Maid of Honor words for the Bride

On behalf of my entire family, I would like to thank you all for coming again and celebrating this truly magical night with us.  We could not be more thrilled for Alison to have found Brian & to celebrate with them tonight.  Brian, we love you and are so thrilled you are a member of our family!  I know Julie and Ryan both feel like they won the "in law lottery" by having you join them! I would also like to thank my parents.  You two have raised the 3 of us to believe in marriage, that it works, that it is an adventure and that with a little hard work you can stay married to your best friend for a lifetime.  You have changed our lives and multiplied our joy in thousands of ways, but my favorite has been watching you love each other and seeing that love extend into our lives and our own families.  You are both a blessing there are no words for and we are extremely grateful.  

Now for those who don’t know me, I am the oldest of the Richard children and we are all spaced almost 2 years apart exactly.  Ali, Andy & I all fell in with stereo typical birth order personalities browning up, I being rule following, color in the lines 1^st born…Andy had all the markings of a wild middle child and being the only boy in the family highlighted these qualities…and then came Alison.  Our baby.  And she is our family’s baby in every sense of the word expect in if you are using as a adjective, because in that case she is anything but.  When Alison was 3 months old my mother found herself staring down at her sweet new baby surrounded with tubes, monitors & doctors.  Meningitis.  And after days in 2 different hospitals, a seizure and a wait and see what happens prognosis from the doctors…itsy bitsy Alison pulled up and out of a nightmare and headed back home to be with us.  Whew!  Crisis averted.  Childhood illness scare crossed off the list.  But if we fast-forward not even 2 years in her storyline we find Ali back at the doctors.  This time at a Children’s Hospital in Chicago where the doctors are trying to explain to my parents that elderly people are not the only ones getting diagnosed with arthritis.  Ali, their sweet & snugly toddler was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which meant a long and unknown road of shots, medication, therapy sessions, doctors and specialists, braces for the knees and wrists and some pretty sobering news in respect to her mobility in the years to come.  Doctors advised my parents that most likely Ali would be very limited in what activities her body would be able to tolerate.  But once again, our little Ali didn’t conform to the standards of any diagnosis.  Limited is not a word she’s ever understood.  She played traveling soccer and joined me for basketball camp.  She swam and ran and jumped along with every other kid.  She was never not right in the mix.  In high school she was more than determined to make the dance team, but a requirement to even try out was the splits.  My parent’s stomachs churned with anxiety knowing how much she wanted to make the dance team and also the condition of her joints.  My dad remembers walking up the stairs at night seeing Ali stretched out in the hallway willing her legs to lay flat for weeks before the tryout.  Now if any of you have been out with my sister where dancing is occurring, you know how this story ends up.  At the end of high school Ali had been a member of the dance team all 4 years.  At every turn she has never ceased to amaze us.  She has never stopped because someone said she should, she has hustpa!, she is brave; she has a fight in her.  God’s got plans for this girl.  And part of that plan was to work in my life.  There’s a chance, it’s small, but there’s a chance that if Ali wasn’t a part of my life I may still be wearing sweatshirts with cats on them.  Thankfully at a young age, she put the kibosh on any animal attire and my wardrobe made great strides because of her keen fashion sense and also extreme dislike for anything momish I may consider.  Ali is also one of those rare people that I can laugh for so hard and so long that tears run down my face and my stomach hurts so bad I can’t remember if we have been laughing or if I got punched.  As an adult, I don’t think laughter always comes as easy, but with Ali, it’s seems we have never left childhood.  She is witty and smart and funny and I have got a front row seat to her very humorous show.  And 13 years ago when I was diagnosed with diabetes, I couldn’t help but look at the way Ali has lived…without an “illness title”, without boundaries, without voices saying NO.  And in the years since I have looked to her and channeled my inner Ali when I come up against a wall.  You are amazing sister, and although I am the older of the siblings, you have inspired me, challenged me and changed my life.  I am so thankful and blessed that the Lord saw fit for us to be sisters.

All that being said, what kind of older sister would I be without just a little bit of advice or wisdom for my baby sister on her wedding day??!!??  First I have to share some life/marriage wisdom from one of the smartest and longest married guys in this room, my Grandpa, Bill Sapp.  Now if you are a Sapp, you have heard this story a million times but I would be remiss not to share it since were talking about marriage.  The story goes like this.  Bill was flying on a plane and chatting with a woman sitting next to him and they got to taking about marriage.  She asked my grandpa his thoughts, and he told her “there are 2 BIG decisions in every persons life.  The first is whether you choose Jesus as your Lord and Savior, because that determines whether you spend eternity in heaven or hell.  The 2^nd is who you choose to marry, because that determines whether your life here on earth is heaven or hell!”  

