Five Brothers and a Wedding

Don’t you just love weddings?  (insert sappy sigh here)

If you’re a girl, you said, “Yes!”  If you’re a guy, you said, “They’re ok.”   (If you’re a guy, I just have to say a special hello since I don’t know if any guys actually read this blog… HI THERE!  Thanks for stopping by!)

This weekend we attended a wedding as a family.  The kids have been counting down the days and I actually ironed clothes.  Yup, that’s how excited we were about this wedding.    Sweet Lauren was a young girl in a sign language class I taught for homeschoolers when I was pregnant with The Boy before I was even homeschooling.  Actually, her mom was one of the first people I “interviewed” about homeschooling.  Spending time with Lauren’s family was always a delight, though our circles didn’t cross often.  She spent one summer with us at the “old camp” four summers ago and it further strengthened our fondness for her.  We have watched Lauren grow up into a beautiful young woman with joy.

What an answer to prayer that the LORD led Lauren and Joseph to each other at just the right time.  Though their families have always been friends, Joseph didn’t see Lauren with the eyes of his heart.  He saw her, but in the periphery of boy life.  See, Lauren has five brothers.  Yup five.  No sisters.

The happiness in Lauren and Joseph’s eyes sparkle, the reverence of the commitment they are making in their spirits shines and the eagerness they have for honoring each other radiates.

I knew the wedding would be lovely for many reasons, the biggest two being that both families love the LORD and that this was an only daughter being given in marriage.

Joseph waiting in the wings as Lauren hugs her dad

I just wasn’t prepared for the sweetest vows I’ve ever heard.  Actually, they were sort of pre-vows: statements from the bride and groom that they had prepared to say before the official “I do”s.  Josephs were endearing and honoring, but Lauren’s!  Well, Lauren’s had the entire left side of the aisle fighting back full blown wails.

She told Joseph that she has been praying for a husband and then she mentioned one brother at a time and the characteristics in a husband she wanted like that brother.  Oh. my. stinkin’.  goodness.  Have you ever heard anything so special?  Seriously!  She finished with the final heart wrenching comment, “But most of all I’ve been praying for a man like my father…”  Oh, yeah, baby, I was bawling.  The Boy told me later that he knew I would be crying as soon as she got to the second brother and that when she talked about her dad he knew “it was all over”.

It was the sweetest love note to her family she could have ever written.  I will never forget it and I know they certainly won’t.  Those five brothers know how much their sister loves and treasures them and now hundreds of other people know just how deep that love runs in her heart.

As the ceremony closed with the bride and groom’s family encircling the new couple to pray for them, I was reminded what a gift this couple has already received in  godly families raising them.  It was encouraging and truly a privilege to witness.

Five brothers (and a darling sister) and a wedding is a pretty wonderful way to spend a Saturday night.

{Still time to enter my giveaway for the book Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe!}