Emily Is Getting Married!

Emily, our oldest daughter, is getting married! Today we're going to look for wedding dresses and site venues for the wedding. I'm looking forward to spending a fun afternoon with her. I love her so much!

Emily was born on April 5, 1986 around 9:10 am. (I say around 9:10 am because asking anyone who has had more than 3 children to remember the time or birth weights of her children is just too much.)

I remember everything about that moment - how tiny she was, how she felt in my arms, how she smelled, and how she sounded. I also remember how I felt - that was the moment I became a mother. Whoa and wow! It's hard to explain to a mom-to-be how the love thing happens - it just does. One moment you wait in anticipation of meeting your special little one. It's hard to even imagine what they will look like or sound like. Then, the next moment, there they are in your arms and their little being is powerfully imprinted in your memory - you could recognize their look, sound, and smell from a hundred other babies. It's one of God's great gifts to us.

I'm still amazed that God trusted me enough to entrust her to me. She brings me pleasure. I'm so proud of how she has grown up and the godly woman she has become. She encourages me and motivates me to love God more.

Emily is full of grit and I like that about her. When she was 4 years old, she came to her daddy and me and said that God had spoken to her that she needed to go tell our neighbor about how much God loved her. We did. I now am so proud to say that I fully trust Emily's ability to hear and discern God's voice.

Emily is fun! She has a special ability to love people and make them feel like they are important to her. Just being around her makes people feel good. I know that will be a quality that God will use in her future.

Emily is smart and capable and has more than her share of "snap". She can be painfully honest and has the ability to perceive difficult situations. Her thoughts and opinions have become very important to me. She has a heart for living life to the fullest and loving others.

When your daughter is young, it's hard to imagine that a young man will ever come along who is deserving of your daughter. In the good moments when everything is going well, you can't imagine that anyone good enough actually exists in this world. In the difficult moments, you wonder if a young man will come along who will be able to survive her. (I know you know what I mean. . .)

I never dreamed that anyone would come along for Emily that I would feel so comfortable with, but Ryan did. I enjoy his company and he fits unbelievably well into our family. My kids love him - heck - I love him!

Ryan is amazing. Ryan loves God and he and Emily are committed to keeping God the most important priority in their marriage. He is kind, loving, and respectful of Emily. I knew he was a keeper when he told me last year that he felt that most guys don't do enough to protect a girl's heart when they are dating.

It is a privilege to welcome Ryan into our our family. Skip and I have prayed for him since before Emily was born. (I do mean that literally.)

I'm amazed that I find myself in this place. I know that sentence has two "I"s in it - I really don't mean to make this event about me - there I go again with another two "I"s and a "me". This is going to be more difficult than I thought - one more "I". Darn it! How in the world am I (double-darn) going to be faithful to my (possessive pronoun representing "I" - darn it, darn it, darn it) sweet daughter and her fiance in this new phase of life?

Skip has often said that it would be nice if a user manual came with a baby. And here we are - in a new situation that we have never walked through; and in fact we are unsure how to. Once again, we are dependent on God to enable us and provide grace to be faithful to Him and Emily and Ryan.