virginia and jon . com

Our photographer has finished working on the wedding pictures and they are now available online!

Click here to check them out for yourself.

I know that everyone is waiting to hear about our wedding day and honeymoon.  Trust me when I say that it has been a crazy week just trying to get settled in again.  Virginia had to change all of her passport and drivers license information.  As well as getting onto Jon’s insurance(which took 2 days of paperwork and waiting at the base!).  Now we are dealing with the fact that our suitcases have literally exploded in our living room and bedroom.  Once we get everything under control here we will be sure to get right on the post about our crazy busy wedding day(among all the interesting issues we had!)  Meanwhile keep looking at our pictures.  It seems everyday we are uploading more.  If you have pictures to send us, you can email them to jon@kd7onc.net.

Thanks for the patience!

Jon and Virginia

Update: Virginia’s vows have surfaced from the wedding paperwork.

Virginia’s Vows:

I love you. You are my best friend.

Today I give myself to you in marriage.
I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you,
and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.

I promise to love you in good times and in bad,
when life seems easy and when it seems hard,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort.

I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard.

These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life.

Jon’s Vows:

I, Jonathan, choose you, Virginia, to be my best friend, my lover, and my wife.

Today, before God, family, and friends I make this commitment to give myself to you as I am and as I will be. From this day forward you will not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home. I give you myself to hold, and my life to keep.

I promise you my love, devotion, and care through all of the trials and uncertainty that we may face. I will respect you, commit to you, and honor you. With kindness and unselfishness I will work by your side to create a wonderful life together.

I promise to remain by your side, to be the joy of your heart, provide food for your soul and the best person I can be for you. I promise to laugh with you when times are good, and to suffer with you when they are bad;

I promise to wash away your tears with my kisses and to hold you sweetly and gladly until our days on earth are over.

Well, we have returned home from the honeymoon and are still keeping busy with unpacking, telling all the businesses and government agencies that Virginia will be using a new last name, and finding a new routine to settle into.

It seems so weird to not have the wedding looming before us. It really has been a major focus of our lives for the past year. We are working on a longer post to let everyone know about the wonderful wedding that so many people helped us put on. As well as to try and describe how beautiful it was in Jamaica.

In the meantime you’ll have to check out the pictures on Flickr.

More updates soon to follow…

~Mr & Mrs Bates

Today’s the big day. Virginia and I are getting married!

There probably won’t be any pictures or anything up until we get back from our honeymoon unless our friends put them up and link them in comments. (*Hint hint*)

Pray for good weather and thanks to all that have helped.

~Jon

In the midst of several hours spent on hold today with various corporations, that seem to far more interested in finding ways to get ahold of my money than actually talking to me about what they are supposed to do with it, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from Wells Fargo. I have previously not had any really bad experiences with the company, but their poor website design and lack of offering any useful information about my account to me online.

This morning I got a call from Brian with Wells Fargo. He asked me how my morning was going and was generally pleasant on the phone before talking to me about my account. He’d been doing some reviewing and it showed that my “introductory rate” was about to expire and my account would be drawing close to 22% interest! He offered to see what he could do to lower the rate for me or assist me in transferring the balance to another bank.

Now, when a corporation is making a fair amount of money off of you, it generally is in their best interest to continue to do so. But when they go out of their way to look out for you, the customer, it really is a pleasant change from what I’m used to. Another pleasant change, Brian works at the local Wells Fargo and invited me to come down and handle the account in person, if that would have been easier for me. Why can’t more corporations realize that if they treat their customers properly, they will get repeat business and some of the best (free) advertising that they could ask for. This experience will certainly make me consider them when we are applying for loans when it comes time to buy a house. Hopefully they will have improved the account information portion of their website by then.

Oh, and the company that I transferred the balance to, 4.4%. Overall, it was a good morning.