Where you go I'll go

One of my all time favorite series is the classic Little House on the Prairie (I also adore the television version of it, even if it completely digresses from the books.) I've read all the books multiple times, and one of the most pivotal moments in the series for me as a young girl, was when Laura and Almanzo are talking about their wedding--prairie fashion.  It's a rather unromantic and practical conversation, but during it Almanzo assures Laura that he asked the minster to not include "obey" in Laura's vows. Just a little strike for equality right there.
That line started my obsession with wedding vows (I think I was born with an obsession with weddings) and I've always been fascinated with the vows couples choose.

Stephen and I chose to use the standard "church vows" because I've always loved the rhythm and tradition in those vows. It was fun learning that there are two sets of vows: the "I dos" and "I wills" and it was absolutely exhilarating to repeat them after the pastor, while gazing into each other's eyes.  There's something so reassuring about saying the vows that thousands of couples have said before you. Not to mention, I love the rigidity and honesty found in those vows. "In sickness and in health...'til death do us part." It leaves no room for vapid romanticism fizzling into annoyance and then an angry divorce five years later. There's no "I love you so much and you are my world", just "I am your life partner, and you're stuck with me" but in a nice way. ;)  It's romance in the purest sense of the world.

You should laugh a lot during your wedding ceremony to make up for the fact that you bawled on the way down the aisle. Plus, getting married is fun, and you can't have fun without laughing. 

I love the cross over us. So symbolic. So right. So perfect.

If I could get married again (to Stephen, of course)I would add on to the vows. It would not be feathery sentiments from my love-addled brain, but words crafted in loyalty, love, honor and written in that book that is the greatest of all.

Where you go, I'll go,

and

where you stay, I"ll stay. 

Your people will be my people

and

Your God will be my God

Ruth actually says this to Naomi in Ruth 1:16, when Naomi is planning on leaving Moab and going home. This passage is always trumpeted as a tribute to Ruth's faith, and as it is the words of a daughter (in law) to a mother (in law) it's not in the Christian canon of wedding verses. 

I'd forgotten about this verse, until I caught myself telling my husband this whenever we discussed the future. Uprooting one's self from family, friends, a hometown is hard, painful work. Following one's spouse to the ends of the earth can be exhausting and trying and requires the greatest love and loyalty. So does staying with one's spouse in a uncomfortable location. My parents moved around the country several times every year for the first four years of their marriage. By the time they finally settled, they had three kids. My maternal grandmother held down the home front, in whatever country or state the Army sent them, while my Grandpa served as an Army Chaplain, all while raising five children. As an airman's wife, I have to be prepared to move, settle, or be content to stay anywhere the Air Force wills.

Where you go, I'll go. Where you stay, I'll stay. 

The second promise, the one where Ruth claims Naomi's people is also one that young brides (and grooms) should take to heart. Like I've mentioned many, many times, I have a huge family. Not just siblings, but cousins, aunts, and uncles and a litany of assorted relatives. I really don't need more.
But when I married Stephen, I took on his family, too. It became my family. And he took on mine.  It can be challenging, and sometimes we've both felt like a visitor in a foreign land. Seriously, why is everyone laughing? It's worth it, though.

Someone recently asked my seven year old brother how many brothers he had, and he instantly replied four--which is the number he has including Stephen.

Your people will be my people.

The third promise, I believe, can give direction and union to a marriage and to a family.

Your God will be my God.

There are some in the Christian world who write and speak great tomes on the importance of male headship in everything. Unfortunately, this has lead to the idea that the husband is in charge of the wife's spiritual well being. Or, if a woman is unmarried, it is her father. I believe that this idea goes against the Bible and everything that Christianity is: The worship of the one Triune God by a personal, vibrant relationship with one's Heavenly Father, a soul saved by the sacrifice of the Son, and a person walking in the light and listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. My soul isn't less of a soul because it is female in desperate need of male headship. 
However, while I believe explicitly and passionately in the independence and personal aspect of our faith, I also believe just as passionately that it is important for man and wife to be unified in this manner. In faith, in denomination, in theological viewpoints. If Stephen and I are unified in our religious beliefs, then our children have a better chance of growing in a healthy Christian environment,  of learning to love Jesus and not the law, of wanting to go to church every Sunday.

"Your God will be my God."

When my sisters, cousins, and friends get married,  I will definitely be waving this verse under their noses. ;)

On an unrelated, super vain, yet very newlywed note...our thank you cards came in! I'm too much a non-conformist and generally far too stubborn to write thank you notes to a guest list of nearly five hundred people.

So this was my adorable, trendy solution. Huge thank you to my amazing, talented husband for designing this whole thing.

Of course I'm going to give you the Instagram version

You can't see it here, but there's an "SM" watermark, just like on our invitation

(follow me on instagram! i'm susa_mau)

This way I don't have to write hundreds upon hundreds of thank yous, which I admit, I would give up on before I finished. And people get a cute Susie+Stephen picture with a thank you note that's styled after the theme of our wedding invitations. 

Oh, and it's crooked because it's propped against my legs because our kitchen table is now the gaming desk.

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