A friend from Texas had taken these pictures at our wedding and I finally found the blogspot so I could copy/paste them here. Below are a few pictures she took that day. Also, I copied and pasted the email she had on her blog too...brought back good memories. :)
From: David CarrollSent: Monday, August 28, 2006 12:16 PM
Subject: Brad and Maddie's wedding
Dear Family,Greetings from beautiful Billings, MT!Yesterday was a glorious day of new beginnings for our Brother Brad and our Sister Maddie (aka Mr. and Mrs. Brad Fox:)The wedding was awesome! Picture a freshly painted quaint little red farm house with bright white trim on top of a shady, grassy hill. Scattered behind the farm house and nestled between the many shade trees is an old garage with a lot of character and a tool shed of equal grace. Both had been lovingly painted with the same red and white as the farm house. In the distance is a big red barn, just like the kind you see on calendar pages. It did not get a fresh coat of paint because Maddie's Dad and Mom didn't have time to get that one done with all the other preparations of the wedding. This farm has a creek flowing through the east and west boundaries of the property. Sounds just like Dallas doesn't it? :)Now proceed down the stairs of the back deck of the farm house and down the gently sloping grassy hill to the tree-lined pasture below, and you've got the perfect place for a wedding! It was there that we worked feverishly on Friday setting up the 250 folding chairs, putting up the decorations on the gazebo and the platform (where bride and groom "tied the knot" before Jesus and us), lining tables with table cloths, and doing anything else that needed doing.The wedding ceremony itself was even more awesome than the setting! The Lord was there in power and you could sense His presence from the initial worship song until the final recessional! The wedding message was shared and the Gospel was clearly preached by Maddie's pastor, Chris Hallock. And Brad's father, an ordained pastor himself, led Brad and Maddie through the vows. It was a very God-honoring and Spirit-filled ceremony (at one point, while a hymn was being sung, Brad and Maddie had a time of prayer as a couple. During another song, Brad, Maddie and their parents all gathered together under the gazebo arm in arm for family prayer). The worship music gave me chills!Some of our GFA family was in attendance, including Rob (he stopped in Billings on his way back to college in So.Cal), Gene & Mary (they swung by and picked up Mary Welsch on their marathon drive to MT), Dorinda, Angie and her sister (they drove over from WA state before she returns to our office on Monday), and Terri and Heather (Maddie's personal attendants). (I feel like I'm forgetting someone).I gave Brad and Maddie greetings and love from all of you and they send theirs back as well. They want to return to GFA ASAP after their honey-do . . . er, uh, I mean honey moon (the honey do starts right after the honey moon :) I hope that I can be used of the Lord in this endeavor tomorrow, as I have the privilege to speak at Maddie's home church, Grace Bible Church and ask for support for Brad and Maddie and for native missionaries.Thank you very much for all your prayers for them. Someone (I don't remember whom) said that they knew that you were praying faithfully because they could feel them sustaining them.Dorinda took lots of pictures and so she will send you a link to these when she gets back to Dallas.One final thought: I've come to the conclusion that Dallas, TX and Laurel, MT are very similar in appearance. I mean if you took Laurel, cut down all the beautiful trees, dried up the streams, bulldozed the rolling hills and put concrete and fire ants over the whole thing (with an appropriate layer of smog and traffic), you'd have Dallas! It truly must be the Lord who called Brad and Maddie out of this paradise to join with us to reach 700 million untouchables with the Gospel. And they (like you) have chosen well! As beautiful as Laurel, MT is, I'm sure it doesn't compare to Heaven. And there's going to be millions there because of God's faithfulness to allow us to press on in service to Him! Hallelujah! I look forward to seeing you on Monday, if the Lord is willing.
With much love in Jesus,
David