One year ago

One year ago today, Kennedy and I got married. After much counsel with our parents and our pastors last August when we found out Kennedy was to deploy, we made the decision to get married at Fort Riley and have a "celebration" in 2014 when Kennedy would return. It is funny to think back on the thoughts whirling in our minds. We made pro/con lists about going ahead and getting married before he left...I overanalyzed the fact that I was still working and was in Nashville and what would people think? Would they think we were getting married for other reasons than why we really were? I can remember vividly what I was thinking the week or two before we got married. But past all of the thoughts, our prayer was that we would decide based on what the Lord wanted for us and based on the counsel we sought from our pastors and parents. It was the day before we were leaving for Memphis that we both had unexplainable peace that we knew getting married was the right decision. We drove to Memphis from Nashville, spent the night with my parents...told them our decision. And the next morning I got up and walked with my dad to talk about marriage, any other words of wisdom he could share, and to tell him how much we loved him and appreciated him and my mom. And then we drove the long 10 1/2 hours to Kansas, checked into our hotel rooms, and grabbed dinner, watched a movie, and prayed that the next day we would be able to get a judge to sign a waiver that would allow us to go ahead and get a marriage license over the weekend (when in Kansas there is a 3 day waiting period). In reality, we went to Kansas not really knowing if we would actually be able to get a judge to sign the waiver...so we really didn't know if we would actually be able to get married. But we knew that if it didn't work out, that God was in control of all of the details.
Friday morning, August 16th, we exercised (of course), drove down to the courthouse when they opened, and waited for a judge...It did not look hopeful as the receptionist told us all of the judges that day were tied up but we could leave and call around 11/12 to see if someone was available at that time. We did that. However, we got a little anxious because our "appointment" with the chaplain to marry us was set for 2 pm. The next day he was deploying for Afghanistan. I am pretty sure hearts were racing, anxieties and blood pressures rising as we just sat in the hotel and ate lunch and waited. We called after what seemed like forever at about 12 and one of the judges would be able to sign. We drove back to the courthouse, got the waiver signed, got a marriage license- YAY-, and drove to Fort Riley's chapel to meet the chaplain and have our ceremony. His daughters came with him, probably 8 and 4 years old, and took a video which somehow got deleted, and the chaplain snapped one photo at the end. And that was our wedding day. One year ago.
That Sunday, August 18th, I flew back to Nashville to be back at work that Monday. Kennedy stayed back in KS and started doing pre-deployment training and in-processing. We made plans for the next weekends to fly back and forth to see each other. We did not tell friends until about a week or so after this occurred. It was so difficult to keep it in, but for that period of time, I didn't know what or how to tell them without them thinking we got married for other reasons. If you know me, it is hard for me to keep a secret. My parents found it hard to tell their friends and their Sunday school class! What a week!
What a YEAR. A LOT has happened. Our marriage started out long distance for about 3 months- traveling from Nashville to KS, various moves for both of us, a "short" deployment for Kennedy, wedding celebration planning that was this past June, our recent pregnancy news and miscarriage, finally feeling settled here in Manhattan and joining our church...SO much. God has blessed us immeasurably.