Celebrating 1 year as Mr. and Mrs. Metz!

Well, I am back! We had the most wonderful time celebrating in San Antonio! It was so great to just relax and have undivided time and attention to devote to one another with no worries of anything else! I am so so blessed to have married such an amazing man!



We celebrated our anniversary by staying at the Hyatt on the Riverwalk. It was very cool because our room looked out over the Alamo and it was so beautiful at night! We slept in that morning and then got up and went to lunch on the riverwalk. We walked through the Alamo and its gardens and then explored the Riverwalk hand in hand! We had dinner at Morton's Steakhouse, which was so wonderful I would eat there every day if I could!



When we sat down I looked at the menu only to see this...So cool!



The food was amazing...it melted in your mouth! We finished dinner, took some pictures, and then changed and took a carriage ride around downtown San Antonio!



We settled back in our room to eat our wedding cake topper...It was still really good!



Jason brought his laptop and we watched some highlights from our wedding video and opened cards from each other and other loved ones! Thanks to everyone who made it so special! It was a very romantic and perfect 1st anniversary!

While we were in San Antonio we enjoyed lots of great food on the Riverwalk and went to the Market and Sea World one day...Here's some more pictures from the rest of our trip...Enjoy!

1st Anniversary!

So this will be quick because I have plenty of packing to do today. I am leaving tomorrow to go to MA Officer Camp with the Varsity Drill Team for my new job! We'll finish up Sunday afternoon and then Jason and I are headed to out of town that night! We are going to celebrate our first anniversary on the Riverwalk in San Antonio! I am so excited to celebrate this special time with the man I have been blessed to love with all of my heart! It is hard to believe that it has been a whole year since we said "I do!"

Looking Back...June 23, 2007

60 Years!!!

Jason's grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on June 10, 2008. Their love for one another and the Lord has been a true testament to many family members and other couples. They were missionaries in Africa for over 30 years, and started many bible colleges and schools that still exist there today. Jason and I were very blessed to have his grandfather officiate our wedding ceremony last year. His words were so beautiful, and we will forever treasure the role he played in the start to our new life! Last weekend Jason's family celebrated their anniversary...Enjoy the pictures!



Vernon and Marjorie Metz



Happy 60th Anniversary!



Cutting the cake 60 years later!



So cute!



Jason and I with his grandparents!

I Loved Her First...

This father's day I found a book that was written about the song that my dad and I danced to at our wedding. Since it is almost one year since my dad and I danced to this song, I thought it would be a very appropriate gift for Father's Day!

Lyrics to "I Loved Her First" by Heartland

Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each others face
So much in love your alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her first

How could that beautiful women with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But its still hard to give her away
I loved her first

From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first



Almost a year ago I had the privilege and honor of dancing to this song with one of the most important men in my life (Don’t worry, you in good company…Jesus & Jason!) I think back to the first time I heard this song I thought of many special times that we have shared throughout my lifetime, some that I remember, and some that you have told me about. Not many little girls and young women are not fortunate enough to have a dad as special as you.

I am so thankful for the unconditional love that you have always and will always have for me. I never once questioned that in my heart. I am also grateful for the love of God that you have and have shared with your family, friends, and others. Your faith, continual trust, and obedience in the Lord in all that you have said and done throughout your lifetime have taught me more than one could ever imagine.

I think the greatest lesson of all that you have taught me is the phrase that you have told me each first day of school, and a few other big days in my lifetime… “Remember who you are, and whose you are.” That phrased has grown in meaning to me as I have gotten older and realized more of who I am, what I stand for, and what I believe. But it has always remained a constant reminder of the greatest lesson of all…whose I am. That I am God’s child, and that he sent his Son to die for my sins, so that I may have eternal life. This small phrase of just a few words has seen me through some of the most nerve wracking times in my life. And it is one I know that I will continue to share with my children someday.

I am so thankful to have a father whose love has opened the doors to revealing Christ’s love to me in a very real way. As the song says I know that a place in your heart will always be mine, as will a place in my heart yours. I may have grown up and be married, but I will always treasure that place in your heart as the song says, and knowing that I will always be your little girl. Your wisdom and understanding of life and the Lord, as well as your ability to listen and discern have helped me through some very difficult times in the past few years, and I am so grateful for that.

I treasure the stories of how you would walk to me and sing to me at night to put me to bed. I treasure the fun times we had looking for animals underneath your bed and being so silly! I treasure every time you came to my dance performances, and that you played that large of a role in that part of my life. I treasure the excitement and love you have for Texas Tech!

