It’s hard to believe that my sister has been married 25 years. It seems like just yesterday she was the miniature bride in my wedding. (photo below) Then again, it’s hard to believe that Bob and I have been married for almost 40 years. If I remember correctly, Rachel was one day older when she got married than I was when I got married. (How’s that for sounded redundant?” )
Actually, Rachel liked Allen way back when she was about 12 years old, I believe. One of them was throwing rocks at the other one .. hmmmm .. wonder which one! I won’t tell! I remember when Southerlands came to our home in Danville, IN for a cookout. It was obvious that she was in ‘love’ .. well, in a ‘puppy’ love sort of way. Who would have guessed that some time in the future they would truly fall in love and now have been committed to each other for well over half their lives.
As Rachel and Allen were preparing for their wedding, Rachel asked me to take the music of a song and add some words that she could sing to Allen during the wedding (he was not to hear them until during the wedding ceremony). Wow, what an undertaking. While I had taken a stab at poetry as a child, this was something a little out of reach. And I was a little nervous – their wedding would be attended by around 600 people (yes, 600). It was held the first Saturday (if I remember correctly) of the Midwest Pilgrim campmeeting. (A family wedding photo below)
So, I began to put words together – a few weeks ago, I found those words and in the process of doing some much needed spring cleaning, cannot remember where I put them. Maybe I should attribute that to simply getting ‘older’ .. I didn’t say ‘old’ .. not yet!!
We were living in Pennsylvania at the time of their wedding so we traveled to Indiana so I could help her get things all put together. I remember working on he veil and wondering if I could figure out how to cut it out correctly. I am always a little jittery when it comes to sewing – I have no clue why since I made many of my girls dresses as they were growing up but have never been the detailed seamstress Rachel is! But we got it done!! (It was a little easier than when my mother and I made my wedding dress with tiers of lace in less than 24 hours!)
Life hasn’t always been perfect for Allen and Rachel .. is it ever for anyone? I admired them when they traveled for around the first 15 years of their marriage in evangelism. That’s not easy to take 1 child, then 2 – and now 6. However, for the past ten years, Allen has served as pastor of Spiceland Church of the Nazarene near Muncie, Indiana. I doubt their church knows how blessed they are to have such talent! Pastoral ministry, music ministry, etc. Yes, Allen is a great speaker/preacher/pastor and is willing to venture out sometimes during his messages in areas where others might fear to tread!
I’m sure somewhere over the next few weeks, Rachel will pull out scrapbooks of their married life – she is the most organized person I know when it comes to journaling, photograph albums and scrap-booking! She has her own personal journal plus a journal for each of their children – I’m good to keep up with a blog! This is the most organized I have probably been – “ever”, at least for an extended period of time. Projects I can handle to completion but journaling somehow falls into “humdrum” and I’m not very good at a daily schedule. So, I’m afraid daily journaling and getting photos into albums falls into that category. However, with modern technology, I love being able to just uploading/downloading photos on my computer – that I can handle much more easily than putting them in books.
Rachel does all this in the middle of being a wife (and pastor’s wife at that), a home-schooling mom, a daughter (who carries the weight of my dad’s problems). (Feeding a family of 8 and keeping up with sports schedules and directing the local church quiz team adds other dimensions to her life!) There are times when I stand in awe of what all she gets done. She and Allen balance each other – she’s more reserved, Allen more out-going (who, Allen????) I’m always intrigued when she asks Allen to call the kids for dinner when he is standing nearby. Instead of going into the other room, he bellows, “Kids” .. and she looks at him as if to say, “I could have done that myself!” Well, probably not since her voice wouldn’t carry nearly as well.
Lest I focus all my attention on my little sis, please understand that Allen has always had a special place in our home. He and Bob always jockeyed for the “FIL” position with my mother – “Favorite In-Law” and joked about who had that place at any given time. Truth be known – they both did as was evidence by them both speaking at my mother’s memorial service. (This is a more recent photo of Rachel, Allen, Jene', Shara, Jimmy, Shaley, Juliana, & Seth Mark.)
Allen does a great job in pulling his weight as a dad – and in giving Rachel times of much needed rest – like sending her down to spend two weeks with me here in Florida a few years ago. Or unloading the dishwasher early in the morning – or doing the Sunday dishes. Oh, don’t worry – the kids all have their chores and pitch in but it ‘does my heart good’ to see Allen take his responsibility as a dad seriously. They recently spent 14 days together on vacation here in Florida and a few days with my brother, Tim, in Georgia. When you can spend that length of time together just as a family and live to tell about it (just kidding), you do have great relationships.
Back to their wedding day … It seems like just yesterday I was standing at the back of the church waiting with Rachel. She had done well emotionally until the last few moments when the emotions of a large church of people began to overwhelm her and for a little while, tears flowed. But, then it was my turn to walk down the very long aisle at the chapel at Anderson College. She followed with my dad – and soon after, began to sing these words – faltering for a few moments after the second phrase. (I’m missing one of the verses and may have a few of the words/choruses mixed up – my memory just couldn’t pull it all together after 25 years).
So, Happy 25th Anniversary Allen and Rachel! You are special and we love you!
“I’m Going to Love You”
As I stand at this altar and I pledge my love to you,
In God’s presence we our hearts and lives unite;
It’s been God’s sweet providence that has brought us to this place,
So this will be my promise through my life ..
I’m going to love you, I’m going to trust you,
I’m going to love you all of my life;
I’m going to love you, I’m going to trust you,
I’m going to love you all of my life.
I will stand right beside you as your helpmate every day,
All your joys and your sorrows I will share:
I will be your companion, your wife and your best friend
And together, this will be our prayer.
We’re going to love Him, We’re going to trust Him,
We’re going to serve Him all of our lives;
We’re going to love Him, We’re going to trust Him,
We’re going to serve Him all of our lives.
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