to all these people you had never met before, and for being such a joyful group! Thank you for taking photos Karen, they are beautiful! Reichardt and Niel, I love seeing le Rey light up when all the brothers are together. Ma & Pa, thank you for raising my amazing husband. He treats me like a queen.

My loving husband.......what have I done to deserve you?! You are the best person I know (although this title runs closely with my amazing mother) and you make me want to be better. I NEVER thought I would find a good man, let alone a great man! I wanted a man that loves God, loves me and is full of I*N*T*E*G*R*I*T*Y..........but always thought this was not a combination I would find. Thank you for being YOU! I love you so much! Thank you for being so patient and loving while helping these past 3 weeks. I am so proud to call you my husband.

Thank you to everyone who supported us with prayers, encouragement, phone calls, sleepovers, skype dates, coffee dates, thoughts and more! I love you all!

 

 

 

I am trying to figure out how to upload the videos of the first dance, etc! Stayed tuned...........

Lots of love,

Kelli

Scotland. Families meet.

Happy Easter! Everyone is resting or at their accommodation down the road, so I thought I would write for a couple minutes. This will help later after much more sightseeing and pictures happens, so I will unload some Scotland pictures here.

But first.

My parents came last Tuesday and then Wednesday le Rey and I took them to Scotland until late Friday night. I'll let the pictures do the talking. On a side note, I hate that my parents have to get older. I wish my parents were 45 forever. My dad couldn't walk very much in Scotland and we had to take lots of cabs. Anyone have any tips for handling this? It makes me so sad.

Second. This morning my family met le Rey's family.

Gulp.

I've not really been looking forward to this. I'm not sure why. Both sides are very nice, etc.......but I was just anticipating awkward silences, differing views on war (VERY different views from his dad and my dad, but luckily I have diverted those conversations), language barriers, someone saying something stupid like, "is South Africa a country?" (no one said that) and just the whole 'my dad is on medicine for depression and anxiety and is a shell of himself and doesn't really talk anymore and has nervous ticks but he's my dad and I love him and am protective of him' weighing on me.

You know. I was nervous.

This is why I stopped having parties and get-togethers a long time ago. I worry the whole time when different groups of people (college friends-work-other) are inter-mingling. Will they talk, will they have a good time, etc? Is there enough food? I can't enjoy myself.

So the meeting went fine. In hindsight I can see that. Did I enjoy today? Umm, not really. What a waste. Why do I do this to myself? Why can't I enjoy myself when I'm hosting? I just want to make sure everyone is happy!

You are probably all shaking your heads, ready to send me an email with the name of a good medication for these sorts of things. I am thinking the same as you. Anxiety. It is pretty obvious to me. This is more than the average, I'm doing all this wedding stuff and hosting our families kindof stuff.

I perhaps do have a larger amount of anxiety compared to the average person.

Did I mention the wedding is in 5 days? Why does there seem to be so much crap to do when I went for 'simple' in every choice I made?!!! small wedding. nearby. no. still so much to do.

Kelli

Easter