Another thing I treasure is the way you have loved and accepted Jason into your family as your son. The first time I heard this song, it brought tears to my eyes, and I knew it was the perfect song for you and me to dance to at our wedding. Two of the lines that really stood out to me were the line that said “I prayed that she'd find you someday,” and, “And I knew the first time I saw you with her; It was only a matter of time…” I know that for many years you prayed for my future husband…and I love the story of how when you came to Lubbock that first time you knew that there was more to the story, when I told you and mom that Jason had asked me to be his girlfriend, and how you sensed that we were getting more serious when you came up and we told you we had started to talk about marriage. I am so thankful for all the ways you were involved in planning our wedding, and for the special moments we shared before and while you walked me down the aisle, kissed me as you gave my hand to Jason, and shared our father daughter dance.

Thank you for everything daddy. I treasure who you are, and whose you have taught me I am. I know that your strength , wisdom, and unconditional love are a result of your faithfulness and love for the Lord, and I am grateful for the legacy you have created, and hope that Jason and I can continue to live that legacy as well and pass it on.

Happy Father’s Day 2008! I love you with ALL of my heart!

Lindsey Anne

A legacy of love!

So I am working on a project for an Anniversary present for my parents...Their 32nd wedding anniversary is on June 5th. My mom saw this collage of pictures my cousin had put together in her new house and loved it. The pictures were copied on a color copier and then decopaged onto art canvases...I will post pictures of it later, but for now I wanted to share a few of the pictures that I decided to use in the collage. I am doing a collection of 10 pictures to start. There are 5 pictures of my parents and 5 of Jason and I at similiar points in our lives...Some of the similarities in the pictures are so amazing I had to share...Enjoy!

This was Jason and I at Semiformal our freshman year in college, and my parents at their Senior Garden Party in high school.

Engagement pictures...

My mom and my bridal pictures...notice the hand...I was shocked when I found this picture!

I remember my mom and dad telling me the story of how their photographer told each of them separately to look at each other when they got to the end of the aisle and when they did they realized they were looking at each other...I always thought that picture was so sweet growing up...I asked our photographer to take a similiar one at our wedding!

Cutting the cake!!!

Suffering

I found a link to this blog through a friend of a friend, and these words were so beautiful and spoke so much to something I have been struggling with in my heart for the past year and a half that I had to post it...Please read!

http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-deep.html

"The image of Jesus being mocked while he bled and suffered was unbearable today. More so than any other time I have read the story. His words, His shame, His pain...His love is deeper than I can fathom. If you want to feel the Holy Spirit fill you, try something one day. Maybe today if you can make the time. Start by praying for God to reveal Himself in a new way to you, and then read through these words of agony and death, and imagine your face as what He saw. You were worth it. He still believes that. I hope you do too. When God turned away from His Son, and darkness crept across Calvary, He knew your face, your heart, your hurts. They are forever hidden within His wounds.

It always makes me laugh when Abby and Ellie watch Sleeping Beauty. They have seen it no less than 20 times, and yet, when it is time for Aurora's finger to touch the spinning wheel, they cover their eyes and ask over and over, "What is going to happen to her?" The truth is that they know what is going to happen, but it doesn't make it any easier to watch. There is time between her bleeding and her waking up. The in-between is where the doubt creeps in. Where you think that evil might just win, and that the great rescue will be stifled.

I know that He will raise up, He will conquer, but when I read about the cross I want to close my eyes until the in-between is over. Today, as I read each scripture, I was struck by something I have never put too much emphasis on before. Jesus did not return to His followers as a healed man. He had scars that told the story, that brought Thomas to belief. He was alive, fully alive, and yet, not unscathed. God chose to use these wounds to remind the world what He had overcome. It seems like if I were the writer of the story, I would heal them completely. Really show people what kind of power I had. Just make it look like it never happened...complete restoration. This isn't what God chose for Christ, and it isn't what He chooses for any one of us. If we are called to suffer in the name of Jesus, we bear scars as well. He doesn't hide them when trouble has passed, but rather He allows our paths to cross with those who want to touch them, to believe in them, to fall into the arms of the one who allowed them to be inflicted.

This is why I write to you all.

I have prayed many, many times that the eyes that read these words will run their fingers along the wounded hands of Christ, letting His suffering tell you the depth of love He has for you.

This life is not about being healed.

It's about bearing wounds for the sake of the One who bore them for us. For you.

As a psychologist, I want to help people face these hard things. To turn them into beautiful gifts to be given back to the Lord.

It is as simple as recognizing that God has chosen your suffering for a purpose, and the splendor of His plan begins to be revealed as we trust Him to do that.

Our scars tell His story to those who need to know HIM. Just a thought to ponder on...