A truly hysterical member of our group has been Nikki Cole and her husband, Kelly. This lady makes me laugh until I cry at things that would normally be so mundane, and I count myself blessed to know her.
Anyhow, Nikki and Kelly eloped 5 years ago. They lived in Mississippi at the time, and about 3 years ago decided to have a vow renewal to celebrate with friends and family. Well, along comes Hurricane Katrina, and ruins the whole thing!! Nikki was still thinking that they could pull it off when Kelly drove her by the church they were going to use for the ceremony and pointed out that it was no longer there.
Fast forward 2 years, and Nikki and Kelly are chatting with the life group about how they never got a wedding ceremony, and Nikki never got to where her dress, etc. Someone came up with idea to throw them a wedding celebration!! Amanda took it from there.... (Another life group member, Amanda is a detail-oriented wedding nazi. No, I'm kidding, she's a detail-oriented wedding angel. With a loud voice when you're not paying attention.)
So this past weekend was the wedding, and we spent Friday night setting everything up, and then had a girls' night with mani/ pedis, wine and brownies.
There's Nikki, Jae and Amanda showing off their gorgeous nails.
There's Debbie G who did all of our nails and Christy. Holler. (She got some straight-up black nail polish, which looked way chic. I commented on how good it looked in front of Johnny- her husband- and he looked at me as if I was the one who had coerced his sweet wife into painting her nails black, and I should be punished for said offense. I am here to set the record straight, Johnny. Sorry to rat you out Christy... It was her idea!!! And in fact, she brought her own nail polish for the occasion!! I still think it looks fab-o!)
Anywho. We had a blast!! The next day was the wedding/ vow renewal.
Here's Brian Belflower, our life group leader, conducting the ceremony for Nikki and Kelly (who looked great, by the way!!) If you've been following the days that I've mentioned, you'll have noted the irony that Dallas was, in fact, feeling the affect of Hurricane Ike on Saturday night when the ceremony took place. Luckily, no churches were blown away here, and the show did go on!
The whole weekend was a wonderful reminder of what blessings God has provided for all of us. What wonderful friends, what wonderful leaders, what wonderful spouses. I feel like I speak for all of us when I say that despite trials and tribulations that we all feel from time to time, everything melts away when you get to witness the sort of love that we did this weekend. Two people who've been married for 5 years, and are still willing to stand up and do it all over again. They know how life can beat you down, and they're wanting to stand up in front of everyone and say "I choose you. I choose this life we have together, even when it's hard. Even when I don't like you sometimes. Even when everything else tries to get the better of us, I choose us."
I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Nikki and Kelly, thank you for allowing us to share in your joy.
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