And the Panic Sets In... The Rehearsal

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So, Thursday was a stressful day. Most weddings that I've been in or experienced, always have a day that is just downright crazy. For us, this was Thursday. The madness actually began Wednesday night, when in the process of Dave moving from North Liberty to Waterloo, his U-haul broke down, in the parking lot of a Fazolli's, with all his earthly belongings. That little detail, set a million new details into motion and after lots of phone calls and lots of waiting, the poor groom did not arrive in town until much, much later than he had planned. His unpacking turned into more of a "throw everything off the truck into the new house" and Jennie didn't get to spend much time seeing him until it was very, very late. Travis also arrived that night, actually Thursday morning, around 1:30am, after driving through some horrible Iowa storms. We all went to bed very late, knowing we were going to be running from the minute we woke up Thursday morning to the minute we went to bed Thursday night. I remember falling asleep Wednesday night thinking, "Wow, it's really raining hard outside...hope everything's ok." But I somehow managed to roll over and fall asleep. Little did I know that as it turned out, everything was not ok.

One of my favorite things about Thursday morning, was that I was going to get to see my little Olivia again! For those of you who are new to my blog, Olivia is the little sweetie I nannied for in North Carolina, while Travis was in Seminary. She was 4 months old when I started and 2 1/2 when I left. She is PRECIOUS to Travis and I, as well as to our whole family. Her parents are dear, sweet friends of ours and when Jennie called to ask if Olivia wanted to be her flower girl, they graciously agreed to come to Iowa for the big day. We couldn't wait to see them!! Unfortunately, when we woke up, the day quickly began to unravel.

Because of the nasty storms Iowa is currently plagued with, the hard rains once again, flooded my parent's basement. Thankfully not as bad as last time, but enough to keep my parents busy early in the morning, sucking water off the floor. That morning the guys were all supposed to play golf, but when my Dad called the golf course to make sure they could still play, he found out that all the courses in the area were so saturated, that they weren't allowing play until much later in the day and they weren't allowing carts either. Then the bad news came. I called Charlie and Annette (Olivia's parents), who were supposed to land in Waterloo at 11:30 pm on Wednesday night, to make sure they'd made it, and much to our dismay, they had not. Apparently, because the storm was so bad, they made it to Waterloo, but couldn't land, so they circled for an hour and then had to fly back to Minneapolis. They didn't get to their hotel until 3 am and they wouldn't be arriving in Waterloo until 3pm that day...just hours before the rehearsal. We were so sad for them, what a horrible and traumatic flight experience and that sent all of us over the edge. We sort of had to have a re-grouping and then we just made a new plan for the day. Everything turned out fine, they made it and we were able to see them for a little bit before the rehearsal. The rehearsal went well, Travis and another Pastor Ben, were tag-teaming the ceremony, so I was a little stressed about that, but we got through it and we were able to go to the dinner and just relax. The day ended well and Jennie and Dave were officially thrilled to be spending their last night alone!! We all fell into bed that night, praying for good weather and God's blessing on the next big day.