Tears of joy!

Do you have them? Tears of joy? Well, over the past few months I have experienced what can only be described as tears of joy. Most of you, knowing what's going on, would say this is normal. With marriages, births, the holidays, being with family, it's all natural to shed tears of joy. My feelings are a little different.

When Valerie and I were little girls we had this 'no crying' competition. We wouldn't talk about it or look at each other, but we'd hide our tears... it became this secret competition. Every time we watched a movie that made us cry, had something happen in our lives that made us cry, whatever it was, we'd hold it in and if our eyes started to well we'd turn around to clear them up and go back to normal. Who knows why we did this, but we did.

When we are about 10, I think, we had a conversation about these tears. We placed a bet. A bet on who would cry in front of everyone on their wedding day. We placed 100 dollars on this bet, I guess assuming we'd one day be rich :), and the betting began. Valerie bet me that I'd cry and I bet Valerie she'd cry. Well, friends, the wedding days have come and gone and I hate to say it but Val won. You see on her wedding day she didn't cry at all! I was SHOCKED! She's much more emotional than I. On my wedding day, the second I turned the corner to see Jeremy my eyes filled with tears. Although I didn't shed any, because I didn't want to risk raccoon eyes for pictures, I had never felt more excited and happy... and for that, I wanted to shed tears!

I didn't think anything about these tears, though, until I was driving to the hospital to be with Valerie as she awaited the birth of her first daughter, my first niece. As I was driving I realized how excited I was, how blessed our family was, how God had given us so much and I started to cry. When you stop to think about it it's overwhelming and we should cry tears of joy because God is always so good to us!

As I cried I remembered this little bet Val and I had. I remembered how I hated crying. (Some of my friends know that I hate crying more than anything and Valerie will tell you that I think it's the ugliest thing someone can do... I know, it's harsh, but it's what I've said about it. ) And I began to laugh as I realized that God has begun to use something I hated so much to show his love in my life, his presence in my life, to make me weak and fill me up with himself!

As I look back on the past year, going to Africa, accepting a proposal, celebrating the holidays and engagements with my family, watching my sister and brother in law renew their marriage and relationship to Christ, being reminded of Christ's birth and experiencing that with my beautiful church family, getting married, welcoming a niece, I see tears everywhere. Every big decision I made was with tears flowing from my eyes, filled with God's presence and love. I can't believe it took my 26 years to understand these tears and to feel good to cry, but as my pastor would say I am a stubborn one!

Here are some pictures of the wedding and sweet Olivia, such joyful moments in my life! I look forward to many more tears in my life because I know that God has awesome things in store! Thank you, as always, for reading! XOXOX

My friends from Uganda came from all over the US to my wedding. 

A twin moment!

Putting me together :)

ready to get married!

me and B! So thankful for her!

Checking my back as only a pirate would. 

my support group!

all the girls before the big walk down the aisle.

My mom and her girls. 

my pops walking me down the aisle. 

almost there!

my sweet husband!

so excited!

i love this picture!

husband and wife!

so sweet!

my maid of honor still doing her job! 

job well done kisses!

my beautiful dress!

The Dickersons

With my parents

Jeremy and the original Krueger posse! 

With Jeremy's parents

my b-maids! 

of course we would! 

we are not above cake smashing!

I waited and prayed for this man. So blessed!

typical!

honeymoon: at dinner! 

our awesome bike ride in St. Maarten

nothing is more attractive than safety!

what a view!

at an old fort

quick shot during a traffic stop

the beach! 

enjoying the chilly, blue water. St. Maarten

action shot!

Jer's first snorkel. 

enjoying the sights! look at that ring!! 

this coral was massive!

brain coral, my favorite! and a purple sea-fan

this sea-fan was as big as me! 

afterwards. 

our awesome waiters at dinner! 

Our dinner table, just the 5 of us! 

an after the wedding shot :) 

on the cruise ship

trying to capture the sunset

PUERTO RICO!!!! 

saying goodbye to PR. 

Valerie and Jason: last picture before we welcomed Olivia!

she grabbed his finger. sweet moment! proud daddy!

proud grandparents!

Welcome to the world, Olivia Kay Hite!
Born February 2, 2012