What a Week!

I don't normally post family pictures or too many details about the family.  It's not why I'm here and it's not why you're here.  But I can't help being absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity and well-wishes you all shared with Ellie and Cowboy.  Never in a million years could I have anticipated that you would have gotten such a tremendous and valuable wedding gift for my daughter and her husband.  You don't even know any of us.  Some of you didn't even leave addresses on the Amazon registry, so they can't send you a proper thank-you.  (Which due to the private nature of the type of people we are, I understand.  But you know, we've all been raised to send thank-you notes and you're kinda messing with proper upbringing right now.) And some names don't match those of regular posters here, so I can't even hazard a guess as to who you really are. (Well, I can guess, but I can't be sure I'm right.)

Thank you so much.

I wanted to post these earlier in the week, but Aaron didn't get these photos to me until a few minutes ago.  These are just a few he took with his cell phone.  I'm afraid it will be a few weeks before we see the professional photos, and I didn't want to wait that long.  

I used to be able to put a caption under photos, but I have apparently lost that skill.  Anyway, for people who want a face to put with the names, QOTPE is just to the right of Ellie, and Blueberry Girl is next to her.  

Ellie has found everything she of dreamed of and more in her sweetheart.  She realized a few years back that even though being married to a rancher and living in a remote area was the dream, what she really wanted was a righteous young man with strong family values, a hard worker who shared her goal of raising a large family with lots of love and centered in Christ, even if lacking in material goods.  Well, in Cowboy she's gotten everything.

As you might gather from the pictures, he's a rancher, through and through, a 4th generation rancher at that.  He sold a colt (and training for another horse) to buy his diesel truck.  He'll continue to learn welding as a trade while he supports Ellie as she finishes up her degree in agriculture economics.  Their plan is to return to this area and work with local ranchers until they can acquire their own property.