Oakley | The Barn at High Point Farms

On a beautiful October evening recently, Oakley was one of the "flower princesses" at her cousins' wedding (AKA Aunt Brooke & Uncle JJ).  As far as flower girl performances go, to be honest, it was an epic fail.  I had bribed her down the isle by promising new Barbie dolls, and after walking, oh so reluctantly down, she threw one hand full of flowers, sat the basket down in the middle of the isle, ran to her Daddy, and proceeded to climb over every member of our family until she was safely in my lap.  But in that moment, as I looked around, I was overwhelmed by the power of God on full display.  You see, I had first envisioned this day 25 years earlier... My sweet sissy, who I always adored, had her babies when I was so young that I just fell madly in love with them. When they arrived, I didn't have and wasn't yet planning or dreaming of a family of my own, so in a lot of ways they were the best things that had ever happened to me too. I was a sucker for them all, the 4 year old daughter that she got the day she married my brother-in-law, and then 2 sons.  A few months after Jared (the groom) was born, at 29 years old, she was diagnosed with cancer.  It was a scary time.  I can very distinctly remember a night when everyone else was at the hospital.  Jonathan was on the floor watching a movie and I was rocking Jared. The prognosis they were giving her was terrible, and that night as I rocked, I cried and prayed that his mommy was going to be okay and that she was going to be there for his first day of school and on the day he got married. I remember seeing tear drops on his head, hearing his sweet little baby snore, hearing his brother giggle at the television, and saying that out loud, "please God Let her be there when he gets married one day"... And here we are, after lots of celebrations and a few setbacks, here we are.  I was sitting behind my sister, who was wearing a beautiful blue dress as she was watching that baby marry the woman of his dreams.  His brother was standing by his side, now a grown man with a beautiful wife and two adorable children of his own.  I had my daughter, who I still can not believe exist, in my lap, my husband was smiling at me and between us were our 22 year old and 2 year old sons.  Next to me, was my niece who was holding her own "flower princess" and miracle baby.  One of the groomsmen was still beaming with pride because 24 hours earlier his wife had given birth to their first child.  If front of me, Jared's Grandmothers held hands, both have recently lost their husbands of 50 + years and are the two strongest women I know.  And the Bride, oh the BEAUTIFUL Bride, she is the only child of two precious parents who were married for almost 20 years before she was born.  Now maybe I was just emotional because of the circumstances, or even the fact that I had just seen pictures that confirmed that our home was still standing after being hit by Hurricane Matthew hours before.  But from my seat, MIRACLES were everywhere you looked.  Thank you God for family and for answered prayers.  Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Jared Brown, you are both so very loved!