Last month we were fortunate enough to head home for the wedding of dear friends Todd and Andi Reffett.  The groom's parents hosted a wonderful rehearsal dinner on Friday, and the couple asked a few of us in the wedding party to tell a couple stories.  Afterward, I had one of those "why didn't I say this!" moments, so I'll tell the story now.

You might have seen the skydiving pictures that surfaced a few months ago.  That was in March of 2000 for our friend Drew's bachelor party.  (btw, Todd's bachelor party was another memorable adventure - a report is coming soon.)  Many of the stories told about Todd reflected something about his slow decision making or Type A personality.  How we ever got him to jump out of an airplane I'll never know.  

As Todd Reffett, Todd Jacob, and I left Bloomington and headed north to Joliet for the skydiving adventure, we drove separately and left a car near Herscher due to plans after the weekend.  As the caravan drove north, we could not keep up with Reffett, as he drove above 80 mph.  When asked why he was driving so fast, he said that he was hoping to get a speeding ticket so that he could have an excuse for not being able to afford the skydiving (and apparently keep his manhood intact?). 

When that effort was not successful, the first question he asked at the front desk was "Have you had any accidents?"  The woman replied, "Not for a while; we're kind of due for one."  That sent Reffett heading for the exit before we corralled him back in.  We were then asked to sign our life away with about 20 pages of liability paperwork with the word DEATH in every paragraph.  After a while, most of us initialed away quickly without reading everything.  Not Reffett.  As we waited outside, he was bent over the table, sweating, pouring over every word of detail.

As we suited up, Reffett's jumpmaster for the tandem jump could tell he was a bit nervous.  The next thing we know, Reffett was face down on a mat practicing the free fall with his jump master on top of him.  Not sure if that helped!

Once inside the cramped plane, we took off and ascended up to 13,000 feet.  I looked back at Jacob, smiled and gave him a good luck sign of the cross.  Sitting to my left, Reffett - a non-Catholic - nervously waved his hand in front of his face and shoulders and said, "Can you give me one of those?"

Thanks to my Coors Field incident, I no longer have the video account of this adventure.  Too bad, because it showed a priceless shot of a white-as-a-ghost Reffett in the background chomping on his gum as I prepared to backflip out of the plane.  I would love to have a blown-up still-shot of that video clip!

The point of this story is that Todd Reffett takes no decision lightly.  The fact that he made the decision to marry Andi so quickly and with so much conviction tells you something about God's work in their lives. 

We are so happy for you Todd and Andi.  We know you will not find a better guy than Todd, and he has found his match in Andi.  We were honored to be a part of the beautiful ceremony, and wish you nothing but the best.

Of course part of the groomsmen gifts included some blue and gold.

An Ohio St. fan, Andi showed her love and started her conversion
with the groom's cake.  Don't forget their first spark.

You're simply not going to find a cuter flower girl
than my Goddaughter "Lil' Sweetness" Payton.

The bride's father is in the flower business, so I
guess this was his Super Bowl.  He didn't disappoint!
(I'm sure if Sarah was writing this, you'd get more
explanation, but sorry, that's all I got)

Who's got next?  My sister and her fiance are on deck.

Sarah and Michelle with the bride.

Reffett tries to keep up with his bride and his flower girl.

For full album see beyellow.snapfish.com/snapfish.