The Wedding of Melissa Goodell and Janus Abello - 24 June 2012

The part of the ceremony officiated by Vince Hawkins, lead minister of the Columbia Church of Christ.

This past weekend, I traveled to Columbia, Missouri, to attend the wedding of my friends, Melissa Goodell and Janus Abello. Both the ceremony and the reception were held at Columbia College. They chose to have their ceremony on a Sunday, which is a little unusual, but I liked that I could drive down to Columbia after church.

I first met Melissa when she moved to Columbia to be closer to her then-boyfriend, Brandon. Being from Boston, we instantly bonded over our shared love of the Red Sox. One of my earliest memories with her is watching 'Fever Pitch' with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore and relishing thoughts of Fenway Park. That and helping her learn how to drive a manual-transmission car. And Janus, I can't remember when I met him, but I've known him for a while. He's originally from Anchorage, Alaska, and came to Columbia to study at the University of Missouri. I think it's pretty cool how God brought them both thousands of miles from home to meet each other, took them halfway across the world to Novosibirsk, Russia, for them to fall in love, and then solidify that love into marriage back in Columbia, Missouri.

Here's some of my favorites:

   

Maks, the lead minister of the Novosibirsk Church of Christ, traveled to Columbia to be part of their wedding. He prayed in Russian (left). The vows portion (right) was officiated by the other minister in the Columbia church, Jason Touchatt. Melissa cries as Janus read his vows. I cried, too. They were great. He talked about how parts of Melissa's character initially scared him because they were so amazing.

It's the First Day of School

And I was sent out to cover Grant Elementary and Hickman High School. And then later to Columbia College.

This morning, I got up at 6:45 to cover the first day of school at Hickman High School and then later at Grant Elementary School.

At Hickman, I didn't take many pictures. About halfway through the assignment, I made the mistake of asking the Vice Principal if I could take some pictures inside the school. He informed me that I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of students. So how am I supposed to cover back-to-school without taking pictures of students? (A later suggestion was photographing feet, etc.). I was also later told that I *can* take pictures there. But it really cramped my creative juices and I had to take pictures on the down-low... And didn't end up bringing back many pictures. Here's what I captioned, including this one, where the girl in white looks to me completely like a boy:


Sisters Rebecca Dennis, left, and Lawanda Dennis, second from right, review paperwork before their children's first day of school, on August 24, 2009. Their children, Malcolm Herron, 16, second from left, and Keuna Guy, 16, right, will be entering the 11th grade of Hickman High School. Hickman High School was named as one of the top 1500 high schools in the nation by Newsweek in June, 2009, placing them in the top six percentile of schools nationwide.


Students greet each other before they begin another school year at Hickman High School on August 24, 2009. In June, Hickman High School was named in Newsweek as one of the top 1500 American high schools, placing it in the top six percentile of schools nationwide.