Ready to Rest

It's the end of another jam-packed weekend. Friday Evan and Courtney came to hang out with us and spend the night. We talked for awhile and played games (including Clue, my favorite!). It seemed like they were just here, but the last time they came was Christmas break. They came and stayed because their first wedding shower was the next day at my cousin Shannon's house in Blacksburg. I was so bummed that we couldn't go to their shower, but Whit's friend from high school was getting married at the same time.

Saturday morning was the Susan Komen Race for a Cure. It was a 5k and a lot of our family was there to walk in memory of my Aunt Doris and also in honor of my Aunt Brenda, a breast cancer survivor (she was there too!). Us newlyweds and engaged came after the race ended since we stayed up late the night before and met everyone for lunch at Zaxby's...yum! It was great to see everyone there for a little bit since we couldn't go to the shower.

My mom and all her kids!

Aunt Brenda and granddaughter Carolyn. I had only seen her before at our wedding. I finally got to hold her - she's too cute!

Whit in his new suit! He got it just in time and is now ready for the 10+ weddings we have in our near future.We headed to Charlottesville from there for the wedding. The ceremony was in the chapel at UVA which was so pretty. The ceremony itself was so beautiful, too. We sang a few of my favorite worship songs, In Christ Alone and Be Thou My Vision - great wedding songs! It was our first wedding since we've been married and it was great to be reminded of our covenant that we made 5 months ago. One thing that particularly stuck out was something the pastor said about the congregation being witnesses. Because we are witnesses, we're not just watching the ceremony, we're agreeing to watch over their relationship and make sure they are keeping their covenant. It was great to hear and think about all the couples' weddings we've been to and will go to, and how we are to watch over their relationship as their friends and family. The reception was really fun too - I got to hang out with Whit's group of friends from high school who I've never really spent much time with before, and it was a lot of fun.

Extremely foggy day, but Charlottesville was still beautiful!We slept in this morning because my evening was full of different things for work. I got to talk at women's time about the purpose of marriage. I really enjoyed planning for it - it felt way more fulfilling than like an obligation. Talking to the girls was fun, too, especially being on the panel and discussing questions people had. I unfortunately missed my next thing because women's time took too long, but I was glad I got to stay and talk about relationships. I was supposed to go film a video clip for the world team. I'm bummed I never got to share about Venezuela and missed my one opportunity, but I was glad to talk to girls because I haven't really gotten to do that before either.

I haven't packed yet and I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a Women's Conference with some other women on our staff team. I am so ready to rest and be refreshed after one of the busiest weeks I've had all year. I think it will be a great time to worship and be poured into, and I'm hoping to meet some of the women I'll be working with next year as well as grow closer to the ones on my team now. We have a 5 hour drive together so that shouldn't be too hard! ;) They have a fitness center, too, so I'm planning to run some because next Saturday is the 3.2 for 32. It will be funny that I'm leaving my husband but I'll come home and the house will actually be cleaner than when I'm around...I'm definitely the messy one in this relationship. I'll miss Whit a lot - this is the first time we've been apart since we got married, but fortunately today we got to spend good time together and have a lot of fun (it was a beautiful day so we walked to the mall and got a smoothie). Hopefully I will come back refreshed and ready to start meeting with people for MPD! See you in a few days!