These past two years have been so packed with events it's going to a bit of an overload!
As you all know we exchanged our vows before our family and the Lord on February 17th, 2007!
Unfortunalty, we were not able to invite many of our dear friends due to a budget and our large families. Brent's side alone has well over 75 extended family members! With both sides of our families- plus guests, well, I am sure you all understand that we wish you could have joined us but are so grateful to have you all in our lives! Our friends are very important to us both!
After our perfect wedding on the beach, which those of you who doubt sunshine on a Feb wedding at the beach-----it was most defenitley 80* degrees and amazing! God is good and provided us with an answer to our faith in his glory! :).
Directly from the wedding we drove to LA where we flew out to our dream Honeymoon. I can not even explain how amazing it is when you have two Adventurous spirits back packing in through unknown territory. So Amazing!
Favorite Honeymoon Memories: (In Order of Destinations)
San Pedro, Belize-
The Beach!The sand is white crushed shell & beautiful! We kayaked, snorkled, dove and caught Conche shells... just gorgeous.
Central America also has an annual celebration of life with paint spraying. The locals will fill water bottles, spray bottles...etc., with any kind of paint: Acrylic, water base, non-waterbase...whatever, and spray everyone around! Fortunatley we found a way to stear away from that. More importantly, we managed to escape two young boys who wanted to egg the tourists, or "gringos", looking at us. Good thing Crisha knows Spanish and was able to tell Brent what the little painted boys were talking baout when staring at them.
Brent to Crisha "let's walk a little faster".
Tikal, Guatemala-
The Temples of Tikal are Truely MAGNIFICENT! I am pretty sure the only remarks we made through out our entire expedition of them were claims of our admiration, in fact if you have to chose a place for a vacation- you HAVE to see the temples.
Can you believe that they are believed to be created soley by man power, obsidian & limestone?
And, of course, how can you leave the Rainforest of Tikal without Ziplining through it?
Florence, Guatemala-
We really loved the culture. You will never meet people who are so genuinley caring and kind. The colors too. Guatemala believe everything should be livley like springtime, even the colors of their houses are beautiful...tourqouise, red, orange...etc. We bought some woven blankets and scarves that now accompany our house to make it to like springtime.
Mountain Pine Ridge, Belize-
This was our favorite place, and the one place we can not wait until our return! The Mountain Pine Ridge is exception in the fact that it has a blend of ecosystems due to limestone deposits in its forest land. It covers 300 sq feet and we tried to see as much as we could!
Thousand Foot Falls, Butterfly Falls we hiked everywhere!
But, of course, Brent's favorite memory would be carrying Crisha on his back to dinner on unlit paths. Crisha didn't want to step on any scorpians with sandeled feet.
Crisha "How embarressing."
Dangriga, Belize-
This place has the worst food but the best water rec. We were blessed enough to snorkel in the longest reef in the world!!! Brent even jumped in the water with a Carribean Stingray! (Crazy Schuler)
Pregnancy
So, 4 months after we were married we found out that we were 2 months pregnant! It was surreal how God created a miracle from our love for one another. In fact, it didn't seem real at all that there was a small human being inside until he came out!We would sing to Ezekiel, pray over him, watch him move inside... watch Crisha's belly grow, and before we really understood we were going to be parents soon- out came this little baby boy. With Daddy's smile and Mommy's eyes. Of course, with both of our hearts in the palm of his hand.
Walt Disney World
Besides spending our first year of marriage in Belize, Guatemala, Las Vegas, Arizona, LA, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, AZ, & moving 5 times ( another story completley which we will have visit another time as well)... we were able to visit the place commonly known as "the Happiest Place on Earth". (And it earns it's name quite well!) DISNEY WORLD!!!
We had such a blast hanging out with extended family; Mom & Dad Schuler, Joel & Jen's Family, Allan & his girlfriend Amanda, Jennalee, Collin, Aunt Linda & Uncle Steve's Family, Grandpa Collin, & Rob and Lisa'a Family!!!! It was great! Granite we couldn't always keep up with Crisha being 8 months pregnant, but really there is no place better to be when you're 8 months prego.
Fondest Memories
Going into Pre-term Labor: Maybe not the fondest, but certainly the most memorable! At Epcot Center Brent, Mom, Dad & Joel had to run Crisha to the local hospital. Timing what Crisha thought were just common discomforts, but were in actuallity contractions. 4 minutes apart! Upon arrival at the hospital, they were 2 minutes apart! The nurse told us if we weere maybe 2 hours later we would have left with a baby.
Ezekiel was almost named Mickey.
Crisha in a wheel chair: Nothing gave Brent more satisfaction that he could take care of Crisha while she had to listen and stay in the wheel chair! :)
Of course hanging out with everyone in the park.. there's just too many memories to recall all.
The Birth of Ezekiel Brent Schuler
Brent and Crisha were rockstars! Brent coached Crisha through 22 hours of Medication free labor! (This is with potossen induced labor too) At the end of this period, however, Crisha had not dialated and needed to relax so we opted for the epidural. Two hours later, out came the most beautiful liitle miracle. Our little miracle.
This is where we'll leave you for now. We will post a new blog soon on the "Ezekiel Adventure" from birth to current.
Psalm 36:5
