Wedding Bliss

Ok, I am back. I got married 2 weeks ago and had the honeymoon and trying to get myself all caught up and now I have a free moment to blog a bit. For everyone that was at my wedding, thank you! It was a wonderfully special day and really was one of the most beautiful weddings I can remember ever seeing. And to think it was mine. I owe that all to my wife. She had a great vision and made sure it was seen through. Thanks honey!
We went to Seattle and to Victoria, BC for the honeymoon. It was fabulous. The weather was outstanding and really there could not have been anything better. We took our time and did what we wanted when we wanted. She had no idea where we were going until Saturday night after the wedding. Her sister, whom did know, helped her pack for the trip. It was so much fun and she said that she could not have planned it any better herself. She thought everything was absolutely perfect. I thought so too!!!
One of the neatest things that we did was a whale watching tour. We actually got to see Killer Whales in their natural habitat. We were on a Zodiac boat and got to within a 100 yards or so of these whales. We saw probably a total of 5 whales. We followed them for about a 1/2 an hour or so and then headed back to shore. It was wonderful. Angela, my wife and another person on the boat, along with the driver got to see a humpback whale. They just happened to be looking in the right place at the right time. I was pretty jealous of that, but glad that she got to see it and experience it. I can only imagine how cool that would have been to see. Maybe next time.
I think her favorite part was probably afternoon tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria. I must admit it was quite a neat thing. We had tea and all the little finger foods that go with it. I have never drank that much tea at one time, I don't think. It was really good. Some sort of Orange and Pineapple flavored tea. Really good. It was pretty fun to get dressed up a little and surprise her with that. She had a blast and it really reminded her of when she lived in England. Since I have never been to England, I will just have to live vicariously through her, for now.

Well, I hope to, at some point in the near future, upload a few pictures of the wedding and some of our adventures on the honeymoon. Everything was just so wonderful. I had a great time meeting the rest of her family and friends. She has a great group of people that love and support her and I really would expect nothing different. She is truly wonderful.

Thanks for your time and I hope to be blogging again in the near future.

Joel

Not much time left

So, there is not much time left before the wedding on Saturday. Things have really kicked into overdrive and we are running around like crazy trying to get all the details done. I would like to say, this experience has been a learning one and has helped Angela and I to lean on each other and trust one another. It has taught us alot. I still can not believe how many details go into a wedding. I know everything is going to be just fine and I can't wait for the wedding to be over and the marriage to begin.

Her sister and brother-in-law come in late tonight. We pick them up from the airport around 10:30. I am looking forward to them being here. They have been a tremendous blessing to us. My sister lives here in town and we have used her extensively to help us out. She and her husband have been tremendous to us also. Both parents are in town. Of course we could not have made it this far with out them. We took them out to dinner the other night and had a wonderful evening. People are really going to start clamoring to the Des Moines area starting tonight with her sister. Then it is non stop. Looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing by family and friends again as well. This is such a joyous occasion and we are so looking forward to being together and starting our new lives together.

I will be lucky if I get back on the blog before we get back from the Honeymoon. So this is probably my last blog as a single man, but I welcome that change.

God Bless!

Joel

Meeting of the Families

This weekend, I got all moved into my fiance's house. I do not have a lot of stuff, but her house is still pretty small and so it seemed to get just a little bit smaller. She has some friends that I will be staying with all this week. I think that is great. I really appreciate that. Things with the wedding are really kicking into gear now.
Both her parents and my parents also arrived into town this weekend. My folks made it in on Saturday evening to Osceola and are staying with my grandparents. Her folks got in on Sunday afternoon. They drove all the way up from Houston, Texas. They left Saturday morning, stayed the night in Joplin, MO and then finished the drive Sunday morning.
Yesterday was also my grandfather's birthday, so we all went down to his house for a little BBQ and birthday party for him. My future in laws were also able to come along with us, so it was a nice time for everyone to meet each other. It was a really nice time. Great food, great company and unfortunately, they found some old pictures and were having a blast going through all of them. Oh well, I guess that is what a lot of this is all about. Getting to know one another. It is a fun process mostly, except when they pull out the really bad pictures, but hopefully there weren't too many of them.
I am thankful for all of my family, my current family and my family to be. It is a wonderful feeling having more people around that care for you. I welcome them all to our new family and cherish the time that we will all be spending together from here on out.
Everyone have a blessed day!
Joel

Quick Note

Just a quick note for right now. I had a blog, Jasmus Jams, and I had to delete it, so this is going to replace that blog. I am going to continue to keep writing different things, but will probably be out of commission for a while as I get ready for my wedding next weekend and then journey on to our honeymoon, which I am not going to mention the location. My fiance still does not know where we are going and that is kind of fun. I think we are going to have a great time.

I wish my friends at Jordan Creek Family Church well. I do apologize for not being able to be available to help the next several weeks. God Bless you and everything that all of you do!