As for my thoughts on marriage itself, I don't know everything there is to know nor have I lived through all there is but I will tell you what has been my experience and what I pray will be yours.  Today, on your wedding day you stood at an alter with each other and made promises and looked into each others eyes and will dance and hug and celebrate tonight away together.  And I am sure as soon as you are able to process it all you will think, this is the best.  

And suddenly life will move, seasons will change, time will charge forward.  You will find yourself perched on the front porch of your first home.  You will clink glasses as you celebrate a promotion or graduation.  You will laugh till you cry over inside jokes and silly texts and nights with great friends.  You will see the other one with their arms wrapped around a baby that is part you & part the other and there you will be, smack dab in the middle of joy and you will think, this is the best.

And somewhere in between all the joy, smiles & happy memories there is another side.  There will be disappointment.  There will be fighting and frustration.  There will be a job lost or a dream that you had to let sail away.  There might be sickness or challenges that you can't possible imagine.  And there will be tears and sadness, but then there will be arms that find you and pick you up.  There is someone right next to you who knows what you need to take on your demons and says nothing when you just need to be held.  So you don't feel alone, and you have someone fighting along side you( and sometimes with you) and you will think, this is the best.

And the truth, at least for me has been that being married is the best.  The joy in my life is multiplied, the struggles are fought with more force because their are two of us with one goal, the times when it get rough between us only makes it sweeter when we come out on the other side. There is nothing like sharing a life with someone and experiencing all that it has to offer together.  Most importantly though, is the way that being married asks us to be unselfish and put someone before ourselves and in doing life within a marriage you get the privilege of knowing and understanding a little more about the God of the universe who lavishly loves us, who put himself second and laid down his life for us and who created man and woman for each other and declared it good.  With a little work and some perspective being married is truly the best!

So please raise your glasses with me, first to Alison…may the God given drive and fight in you be used for the rest of your life to fight for this man, your new husband Brian, your new life and family and your faith which will cement it all together.

And To Ali & Brian...may you have a lifetime of days, good, bad and everything in between where you look at each other and know that you are living in the best and that you truly have chosen heaven on earth!

Cheers!

Beanie Boy is 4

7.10.14

Our little red headed wonder is 4 years old.

Beanie Boy...

I can remember almost every detail about those days you were first with us...maybe because there wasn't any labor this time or maybe it was just because I realized how fragile you and the time you would be this new really were.  Sweet and precious and snugly and I was taken!

4 years later, I still feel the same.  You are such a tenderhearted sweet boy.  

That is not to say that you don't also know how to bring on the rain, in fact we sometimes call you our little Eeyore, haha.  But when you smile, it lights up the room and our hearts.  You have the best little giggle and dimple around.  I can't get enough of your sweet unprompted kisses and I LOVE YOUs!  They melt my heart.  And you are still a great snuggler.....although dad might disagree...he seems to think you kick him any chance you get. 

For you it's been the year of:

1. Gluten Free:  We've been trying a gluten free diet for almost a year now and it seems to be working!  Hopefully in time we'll get more answers but for now you seem more comfortable!  You ask all the time if each part of our meal is gooo-tin free and it's adorably heartbreaking!  You also like to steal some bread and crackers once in a while too, but you really are a good sport about the whole thing!

2.  Dragons:  You've been in love with anything dragon this year...books, the movie and you have been telling our neighbor for months that you're getting a pet a dragon any day.  So far no dragon has arrived, but we do have several small toy ones that are getting the job done!

3. Building:  Dad says you are our tiny engineer!  You will sit alone and tinker with blocks or Lego's and come up with some pretty cool stuff!  You also love puzzles.  You're a thinking man!

4.  Sleeping: It's still not a strong point.  It's pretty tough for you to get yourself relaxed enough to sleep but you conk out when you finally do!

5.  Crosbi:  You sure love your sister.  You also fight a lot with her, but I catch you holding hands and scheming up trouble together more often than not.  You two have given me a run for my money.  I may have lost a year or two off my life this year!  haha!

6. NO SHOES:  you never want to wear shoes.  You take them off everywhere and drive me nuts because we are constantly losing them...in stores or in public, all the sudden you are just barefoot.  

Ei yi yi!  I am trying to really drive home the importance of "no shoes, no shirt, no service" but you seem to be taking the Kenny Chesney approach of "no shoes, no shirt, no problem"! Ha!  Oh well, dirty Flinstone toes is what we have this summer for sure!

7. Your smile, dimple & giggle:  I mentioned these before but we love them!  When you bust them out they light up our house and we can't imagine it without them....YOU!  

