Almost sixteen years ago, thanks to our friend Laurie and the kindness of her parents, I brought Caleb here as a nine year old to get his tonsils out. That's a long story for another day! But I will never forget how they loved and cared for us so well all those years ago.
Now today, I'm back here for Laurie's wedding that will take place in the backyard at this same house!
As the Lord would have it, there was sunshine here all week, but today, a storm moved in and rain is predicted for the week-end.
But I can tell you that absolutely nothing will steal the joy of this event! Either the Lord will miraculously blow away these clouds and bring sunshine, or it will rain and we'll all be wet for the ceremony. Either way, we will happily be celebrating our friend Laurie and her groom, Daniel!
Amy flew in yesterday from Czech too to be here for their wedding. She is singing during the ceremony, and I'll be playing piano for her. What an honor to get to serve our dear Laurie in this way!
Amidst raindrops this afternoon, the rehearsal still took place in this gorgeous setting.
Dave is giving the wedding sermon, so took part in the rehearsal as well.
Every one of us here is celebrating God's goodness in bringing a godly prince of a man from South Africa to be Laurie's husband.
The significance of the arch that appears to be too small for them?! The friend who made the real arch that they'll be married under, thought the rehearsal was being held somewhere else and didn't want them to not be able to practice without an arch...so he made another one for them!
This is one small evidence of how beloved Laurie is by many, many people.
Many have traveled far and wide to be here for this event, including us, Amy and our brother and sister-in-law, Josh and Kristi from Slovenia.
We all have a deep love for our friend, and have prayed for this for many years with her. It's surreal and wonderful to be here surrounding her with our love the day before her wedding day.
Hers and Daniel's story is a huge God story that has brought them to this point, a story that began twelve years ago and has many twists and turns along the way.
I'll continue that story with a separate blog post since it deserves its own place in giving God the honor and glory for what He's done for Daniel and Laurie.
But suffice to say, we are thrilled that this is happening for our friend!
Connie...I've been enraptured with Laurie's story as you've told it. Here I had work to do but couldn't stop reading your posts! SUCH A GOD STORY and I know Laurie's steadfast faith will encourage many. As I said earlier, thanks for letting me and all of us walk with you through this wedding weekend celebration!
ReplyDelete