Wedding Pictures

So I'm an Evans now!! I'll post more later. Hi Crossroaders ;)

So I was making center pieces for my up-coming wedding, and I thought I'd post the quotes my honey and I decided to use for them:

"Success in marriage is much more than finding the right person; it is a matter of being the right person" ~Anonymous

"In the words of the nuptial liturgy, "Love is our origin, love is our constant calling, love is our fulfillment in heaven. The love of man and woman is made holy in the sacrament of matrimony and becomes the mirror of your everlasting love." ~ Andrew M. Greeley in The Catholic Imagination

You come to love not by finding the perfect person, 
but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly. 
~ Sam Keen

The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together. ~Robert C. Dodds

I got gaps; you got gaps; we fill each other's gaps.
~Rocky

The most important marriage skill is listening to your partner in a way that
they can't possibly doubt that you love them.
~Diane Sollee

Any fool can have a trophy wife.
It takes a real man to have a trophy marriage.
~Diane Sollee

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always
with the same person.
~Mignon McLaughlin

There is nothing more admirable than two people who see eye-to-eye
keeping house as man and wife, confounding their enemies, and delighting
their friends.
  ~Homer, 9th century BC

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny
threads, which sew people together through the years.
 ~Simone Signoret

For wherever you go, I will go:
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge,
Your people will be my people,
And, your God, my God.
 ~Ruth 1:16

Marriage is not just spiritual communion, it is also remembering to take out the trash.
   ~Joyce Brothers

We loved with a love that was more than love.
 

~Edgar Allan Poe

Be presidents of each other's fan clubs.
 

~Tony Heath

Do not pray to marry the one that you love,
but to love the one that you marry.


~Spencer Kimball

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through
every circumstance.
 ~I Corinthians 13:7

There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a
door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side
of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.
 

~Ronald Reagan

Love is seeking to act for the other person's highest good.
~Jerry Cook

Marriage provides the solace of worked-on friendship and the joy of being known profoundly.
~Imogene Stubbs

"A true man respects and defends the honor and dignity of a lady, in all that he says, all that he thinks, all that he does...in all ways!" ~Anonymous

"A great lover is not one who romances a different woman every night, A GREAT lover is one who romances the SAME woman EVERY night."
~Ancient Chinese Proverb as told by Wilson Wilson on Tool Time.

Crossroads as Marriage Prep

So Sorry I haven't posted in Forever, I've been meaning to but I was walking with my Crossroaders for 2 weeks and its taken me until now to be able to put my journey into words.

So I personally believe now it is a VERY good idea to get away from planning your wedding, your fiance, and well intentioned but tiresome people who are waay to into the details of the wedding/reception before you actually get to the front of the church and enter into a lifetime/life-changing covenant.

For me that took the form of walking for two weeks with virtual strangers, praying, and witnessing to everyone that this can and should be a culture of Life. It was nice to have space and time to think and pray. The actual physical walking part was a bit rough sometimes, and night shift is always mentally rough, but those challenges actually better allowed me to focus on my relationship with God. Crossroads kind of forces a person to remember who comes first, and reminded me to trust totally in him.

I was again reminded that I am weak, I am a sinner, and I am not nearly as talented as I think I am sometimes. But God does not call the righteous, or the strong he calls sinners and gives them strength. "Who can we always trust? God!" He'll give us words when we need them, when we are weak then he can be strong in us, and when it feels like God has abandoned us we have to remember that sometimes he gives us the space so we can remember how much we need him, but he Never really leaves.

So after walking for two weeks I caught a ride home from Chicago with the priest who is going to be marrying my fiance and me.  He's like a big brother to me and he has ALWAYS been there when I needed him, it was so awesome seeing him ordained right before I started walking, and equally as cool when I saw him celebrate mass for the first time. I've officially been to confession with him now and *sigh* best confession I've made in a long time, its kind of easier to see Christ in the sacrament when you already see Christ in the person. God is Love, and I know I am loved by the man who is in Persona Christe.

Then there was the long drive home, and while this man is a priest he is still a man and we ran out of gas because Father decided to push the broken gas gauge a bit too far. Hehehe, so picture this:  a priest, and a girl in a big ole pro life shirt, a skirt, and tennies go walking down the highway with a gas can. . . sounds like the set up for a great joke, but I'm sure we were a sight to behold. It all turned out o.k., and actually it was kind of fun!!

It was an adventure to be sure but I got to spend ALL day with Fr. Jeremy and we talked A LOT, and I am so much more ready to be married. Between Crossroads and the conversation that lasted a lifetime I feel closer to God and my fiance (which I didn't think was possible). I am so looking forward to Friday when I can say:  " I Erin take you Jeremiah to be my husband, I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."