[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 129 (Thursday, July 31, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            A TRIBUTE HONORING THE McLEOD-SANDSTROM WEDDING

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 30, 2008

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to extend my best 
wishes to two young Americans who are starting their new life together 
this weekend. On Saturday, August 2, 2008, Allison Claire McLeod and 
Nathaniel Lee Sandstrom will be joined in matrimony surrounded by their 
loving family and friends at Preston Hall in Baltimore, Maryland.
  Allie and Nate, as their family and friends call them, currently live 
in Baltimore but were both born in the Midwest. In fact, they describe 
themselves as, ``A balanced combination of Midwestern salt-of-the-earth 
values and Columbia, MD-born neighborliness . . .''
  Allie was born in Cleveland, Ohio on May 23, 1980. Her mother, Karen 
Jean McLeod, is a retired elementary school teacher's assistant for the 
Columbia School District in Maryland, and her father, Robert John 
McLeod, is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. When Allie 
was three years old, her father's work transferred the McLeod family to 
Columbia, MD. The family would relocate to Boise, Idaho for several 
years before eventually returning to Columbia. Back in Maryland, Allie 
attended Wilde Lake High School. At Wilde Lake, Allie participated on 
the school's volleyball and lacrosse teams and was active in Students 
for a Better World. After high school Allie went on to study at Towson 
University in Maryland.
  Nate was born in Appleton, Wisconsin on July 12, 1979. His mother, 
Vicki Lynn Kessler, is a minister at St. Paul United Church of Christ 
in Denver, Iowa, and his father, Kent Lee Sandstrom, is a professor at 
the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). Nate's family relocated to 
Waterloo, Iowa when his father began working at UNI. Nate attended 
Cedar Falls High School and was active in baseball, band and the school 
newspaper. He attended Iowa State University and UNI and then moved to 
Maryland to complete his studies at Towson University.
  It was at Towson University where the future bride and groom 
eventually met. The two young students belonged to the same circle of 
college friends, and after an initial period as good friends, the 
couple started dating. Their relationship blossomed and Allie and Nate 
became a couple. When Nate enrolled in graduate school at the 
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, the couple both relocated to 
the Midwest. After two years in Illinois, the couple returned to 
Maryland in 2006 and set up home in Baltimore.
  The couple enjoys spending time with family and friends, camping, and 
cheering on the Washington Redskins, among other activities. They were 
engaged on May 23, 2007, and the newlywed couple will make their home 
in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. Their many friends say 
Allie and Nate are very well suited for each other, and their families 
already consider each of them a member of the family.
  Allie and Nate will be joined in their wedding celebration in 
Baltimore's historic neighborhood of Mount Vernon by guests from across 
town and across the country. Family and friends are traveling from 
California, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, New York, and South Carolina 
among other states. Special participants in the wedding ceremony will 
be Katharine Elizabeth McLeod, the bride's maid of honor; Philip 
Sandstrom, the groom's best man; and the other members of the wedding 
party: Tracey Bounds, Becca Dougherty, Kelly Neale, Lindsay Thomasson, 
Mark Goldman, Andrew McLeod, Patrick Newstrom, and Matt Schaffer. When 
they take their wedding vows, Allie and Nate will have the added honor 
of having Nate's mother, the Reverend Kessler, perform the ceremony.
  Madam Speaker, I offer my best wishes to the McLeod and Sandstrom 
families, their friends and guests for a very happy and memorable 
celebration. To Allie and Nate, I offer the sentiment and gifts which 
George Bailey offered the Martini family as they moved into their new 
home in the classic film, It's a Wonderful Life, ``Bread! That their 
house may never know hunger. Salt! That life may always have flavor. 
And wine! That joy and prosperity may reign forever.'' Lastly, I wish 
that throughout their wonderful life together, Allie and Nate will 
always have an abundance of what St. Paul wrote of in his letter to the 
Corinthians, ``faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is 
love.''

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