In Sickness and In Health

The above picture was taken on my wedding day (clearly). But I want you to look at is the background of the picture. Look at the large bottle of gingerale. Look at the small bottle of hand sanitizer. See the way I am reclined, slouching, in my chair as I waited for 6:00 to finally arrive. Now listen to my story.....

We got home from the rehearsal dinner quite late on Friday night. Jaclyn, my sweet sister was 4 or 5 months pregnant with Grace. (Who is now almost 6 months old!). Jaclyn laid on Mom and Dad's couch... she wasn't feeling well. I was so sad for her. She went on up to bed, but as I was getting ready for bed, I heard her in the bathroom. She was throwing up alot, over and over again. I started praying "Lord, please let Jaclyn feel better, and protect her baby too". I got dressed, and went to bed, realizing this was my last time to fall asleep as a single woman.

I went through all the things I needed to do tomorrow morning. I needed to finish packing, since the Best Man was going to come to my house and pick up the suitcase so Grant could go ahead and take it to the hotel and check in. I needed to get a few boxes of things to the reception hall. And I needed to be at the hair place by 11:00, as I had so clearly told my girls. I was exhausted and really wanted to get to bed so I would feel rested on my wedding day.

About 1:00am, my stomach started feeling weird. "Nerves", I thought. By this time I had heard Jaclyn running into our bathroom about 20 times, and I thought "I'm just feeling sympathy pains for her, this is all in my head". However, at about 1:30, I was up and running. Thankfully, I made it to the toilet in time. (Nice image there for ya). I remember thinking "Oh, sweet Jesus, you do remember that it is my wedding day, right?". I heard footsteps outside in the hallway and then a knock on the door. It was my mom. "Sweety, are you okay?". She opened the door, expecting to see Jaclyn, and there I was crying and just a hot mess altogether. My sweet mom, hugged me, told me we were gonna get through this.

She walked downstairs and said to my dad, "Jack, it's not just Jaclyn, it's Jenny too". My dad replied "Me too". It was at this moment that we realized that my wedding day was clearly not going to go exactly as planned.

Mom, Dad, me, and Jaclyn were all sick with a virus. And it was spreading. I truly believe that by the power of prayer, I stopped throwing up at 7:30am. I was still feeling nauseous, but I was not feeling so awful. Mom, Dad, and Jaclyn, followed by her husband Jeremy were pretty sick the whole day.

Our friend Penny had a friend who was going through chemotherapy. She very generously donated some pills she takes to help with nausea. I remember sitting in that chair you see in that picture, chugging gingerale, and being told by the sweet wedding coordinator that she had places some buckets in the first pew for my parents if anyone should need them. Nice.

But, we did it. We all made it down the aisle. Jaclyn had to sit down in a pew halfway through the ceremony. But I would much rather her sit down than fall down!!

By the end of it all, we counted THIRTY-FOUR people that got sick. Our whole family, several members of the wedding party, a groomsmen ended up in the hospital for dehydration since he was throwing up so much.

It's so funny though, cause when you look at the pictures, you would never know. There was a very short moment when I thought, "I have been planning this perfectly for over a year. Why would God do this?"

I think it was to show me that things are not MY plan, they are HIS. And in spite of it all, my wedding day was perfect. It was beautiful. And even though my family sat at the reception the majority of the time, they had a great time. My mom's fever broke around 9:00 at the reception and she really perked up. Now, that we look back on it, it's quite funny!

Anyways, that is the story of my wedding day. Praise Jesus we didn't have to use the buckets!