It was time to start getting ready… The boys headed off to the top of the Gondola a bit earlier than the girls so they could set up the cameras and find a spot tucked away from the crowds. We had tried for months to find a photographer and even tried to gift airline miles to our amazing photographer friend, but nothing had worked out. Josh was amazing in finding what equipment we would need to be able to capture as much as we could on our own. So the guys had a bunch of stuff to set up. Plus, let’s be honest, it took the girls longer to get ready haha. Holly and I went downstairs to ask our AirBnB hosts if we could cut some flowers (see, I’m not TOO terrible of a 
person). They were SOOO helpful! They got two beautiful bouquets for us and even offered to drive us to the gondola so that we didn’t have to take public transit or get a cab all dressed up. SO SWEEEET!
When Holly and I showed up to get our tickets up the gondola EVERYONE was staring! Here we were, all dressed up, flowers in hand… It was OBVIOUS we were doing something special. The guy at the desk asked what we were doing and I said, we were renewing our vows… He said, “oh, you two?” (meaning me and Holly 😂). “OH, no, our husbands are at the top waiting for us” was my blushed response. Then I realized why everyone was staring at us. They thought Holly and I were a couple haha! (which is oddly not the first time we have been asked that). The gondola was a HUGE step for Holly. See, she is my complete opposite in so many ways… and an adventure puts her WAY out of her comfort zone… But she does these kinds of things because she loves me so much. She was legit freaking out on the ride up the side of the mountain. To be fair, that sucker goes FAST and SUPER steep! We jumped off the gondola (yes, you kinda have to just leap) and made our way to the boys.
They were almost done setting up, but there was one issue… We didn’t realize that there was a downhill luge track going down most of the available area. The guys had looked around for a while, but the wind was too whipping on the back side of the mountaintop. They found a great spot, but the luge would have people screaming in delight every few minutes. Our video would then have some interesting background noise… But, we just decided to roll with it. The video equipment delay ended up being another blessing in disguise though. Right as the video stuff was ready… the luge operating hours ended!! AND the sun started to set. So we were able to start the ceremony without the background noise AND the sky was streaming with beautiful pinks and purples. One more problem though… There was a group of 10-12 people who were all laughing, carrying on, and NOT leaving the luge. So up steps awesome Holly to go chat with them and tell them we were about to have a private ceremony and if they wouldn’t mind chatting somewhere else. They thought it was super cool and asked to stay! So we now had a small crowd of witnesses (not that this was a legal thing as we have been legally married for 10 years).
As most of these types of events go, I actually don’t remember all the words spoken. But thankfully Myke had everything written down on our fancy electronic devices, so here were the words spoken…
New Vows
JOSH
There never seems to be enough time or words to accurately describe what you mean to me. That may also be in part too, that im not naturally gifted with giving words of affirmation.
But today is different. Today marks a new beginning. today marks a new time. Today is a new day, a new year, a new experience.
I choose to give you my new commitment first for a few different reasons. Ive struggled to lead our family, to take initiative, to take the first step and actually lead. To truly lead you, my wife, and now, our four beautiful daughters in this crazy journey called life. While I’ve grown to be better at this in the past few years, I am committing to step out and be better at leading our family from here forward.
We have been through the toughest of times and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone… but im not sure that I would change it either. had it not been for what we have gone through we most likely would not be standing here at this very moment… on top of a beautiful mountain.
I believe that mountains are significant to life principles and they are significant in painting a picture of what our life has been. There are small ones, big ones, ones with rolling hills, and ones with jagged rocks. Each are challenging to climb in their own way but beautiful nonetheless. We have had our fair share of mountains to climb in our life.
I truly believe God orchestrated for us to change our date, create the opportunity for time in Queenstown, and even more… place us on a mountain.
Mountains speak to our soul and make us feel alive. God planned that before we were ever in existence.
To top it off, your new rings symbolizing our new commitment… is a mountain range. The silver ring is a much denser metal symbolizing the tough path that we’ve been on. And the gold, a beautiful, softer, more precious metal symbolizes that God is in control and will continue to bless us if we put Him first and then each other.
So today, January 1st, 2018 with rings representing where we came from and how we are living our life forward, I give to you a new commitment. A commitment to be faithful, to love you, to honor you, to work on growing myself and to be the man that God intended me to be.
JEN
Josh. We have been to hell and back in our marriage. On the day we first made our commitment to one another ten years ago we signed up for better or worse and we have definitely seen our fair share of both.
But we have also seen something blossom in us that few people ever get to experience. I have seen you turn into the man that I always knew you could be. I have seen you fight satan with the sword of truth that came through leaning into Christ in a way that I have never seen anyone else do. I have seen you CHOOSE to love me when I was hateful and unloveable. I have seen you put your own pride aside too many times to count.
Are you perfect? No. But neither am I. I am the most blessed woman in the whole world to have a husband that continually chooses me even when the “feeling” isn’t always there. That is so much more important to me that having a “lovey dovey” fake feeling. The choice and the action have such greater significance.
I am most excited about the people we have both become over the last several years of our marriage. I am excited to see where these new people are going in their lives and I am excited that I get to be the woman by your side as you continue to grow into the best version of Josh that you will be.
I love you. I commit myself to you. I commit to stop having divorce on the table. I commit to the choice of loving you everyday for the rest of my life. I commit to trying my hardest to put my own pride aside. I will fail you at times. But I commit to keep God right here with us to pick me back up when I do fail you and to allow God to work in me as only he can. I commit to becoming the best version of your wife that I can be.
Thank you for loving me when I was unlovable and staying by my side through all the hard times we have been through. I commit to fight for our marriage until the very end.
As we were starting to say our vows I heard the “click, click” of a camera. I glanced in the corner of my eye and saw one of the guys from that group of people had a fancy camera and was taking pictures! God had provided for my desire to have a photographer. See, I NEVER look at my wedding pictures (again, another story for another day) and I REALLY wanted good pictures to be able to print, look at, and cherish! After we were done Nicolas (photographer) offered to take some pictures for us! We walked around the other side of the luge and it was a SUPER moon that was rising out of the sunset colored sky! It was breathtaking!
So my “not so perfect day” ended up being one of the most perfect days of my life. We made our way back down the mountain to finish off the day with what we had hoped would be a nice dinner… but oddly enough, most of the restaurants had closed! So, rather than steak and lobster filling our bellies, we found a little hole in the wall place that served some of the best pizza I can remember. It’s funny how we can have the most thought out plans and think that its the only way for that event to go right, but because things went “wrong” God had given us some very special moments and circumstances to be able to have a day to remember for a lifetime.
We had the amazing privilege to take a trip with our very best friends, Myke and Holly. They stood by us through some amazingly tough times and when we decided we were going to renew our vows, we knew we wanted them by our side. Both couples were able to find childcare for our combined 8 children (yes, yes, I know we are all crazy) and off on this crazy adventure to New Zealand we went.
stop… which was “just down the street” from our place… and WOW it sure was DOWN from where we were staying. We walked up a VERY steep street all the way up to our place… It took about a half hour, HAHA, in the heat, when I already had my hair fixed for the vow renewal later that day LOL. Seriously, we were all DRENCHED in sweat when we got there. It was then that we decided we might need to call a cab to take us later for the vow renewal.