By August 11, 1990, the temperature had cooled off to only 110. It was a great day for a wedding. As Missy liked to say back then, it was a "special place". We had a unique ceremony. We were married in a gym as the church had a multi-purpose sanctuary. Because of the sunshine reflecting off of the flooring, I couldn't see Missy until she reached half court as she walked down the aisle. Both of our fathers were ordained ministers, so they tag-teamed the officiating of the wedding. Missy sang Steven Curtis Chapman's "I Will Be Here" to me during the ceremony. I wanted her to marry me, so I decided not to sing to her. I read an original poem instead. We also read poems to our parents. Our vows included references to many Biblical couples. Fortunately, I only had to repeat what Missy's dad was saying. That helped tremendously with pronunciation. While we went on our honeymoon to California, my parents drove my car back to Texas. We insisted that they keep the shoe polish messages on the windows. After the reception, we found out that Little Caesar's (at least the one that we went to) will give you free breadsticks when you pick up a pizza while still dressed in your tux and wedding dress. I don't know why Missy doesn't want to relive our first meal as husband and wife for our 25th anniversary. Yes, the same math nerds who noticed the relationship between the numbers of the hottest day in Phoenix have already realized that today is our 25th wedding anniversary.
We have been through a lot together: meeting under some interesting circumstances (see this post), never living in the same area until we were married, losing jobs, finding jobs, being involved in full-time youth ministry, being involved in volunteer youth ministry, moving to Arizona, moving back to Texas, dealing with the loss of Missy's parents, dealing with the loss of at least one known child through a miscarriage, waiting for adoption calls that never came, finally getting the call about a 7 month year old little girl who needed a home, embarking on a journey of a liver transplant (which you can visit in many of the previous blog posts), and just going through the everyday adventures of life.
The picture is from our summer vacation to California. We went to Universal Studios on our honeymoon 25 years ago. We celebrated early this year as life is getting too busy on our actual anniversary date. Thank you, Joy, for taking this picture.By the grace of God, we have made it through 25 wonderful years. I have been blessed beyond measure by Missy's love, faithfulness, and patience. Those that know her are very aware of Missy's talents, abilities, and character. I'll never know just what she sees in me, but I'm not about to change her mind now. We don't have a lot in the way of material possessions, but we do have God, each other, and a wonderful teenage daughter. What more do we need?
Happy Anniversary, Missy! I thank God every day for you. I love you more!
