Just Married!!!

The wedding was beautiful! Many thanks to all who were thinking of us and praying for us yesterday. The ceremony in the City Hall was nice, but most special was the service in the church. The acoustics in the building were magnificent. We walked into the church to "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," and then sang several congregational songs. The music and voices blended so nicely in the building; the atmosphere was very worshipful and wonderful. Bro. David Eijbersen preached a fine sermonette, and the wedding ceremony went well. At the end of the ceremony, Liesbeth and I knelt at the old-style prayer bench in the front of the church; our fathers came forward and joined Bro. David as he prayed a blessing over us. He really prayed; it was a special time. Then he presented us to the church as Mr. and Mrs. Rapp Crook. I looked back at him rather alarmed ... he'd forgotten the kiss! But that problem was happily remedied, and we were presented more officially as husband and wife to the family and friends gathered together.
Liesbeth and I went with the photographer to a beautiful rose garden in Boskoop (a town nearby Waddinxveen) for pictures. The garden was beautiful. (Pictures will be forthcoming.) Then, we went on to the reception and feast. Her family and friends had prepared a number of special songs and skits that were truly hilarious. (My favorite was Johan and Suzanne's parody of the two of us ... Johan wearing a sweater vest and bushy black, twitching eyebrows!) Mom and Dad had also made a slide show of pictures from Oct 20 1981 to the present. It was a very nice evening.
A very special treat was the car lent to us for the day. Our car for the wedding day was black Lexus convertible (I think an LS or ES 350, or something close to that model number). Boy, was that fun to drive! Liesbeth wanted the top up to protect her hair, but we still managed to have a few moments with the roof down. (That's another picture to come ... an especially nice one should be of the car and us in the rose garden!)
This will be the last post for the next 10-14 days. I won't get out of the habit of writing ... I enjoy it, and also seeing the posts of those who read. So we'll look forward to resuming the conversation in a few weeks.