Wedding Words

Some random wedding pics from facebook!

Because people asked I said I would post what I said at the reception…Others said much more meaningful things but I did not ask them permission to post them here.  Here is the speech I gave at the reception because Jim opted out! Why didn’t we tape any of this and why did we not think about a sound system!?

Thank yous and prayer

Debbie and Steve, thank you for such a godly young man. You’ve raised him well as a man of honor and one of many passions and one love. Yes, I prayed for him and for you for years but you did the hard work so today I offer my gratitude.

To the Alvords, thank you for the use of your home and your amazing hospitality.

To those who have stood up for our kids and loved them, prayed with them, held them accountable and been their friends. It is no small thing. The book of Proverbs (verse 27:19) tells us that a mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kinds of friends he chooses. So glad you chose our kids and so glad that our kids chose you!

Marriages, like births, mark a new beginning. The day I drove home from the hospital after Emily was born was a new beginning for me. To be a parent of a daughter seemed a bit overwhelming but anticipation for her life and for our relationship helped me overcome my fears Today, we stand at another new beginning as Emily and Connor start a brand new family. Like me, they are probably filled with a feeling of being a little overwhelmed yet excited at it all, but those feelings will melt away in large part as they anticipate their new life together. One day long ago in Arizona when Emily was 3 she and a friend dressed up for Halloween; Emily was in a wedding dress costume and had a pretend wedding with her friend Connor¦ She asked me why I called her “husband” a broom! So Emily, here is Connor, your broom, who has swept you off your feet.  Emily, Yesterday was your last day as a Mohler.

Today is the most special day of your long 23 years of life with the most important and enduring commitment you will ever make.  You took a walk down the aisle, radiating beauty both inside and out and then you met your chosen love of your life.  Today this man that we have long prayed for has become your husband, and has promised to encourage you and love you as Christ loved the church, for better or worse. This specific God ordained pairing of 2 young people claiming Jesus as their Savior joining together to live for Christ for the rest of their days is rather amazing!

Emily, I could not be more proud of the woman I gave away today. Head Strong and silly. Kind and sensitive.  Creative and talented.  Artistic, colors-of-the-wind-chaser, song-in-your-heart and my beautiful joy and gift. You are never far from my heart and my thoughts. I will miss many things moving forward, but the fact is that this is meant to be.

Emily, I also want to take this chance to publicly say thank you for teaching me more than I could ever teach you.  I love you sweet girl.  What you taught me, and what I continue to learn, is that nurturing is more important than managing in relationships. Barking orders and reacting to inconveniences as though they were major catastrophes, letting personality quirks raise my blood pressure are not really the way God intended parent-child relationships to be. You, my ever-compassionate, focused, stop-and-smell-the-roses, dream-chasing daughter’s desire to create multiple projects at once, moving at a snail’s pace, accessorizing and primping “puupuuplatter” (sample everything) girl have often caused me to groan and frown and yell impatiently, and I have often found myself irritated and annoyed that my organized agenda was being attacked, rather than love and celebrate you unconditionally. You, by being God’s plan for me as a mom, showed me that my responses are more than just words.  They represent who I am, who I want to be, and how I will someday be remembered. I may play at being a writer but God is the Master Storyteller who is writing your story and He does not even need me to edit for Him.  I found myself many times over the years having to be reminded by God that the qualities he specifically designed in you were not meant to drive me crazy, but rather were an important part of the way He made you for the life He had planned for you. Even though I have been one of the main characters in your story, God does not need my help and I often have had to symbolically put my pen down.  Emily, forgive me for creating negative places that made it hard for you to be you every day. And thank you for showing me another way to move through life¦ .being grateful and counting my blessings¦.sharing words of encouragement and praise that give life and create joy.  You remind me daily that there are many more ways to live fully and create and accomplish tasks than just my own ways. In fact some of the other ways are even better! God thankfully authors the best adventures when he writes our biographies/life stories !

Emily, you only spent 22 years as a Mohler, but hopefully you will spend at least 50 as an Osborn. 35 years ago I made the same covenant with your dad and I have learned a lot of things along the way, but now is not the time for advice.  You won’t remember any of it at this point anyway so let me bless you instead.

Connor and Emily, I bless you and your new life.

• May you experience God’s abundant love and boundless grace in your marriage today and always.The two of you will bring joy into the world.
• May your home know peace. May your marriage be a lighthouse of hope so that together you will shine as a beacon to a world that doubts that hope and love are real.
• May the mystery of oneness unfold before you with profound beauty and strength.
• May you be blessed in your love for God and continually grow in your grasp of how high and deep and wide that love for you is.
• May you live all the days of your life.
• May you live happily ever after.
• May the love you share be unbreakable and unshakeable when the enemy of love tries to destroy the covenant established today.

Connor and Emily, I had the best day with you today!

Emily, Thanks for the adventure; now go make a new one!

They say the last words are the best remembered.  So, in the tradition of our family whenever someone left the house we gave the following blessing as I do now that you have left our home: Emily Ruth Osborn, Go with God ….because God always goes with me!

I love you both. Congratulations on this most wonderful day.