Well he did it…he completely surprised me. He had set it all up with the doctor I worked for and my office manager. Everyone was in on the surprise, except me. It was a day of celebrating, and we did just that, the entire weekend. (I’ll save you those details though!) We quickly decided on a date and the planning begun.

Planning a wedding is always stressful, but my plate was incredibly full. I ended up having to have a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy over Christmas. The recovery was not easy, and our families had to come to our place to celebrate Christmas. I was also studying for two exams for work. I had to pass my radiology and anesthesia assistant exam, both which were scheduled about a month before our wedding! Still, we made it work. I had begun selling Mary Kay part time to bring in some extra income. We took out a personal loan to pay for our honeymoon and some of our debt, and with the help of our parents, we were able to have a beautiful wedding.

We had a few hiccups before our big day. First, we were not able to be married in the church Jason grew up in, and that we would attend together when home. The pastor, at the time, wouldn’t marry us because we lived together. He asked us to live apart during our engagement; but logistically and financially, it didn’t make sense. I was disappointed, but not angry. I respected his conviction, and he did attend our wedding. The church I had attended as a young girl was available and did not have a full time pastor. We were able to be married there, and Jason’s sister officiated the ceremony. (Try having premarital counseling with your future sister-in-law!! )

The second happened the night of our rehearsal. I was emotional, nervous, excited, happy…a multitude of emotions…but the one thing that stands out about that night was a simple sentence my future mother-in-law said, ‘Do we have to go through with this?’ Rejection had reared its ugly face. My inner 9 year old girl had come out, and I thought that his family doesn’t accept me. They know the truth, Jason deserves better. I was so hurt. Jason and his sister noticed that I was upset. I don’t remember what they said, but by the time we arrived at the dinner, I had stopped crying. (Now, before you get your feathers ruffled, looking back I see a mom who’s youngest son was finally getting married. I am sure she also was going through a multitude of emotions and didn’t mean to hurt me.)

“Rejection had reared its ugly face. My inner 9 year old girl had come out, and I thought that his family doesn’t accept me. They know the truth, Jason deserves better.”

The wedding was perfect, and the following morning we flew out to our honeymoon destination, the Mayan Riviera/Cancun. We had a week of rest and relaxation, and then headed back to the real world.

We were comfortable in our one bedroom apartment. Jason and I were trying to save for a home, but we had a problem with trying to keep up with our friends. We had just gotten married, but our peers were starting families. So around our one year anniversary, we began trying to expand our family. We were going to move to a larger apartment at the end of our lease and we were happy.

Then, Jason came home from work and said we needed to talk. His work had to downsize and were probably going to go out of business. They had to let him go…

As for a baby? We had been trying for months, and no baby…

By His grace,

Misty