It all begins with the words “I do.” Little does anyone know about what to expect when they say those words, but they simply know that they want to do life with the person in front of them. Jordan and I say “when we’re 95 can we….” This statement is usually followed by “have a house that doesn’t shake as people move out,” or “be able to open our bathroom door without it banging against the cabinets.” We simply know that we are at a point of transition in our lives and certainly at a point of trusting God with our future.

              The customer I was completing this piece for was wanting to have a touching gift to give to her parents. It started off with 24 signatures and words in the center of the board. After a few weeks of communicating back and forth, she wanted to add doves. I hadn’t wood burned doves at this point, but wasn’t afraid to try. After everything was completed, she told me the story behind wanting the doves. Her mom says that doves mate for life and she literally had two doves that she kept as pets. They would fly into the air around each other and simply come back to their cages. She had chosen her husband for life. 

            When I think of doves, I simply think of the scripture, ” When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water on the earth’s surface had gone down” in Genesis 8:11. Doesn’t this truly add to the overall meaning of this piece? I am positive that the parents of my customer could not comprehend what storms stood ahead of them when they said “I do” in 1966. All they knew was that there would be an olive branch plucked following the storms. After 50 years, I couldn’t be happier to be a part of this accomplishment.