Beanie, we love you so very much!  Your red hair, adorable freckles, precious 4 year old way of saying things and interpreting the world & silly giggle help make our world go round!  We pray for your life and for many many more reasons to celebrate it!  You are loved my sweet son!  

Happy 4th!

MOM                

Gluten free cake in what else...Chocolate!

Gluten free birthday donut (which you hated, so I bought you a real doughnut and you licked the frosting off of it...hey it's your birthday!!!)

LOVE this pic!  You'll always be my babe & my buddy!

You ate up every celebration you could get this year...loved being the bday boy!

Here's you with my stolen sun glasses.  You have started to ask for sunglasses this summer so I think that it must be true, red heads really are more sensitive to light and you might have a lot of glasses wearing in your future kiddo!

My handsome boys!

We love you Sawyer Richard.  

RICHARD2REFF

There certainly aren't words to describe this day...it was just as perfect as a day could get for my sister and I just soaked in every dreamy minute.  The weather was beautiful and all the details came together and the actual night of the wedding felt kind of like floating through a dream to me.  It was just so fun.  I was breathless at my sister in her dress, breathless as I entered the tent and saw my moms vision all set up and just delighted that the whole thing felt like you just had a giant warm chocolate chip cookie...just happy!  Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Reff!  Such a fun weekend and to many many more celebrations to come! 

I feel like I didn't take that many pictures no the actual wedding day, so I am pining for the photographer to get hers out, I didn't even get a good one of the kids...but I think she has one!  Here's just a brief overview in pictures on the weekend....

 

Because my mom can't help herself, even the lake house got some wedding love!

Al & Brian had all the kids over before the festivities got underway to give them their gifts.  There were 9 kids, so as you can guess...there was MASS CHAOS.  But it was a hoot and these guys definitely stole the show a lot of the weekend!  So precious!

C & Brian's nephew Evan sharing a snack at Stray Dog!

 

Beanie goes in for the smooch on the way to the Fiesta that the Bailin's hosted at their pool for Ali and Brian Thursday night!  There was games and friends and tacos!  What better way to kick off the weekend???

 

Some adorable Sapp girls and their mommas!

On Friday we had a beach day and lunch at my parents house during the day and then all got ready for the rehearsal that afternoon!  

Us with our momma

And the dinner was at a super cute restaurant called Frankies!  

Here's a shot of all of Ali & Bri's siblings...

And that brings us to the BIG day...

In the morning we all got hair makeup and dressed at the Bridesmaids house.  What else would we be wearing to do this than matching robes???!!!  That Al thinks of everything!

And then we got our sparkle on...

road the bus to the vineyard and let the fun begin...

They are all so precious, I'm melting!!!

And holding true to her style, their was obviously an after party!  

Let's do it again, OK?

Wish we had a rewind button for a few special events!

XOXO

Besides wedding bells we've been.....

Realizing our "baby" isn't such a baby...

Redoing some furniture...

 

Dining room chairs (I used a staple gun & drill all by myself...ha)

And fixing up C's room to be very girlie...perfect for our little tom boy!

Here's an old hutch of Ali's I painted for her clothes...

And speaking of C Lu...

 

We've been having such a fun summer watching her grow, hearing her vocabulary grow and seeing her "flex her muscles" on her opinions...she's got her own ideas folks!  I love having this snugly little buddy around.  She melts our hearts day in and day out!

I have found this to be SO VERY TRUE....

We snuck in a day date and lunched outside...

We celebrated our FAVORITE guy on Father's Day...

I had to show both of these to capture the full swing of emotions within seconds for Beanie!  Haha!

We have watched, sung and played a LOT of Frozen...

Got a lot of time in with this girl that we love....

We are learning the truth in this too...

We have made a few ok, maybe more than a few trips to get ice cream...

We have traveled to Michigan and spent time with the fam...

This is in DT Saint Joe

Beanie has realized that his tender red headed skin and light eyes need some extra care...

We had the chance to see some special friends...

(these two are my sorority sisters from college)

We started reading chapters of Harry Potter at night out loud to Griffin, and I don't know who is more taken...Griff, Ry or me???  Reading cred to Ryan for doing awesome voices...

Ryan and I ran in our first 10 K, the BIG 10 race in downtown Chicago!  And aside from a little incident with my diabetes it went awesome and was such a fun event.  The cherry on top??? Griff ran his first 5K and finished!  He was a rock star!

And...well, this picture seems to sum it up pretty well...

our summer has been nothing short of silly, crazy, mass chaos....

but we've been having a great time, enjoyed awesome weather 

& are doing our best to stay sane in the midst of it all.