me part 31....& wedding bells....

i've been sitting here staring at the blank page. sometimes it comes easy....sometimes you have to write until it starts to flow.

why don't i jump right in:

we wanted to get married. we wanted to just be together more than anything. and let me tell you, when you know you're going to spend the rest of your lives together, you can't get enough of each other. it was pure and total torture watching him get up and go home every night, when all you wanted to do was just fall asleep and wake up in each other's arms.

now the sexual component. (i'm going to go here because a lot of people don't...and i wish someone HAD for me). i felt like a 16-year-old boy. there were SO MANY thoughts in my head...so many times i wanted to just throw everything i believed out of the window and just have sex. but no matter HOW hard...no matter HOW much we wanted to (and of COURSE we wanted to....we're both sexual beings!!)....we'd stop...go in the other room....sometimes we'd pray together and beg for help (and when i say beg...i mean BEG!). when you know you're going to be married, it's SO HARD not to want to just go ahead and get on with it...however, both of us had waited so long, we knew, even as hard as it was, we could make it a few more months.

this isn't what EVERYONE should do....i'm not writing a guidebook on how to date or how to make out (good grief i am NOT the expert...this is just my story)...i'm just saying, there were certain situations that WE knew we shouldn't get ourselves into, because of our belief system. we learned in a trial by error type of a thing. for us...making out would get us so supercharged, we had to stop having make-out sessions. we would start to kiss...i mean, REALLY kiss....but since our bodies really weren't meant to STOP (yep....they weren't meant to stop at all!)...we had to having to really watch ourselves. and like i said...this isn't GOSPEL...this is just US finding our limits in the relationship because we wanted the first time we were together sexually to be after we'd made a covenant before God, our families, our friends....& each other. i wanted the first time i gave my body to him, (physically, emotionally, spirtually), to be securely in the confines of marriage....where we had both taken vows to honor, cherish, respect and love each other...'till death do us part.' see, waiting to have sex until marriage isn't prudish...it's INCREDIBLY romantic. the fact that my husband waited for me....talk about a sacrifice. he gave me a gift on our wedding night that had cost him something....it had COST him to wait for the woman he loved...even before he loved me or knew me.

i was on tour all the time...and with my schedule, the thought of planning a wedding made me want to bite all my fingernails off and hit something really hard. i've never been super girlie...and i'm incredibly spontaneous, not much of a planner. so the joys of months and months of details made me want to scream. for so many of you...you dream of that day...and it's WONDERFUL! i was just wired a certain way. in fact, my parents always thought i'd do a destination wedding or call them one day and say, 'i've eloped!'

july was coming up, my gig with smitty was coming up, and the date lucas had heard we would be married was coming up. about a week and a half before 7/7/07....i got a phone call from one of the pastors at my church. he told me he knew i was playing with michael w. smith at 'the call' (an event at titans stadium where people came in from all over the country to pray for our nation), but he was wondering if i would play violin with him as well. they were going to have a segment where they explain what a covenant, talk about the power of it...the purpose of it, and how it's an agreement that brings about a relationship of commitment between two people, or God and his people. and while he sang, there were going to be a few private ceremonies on the field as a symbol of that covenant we make with God.

i said yes. sure, i was already going to be there....and i loved to play. but the minute i got off the phone, i remember turning around to lucas and saying, 'man, wouldn't it be fun to be one of those couples getting married?' it would solve all my problems. i could have an epic wedding, one that no one had, in front of about 60,000 people, televised in over 200 nations all over the world. i remember calling him back....and asking...'uh...can we be one of those couples getting married??" (remember....lucas had told me we would be getting married on 7/7/07 back in january!!!)

when i say God is the best wedding planner possible....believe me...He is. he knew more of what i wanted then i did...and it surpassed my wildest dreams.

we called our family...said, 'hey can you guys be in nashville in a week? we want to get married.' BOTH of our dad's are pastors, so it's not easy for them to get off on weekends. my mom and grandmother were already coming to the event, so dad just came with them. luke's parents had already taken off that weekend for a family reunion in arkansas, so the entire family reunion just drove over for the wedding.

-within ONE WEEK...we found a place to live....and moved in.
-my friend called and said, 'i'm trying to build my wedding portfolio...do you mind if i shoot your wedding for FREE?'
-my friend ryan offered to video the wedding for FREE.
-my friend heather had me come over to her house the morning of, and did my hair...for FREE.
-my friends mother put my bouquet together....and refused any money for it.
-i'd been a maid of honor in smitty's daughter's wedding a month before and had already tried on dresses....got the dress of my dreams (early)......had it altered that week....dress, DONE.
-smitty and deb as a wedding present set us up in the most gorgeous bed and breakfast for 2 nights after the wedding....
AND....5 days later, i was scheduled to go on a michael w. smith alaskan cruise, where spouses got to come...and since i was going to have a SPOUSE....i got PAID to be on my honeymoon! haha!

now one minor thing. we weren't actually....engaged. luke had been saving for a ring for a while, and his plan was to propose...that week. so i told him to hold off on the proposal...to let me see the ring for the first time at the altar! (the suspense was killing me....but it was extremely romantic).

there i was....family, friends there....perfect dress, felt beautiful....day of my dreams....walking down astroturf at a football stadium towards the most amazing man i'd ever met. it was super emotional...the entire stadium singing over us....strangers blessing us as we walked by....congratulating us. i walked down that aisle, overwhelmed at the love of my Father....who had blessed me with the most beautiful man, standing there at the end of that aisle....tears streaming as i walked towards him.















we went into the locker room after the ceremony to take pictures...and all of a sudden, smitty's tour manager came in, 'christa, it's time for you to go on!' since i didn't have a reception that day, there was NO WAY i was taking that dress off. so i headed out on stage to play in my wedding dress. (:



ok my friends...time for bed.

that's my wedding story. it's a bit out of the box...but i'm a bit out of the box. (:

there were so many times when i wanted to give in...to settle for something less because i was lonely...or heartbroken...or just tired of waiting.

friends....it's worth the wait. true love is worth the wait.

promise.

xxoxoxoxoxoxxo, sista christa