What a crazy year! I've never experienced so many ups and downs. We began last January by flying home from New Zealand and getting stuck in Fiji for the day. Not a bad place to be stuck.
The rest of January flew by as we decided on a wedding location, picked a date, celebrated Cindy's 28th Birthday and prayed about where to go to church.
February was much the same and we just enjoyed being engaged.
In March our sisters, Katie and Kate, threw us a super fun engagement party.
April came and we decided to make a Pavlova for Easter.
We Skyped Mum to make sure we had a truly authentic kiwi pav when we found out Dad was sick and would be taking some tests at the hospital.
We learned a lot over the next few months about the grace and love of God. The wedding became insignificant as Dad's health seemed to grow worse daily. First we got the news of cancer, then found out it was lung cancer, and finally, the first week of June, found out that a brain tumor had been discovered.
Things seemed to come apart; Cindy's summer job fell through due to the bad economy, Tony lost a friend in Northern California in a bad accident, it seemed highly likely that Jude and Norm wouldn't make it for the wedding, and we felt that being apart from them during all this was too much. So we packed our bags and headed off to Auckland returning only two weeks before the wedding!
The Body of Christ is an amazing organism and we were blessed to see it work in a way we'd never seen before. People began to pray for Dad's health and salvation all over the world. We were constantly getting e-mails, calls and visits from people wanting to pray with us and for us and ask how they could help with the wedding. Talk about being loved by others!
There were some fun times too. Wedding showers and family holiday's were even more special.
Tony cooked a roast lamb for Mother's Day that still has the Stuck family drooling for more!
He found ton's of enjoyment playing soccer, and still faithfully plays each Saturday.
We found out Mike and Kate would be having another baby in November, and the Wayne and Leonie would be building a house in Hastings. Of course, we were still very excited about our upcoming marriage and Tony worked to ready the house for his new bride by remodeling the bathroom and painting the bedroom, hall and front room.
We spent a very special few weeks with Dad and the rest of the Kuypers family at the end of June. We laughed and cried and prayed with our family and saw a change in Dad's spirit as he came to know, understand and believe in what Jesus Christ did- "that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved."
Then came THE WEDDING!
What a special time it was to have Kuypers and Stucks (and Hedges, Wales, Timms, Hitchcocks, etc) all together. We pretty much spent the whole week running around like crazy, shopping, eating, going to the airport, and had a fabulous time together.
We had quite an unconventional Rehearsal Dinner with 30+ people eating pizza on blankets and camping chairs in the Stuck's backyard.
Actually, the rehearsal dinner was almost more fun than the wedding as we were so relaxed visiting with our favorite people from (literally) all over the world.
The wedding itself was an incredible blessing. I've never been to such a beautiful wedding! The weather, the setting, the food, the people, the pinata, the music.... it was such a great party. Even Daddy Dan was spotted bustin' a move on the dance floor at one point.
Then we were off to Mexico on our Honeymoon cruise for some much-needed relaxation. God was so good to give us a great week together.
Two weeks after the wedding Norm passed away and we were back to New Zealand for a very special funeral for a much-loved Father. We ended our time (as we usually do) with a great big fried food fest- Fish and chips (regular potato and sweet potato chips). There really is nothing like this in the US.
September brought the start to Cindy's 8th year teaching at Carden, and a bit of respite as we fell into a routine. We stayed home and enjoyed each other through October.
November had a bit more zing to it as Tony celebrated his (gulp) 39th Birthday,
Mike and Kate welcomed Baby Dylan into the family,
and we celebrated Thanksgiving in Fallbrook.
December was a very special time of enjoying each other's company, eating WAY too much, and spending day after day with family- whether in person or via Skype.
2009 may not have been the year we thought it would be, but it turned out pretty special. We can't wait to see how God will work in our lives in 2010!
