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Ranch wedding with German food & a team of horses

Filed Under: America's Farm Table, Family Values, Life in North Dakota Tagged With: , , , , 6 Comments

The girls and I got all gussied up in our best boots for a ranch wedding of friends yesterday afternoon. 

My friend Sarah was the photographer at the wedding and borrowed by camera for her husband to use as a second camera. So I snapped away this weekend on my iPhone and had quite fun editing on the phone.

The wedding was meaningful and beautiful. It was the wedding of our friends Rocky and Kelly. Rocky aka Mr. Brown is Hunter’s FFA adviser and teacher.

Kelly is a friend and mom to Mr. B who is in Miss E’s pre-school class. Mr. B walked his mama down the aisle with her parents following, which was in the yard of Kelly’s family ranch. 
And I cried. 

Blended family weddings draw a few extra tears of joy for me as six years ago Hunter and me became a family with Nathan.

So much has changed in six short years but it has been the most rewarding years of my life. Life is full of challenges for all of us. But sticking through it all with deep faith to find love and joy is what life is all about I think.

It filled me with great emotion and joy to see another new family formed with a young boy and two outgoing individuals at Kelly and Rocky’s wedding.

Another special moment was watching my husband talk to his mentor and all time favorite teacher, Mr. V. Mr. V gave Nathan confidence as a junior high kid when no one else had. 23 years later, he is still indebted to Mr. V. It reminded me that daily we never know who we are impacting. I heard Nathan tell Mr. V “thank you” and “you probably don’t know what you did for me…” I kept my sunglasses up to avoid showing more tears. 
One thing about a ranch wedding in our corner of the North Dakota prairie is the food is authentically Germans from Russia fare. Hunter and his fellow FFA chapter members served the food at the wedding. Homemade strudels, beef tips and gravy, potato salad, pickles and kuchen. The cupcakes I suppose weren’t authentically heritage food. But they were high end quality with the best strawberry frosting and cake I’ve ever tasted. And I’ve eaten my share of pink cake in my lifetime.
By far the highlight of the ranch wedding for Miss A, age three, was the team of horses she spotted giving rides.
As a family we got into the wagon for a ride. Riding in between fields, Mr. Becker turned around and said, “Anika, do you want to sit up front with us?” Then he handed Miss A the reins. She may never be the same. With no fear she took the reins to the team of horses and turned to Mr. and Mrs. Becker and said, “I need my own pony AND horse!” Mrs. Becker said, “You might as well go for both big ticket items first!” 
My Grandpa Howard died when I was Anika’s age. He collected antique wagons and buggies and raised horses.  Once again, my eyes welled up with tears with my sunglasses protecting from others seeing the joy I felt. I hope Grandpa Howard was watching from above last night and smiling to see Anika with the reins.

The sunset last night as we pulled into our yard after the ranch wedding, reception and ride. I couldn’t help but stop to soak it in and feel fulfillment and joy in all the blessings that surround us.

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