Our 15th Wedding Anniversary

Today marks the 15th anniversary of our wedding day! In looking back at our wedding photos, we are amazed and humbled by the "old" friends and family members who still remain at our sides today. We are not worthy of their love. We are incredibly blessed! THANK YOU!

For better or worse, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health......Shayne & Angela, November 30, 1991


Left to right: Aunt V, Becky B., Melissa B., Lora W., Amanda and Aunt Tina (Angela & Shayne) Steve, Josh, Gil, Irv, Riley & Tom with the little one in the front being the now 17 year old Cousin Ashley!

Our Dads! It's hard to believe my father (left side) died before we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I trust he and Christi are enjoying God's kingdom together.



Our Moms! Joan (left) and Carolyn in 1991, Grandma Nee Nee and Grandma Nonee in 2006!


I did it! I made it through an entire blog entry without mentioning "Christi". I guess I'll have to wait until next time to write about the moving events we encountered when we went to visit Christi's grave yesterday - incredibly sweet and also "moving"! Oh, I guess since I mentioned "CT" I'll go ahead and paste a holiday picture here too - isn't she a darling?!! This bias mom thinks so!

Dec. 2001 (age 4) She always treasured all of her little beanie babies.









Now I'm on a roll.......here's a Christi's Funny:

This summer I decided to try to lose "15 pounds in 15 weeks for our 15th wedding anniversary". After Christi was diagnosed I started drinking soda for the first time in my life. (See what living in the east coast has done to me? "Soda" means "pop" for all my other friends, hee hee). I also started sitting around more than I had ever before. Needless to say, over four years, I added at least ten pounds. With our upcoming wedding anniversary in mind, I started my diet - 15 lbs., 15 weeks, 15th anniversary. While no one went starving this summer the meals I cooked were basically non-existent. After Christi listened in church about the importance of families eating meals together you can bet I heard all about that. I could only respond, "Sure, but he isn't trying to squeeze back into his wedding dress to surprise his husband!" That got a big laugh out of Christi. She had so much fun last September standing on a chair and pretending to be "the bride" wearing my lovely wedding dress. She even held my beautiful silk flower boquet Shayne's mother and her friend Carol made for me - as they did all of our wedding flowers. What a glorious day!! (Another Christi Funny: During my diet this summer, while complaining how hard dieting was she would often say, "Mom, the hardest part isn't losing the weight, it's keeping it off." Like the skinny-mini would know! Of course I'd only laugh and tell her she was probably right.)


Yesterday at the cemetary we first stopped by my Grandpa and Grandma Smith's graves. On the eve of our anniversary, I shared with Shayla that my grandma died just eleven days after our wedding and I've always felt that she must have been just hanging in there to witness us say our vows. We returned home a week later from our wedding trip and learned that she had just been admitted to the hospital. On the day she was to be discharged, I sat in our apartment writing thank you notes for the lovely wedding gifts we had received when my mom called to tell me the news that grandma had died instead of coming home. Because I was worried about her health upon returning from our trip, I wrote her thank you note a day earlier and stuck it in the mail. I've never asked my mom - as I still don't want to know, but I'm willing to bet mom still has the thank you note I wrote to grandma. I've always been bothered that grandma didn't receive it and didn't know how much I loved the blanket she crocheted for us! At age 70 she died entirely too young. Now I imagine Christi sitting on her lap and eating her wonderful graham crackers (Why did they always taste better at grandmas?!) and singing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" to her, just like she used to do to me. I also think that if there is a "Sea World" in Heaven, she's must be riding in grandma and grandpa's little tiny car going with them on a fun filled day! I'll write later about what was discovered at the cemetary yesterday- amazing!