Kids In Love

When I first started attending Westside Church, I met a guy named Will O'Neill. He was really funny and super tall—that was my first impression. Over the 2 years I've been here, I've gotten to hang out with Will during small groups and during softball season (he was on our team). He was one of my greatest encouragers on the team. A little while after I'd been going to Westside, I got to meet his girlfriend, Erin. I remember thinking she was equally tall and was completely stunning! Her sweet personality was such a comfort and when she joined our small group, I got to know her more. It was always nice to see her bright smile when she showed up and hear her stories and gain a new perspective on interpreting the Bible.

Yesterday, I was blessed to have the opportunity to join them at their wedding and watch two amazing people exchange vows and celebrate the start of a new life together! The wedding was so uniquely tailored to them (as I feel all weddings should be) and had a very classy, almost Jane Austen feel to it. Will and Erin being the outdoorsy type that they are even made their getaway on a tandem bike! It was awesome!

Here are my pictures from their special day:

Taking the ferry to Vashon Island for the wedding

I got a ride to the wedding from Dan & Alisa
and we had fun on the ferry ride

The Siers kids were excited to watch the ceremony

The Groom & Groomsmen

The bridesmaids each had unique parasols

Welcoming the elegant bride

The giving away of the bride

An upfront view of her gorgeous dress

Sharing stories

The exchanging of the vows

You may now kiss the bride

Jay praying for the new married couple

Mr. & Mrs. William O'Neill

Dancing away into a new adventure

Fresh baked dessert served as the wedding cake

Tasty cheeses & figs with blue cheese,
walnuts and prosciutto for appetizers

The gift for the attendees
was unique wine glasses

Will, me, & Erin

The getaway vehicle

And you know it's never a party
without a little whip cream on your nose

Painting Pictures of Egypt

Tonight was my first ever Seder meal. My small group got together and we made it a potluck/Seder evening. It was a "Christian Seder" actually, not the legit traditional Jewish one . . . we only had 2 hours so we had to shorten it from it's traditional entirety. Though I'm kind of glad we did. I have a really hard time with really traditional things. Here's why:

1. I have a hard time being serious. My brain is seriously like spaghetti. One phrase from someone will trigger a funny thought or a memory and my mind just jumps on that wave and rides it until it meets another. There is pure joy and bliss in being random. Let's just say, my future husband will never cease to be entertained. I am, in fact, 99% random and 1% ridiculous . . . and sometimes they switch sides.

2. I have never been good at doing things "traditionally." In fact, more often than not, I hate doing things traditionally. I don't always like order or set rules and limits. It's something I try to work on, but more often than not, I lean towards nontraditional approaches to things.

3. I am accident prone. I will be honest, for the majority of the night, I sat on my hands. I had to. I get so fidgety and I get easily distracted. Most of the time, this results in spills, broken items, and frequent visits to the first aid kit. Needless to say, when it's a celebration of reflection and spiritual growth, such accidents are kind of distracting.

4. I don't really enjoy trying new foods. In fact, the majority of the time, I'm just fine with my standard comfort foods. So when you ask me to try new sorts of cheese and herbs and things I can't pronounce, something in me tries to find a way out of it. :( PS: I totally ate the horseradish . . . not knowing what it was. And since I didn't know what it was, I spread it on THICK. :| Never. Again. :|

All in all, tonight was pretty good and was a great learning experience for me. I actually had a great time and I was really proud that I caught my glass of grape juice before it spilled all over the table. The only downside was that to symbolize having a lamb shankbone, we just used a stuffed animal as representation. Did I mention that the stuffed animal lamb was sitting in front of me? BAD IDEA. Again, distraction and randomness comes full force and things like this happen:

(get it . . . they lost their shankbones!)

Here are some other photos from the evening :D I love my small group! :D

**to any of my Jewish readers that I may have offended with my stuffed animal lamb shenanigans, I apologize. I'm really working on it.

Blood Bank

Hello everyone!

I realize that the readers of this blog come from all different religious/non-religious backgrounds, but I am asking you to lift up some prayers/send good thoughts/send positive vibes/send non-sequential unmarked one dollar bills for my friends from Austin. They are 3 youth kids from my home church in Austin. Their names are Andrew, Micah, and Rachel Ansohn. They were in a head on collission today. This was an update from my friend Mariah:

Three of my friends were in a head on collision this afternoon and two were starflighted Brackenridge and the other is most likely going to have heart surgery.

I had the opportunity to be a mentor to Micah and Rachel personally, since they were in the youth ministry small group that I led. I know that the doctors that are treating them are competent and capable of fixing them, but there is also a lot of mental trauma and emotional trauma for them and their family that can come from accidents like these. They are so near and dear to my heart and I would appreciate any love you could send their way.

Thank you so much!

Love,

Amo.

some of my Flying Marshmallows small group members.
Rachel is the one in the pink shirt

An update about the accident:

Andrew's ankle was broken and Micah's wrist was broken. Rachel suffered the most injuries but is doing really well now!

thank you all so much for any well wishes or prayers or thoughts :D