Nine and a half years ago, this precious family formally welcomed Kyle into our circle. Luke, Ben, and Sam served as ushers at our wedding.



Luke was already a head taller than Kyle. Ben and Sam were gaining on him. (I'm pretty sure Ben is standing one step up in this picture... but I could be wrong.)

Jeff and Jennifer spoke over us the only Truth we know:



Genesis 2:18-24
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said,"This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.


So this was kind of a big deal:



I don't know if Hamish and the Manimal were honored, exactly, to be part of Luke's wedding in January. "Honored" might be a stretch for a 17 month old and a 3 and a half year old. But we sure do love Luke, Jess, and all the Rosses so they were definitely very excited.

Luke and Hamish go way back, of course, and she has given her stamp of approval to Jess.

The Manimal, actually, doesn't know a pre-Jess time. As far as he's concerned, she's always been part of the family.



And she's known him in all his Manimal-ness. And she still asked him to be in her wedding.




Hamish LOVED that she got to wear her new cowgirl boots and flowers in her hair and a sparkly lace dress like Jess.



Both kids did great during the ceremony. Hamish dropped her petals like a pro. The Manimal tried to eat the ring bearer's pillow that thankfully had no round, metal choking hazards attached.

 

And then they sat quietly (thanks to a steady stream of goldfish crackers) during my 2nd favorite wedding of all time. Luke and Jess could not be more perfect for each other, and their ceremony was God-honoring, joyful, and overflowing with love.

I mean, look at these people: they look at each other like that while holding a sobbing toddler and a moody three-nager on their wedding day. It doesn't get better than that.