I know many of you may feel like I’ve dropped off the face of the earth, but I promise you I have not. In fact, there have been so many things that have taken place since I have left Swaziland. With that said, I have fallen three months behind in blogging, and I ask you to bear with me as I catch you up and try to return to a normal blogging rhythm. To make it easier, I’ll just take you month by month.
November:
I left Swaziland on Saturday, Nov 6th, bound for the US for an indefinite amount of time. My flight out of Swaziland [to South Africa] was delayed almost an hour because the runway had to be cleared for the king of Swaziland to arrive. He came, with all the pomp and circumstance to accompany his status. I was struck by how the people practically worshiped him, and I must say a level of rebellion rose up within me.
Anyway, nine others and I arrived in South Africa with only fifteen minutes to make our flight to the US. 
We were met by an airport attendant, and literally ran through the terminals to make our flight. Unfortunately, our bags didn’t get the opportunity to run. We landed in DC eighteen hours later with our luggage still comfortably in the South African airport. It was by far one of my more eventful flights.
I spent the first few days home lounging around my house lazily, and talking with Nick (who was still overseas) whenever he was available. Much of our conversation was regarding our future wedding, and by that Wednesday, the 11th, we realized the traditional engagement was not for us. We strongly believed God had greater plans for us, that involved us moving the wedding date up significantly. So we settled on Nov 29th and began making plans immediately.
The next two and a half weeks are still a bit of a blur in my memory. I flew out to Cincinnati that Saturday (the 14th) to meet up with some of Nick’s community of friends. Having never met any of them was a bit intimidating, but Nick was pretty confident we would get along well. I was only there four days, but we were able to put together ninety-percent of the wedding plans–the venue, decorations, linens, place settings, the food, a cake, etc. I still look back and am amazed.
I flew out to DC to pick up Nick’s car and drive that back to Pennsylvania where he would arrive at the start of the following week. My brother and I celebrated our 27th and 25th birthdays, respectively, on the 19th, and it was great to spend a few more days with my family before Nick arrived home.
On the 23rd, Nick finally arrived back in the states after his eleven-month World Race trip. I picked him up at the JFK airport in New York, and we headed directly to Cincinnati to celebrate Thanksgiving with some of his family and friends, and finalize any last minute items for the wedding.
Our wedding took place on Sunday, November 29th, and I can honestly say that it was the happiest day of my life. We were legally wed at a Starbucks (cue the laughter) in Kentucky, just inside the Ohio border. We had to do it that way because of our officiant and license issues. We had our ceremony in Cincinnati, Ohio later that day, though. It was amazing, and we were so grateful for all of the hands that helped make it such an incredible day for us.
