And that's three! :-)

It seems like just a month or two ago we found out I was pregnant with Rachel--she'll be 30 this month. So, for 30 years we have been praying for our birth children, and also the 3 we wouldn't know until Rachel, Zachary, and Jacob chose them and brought them into our lives. It's amazing, the bond God creates between you and a person you don't know yet when you pray for them since YOUR child was born. That's what has been happening in our lives the last few years. We have prayed earnestly for God's hand to be on the beautiful people our children would marry, and would hold them close to His heart, keep them pure, and help them know Him deeply. As of tonight, it looks like those prayers have been answered for the third time.

Tonight Jacob, our youngest, asked Jessica (his girlfriend of 2 years) to marry him. To no one's surprise,she gave him an exuberant "yes!" So, now we know who all of our six children are. And we love them all dearly. God has answered our prayers in His usual over-the-top way.

It's been really fun to see how they all have done it. Zack, middle child and the most "social" of our 3, popped the question first to his highschool sweetheart Amanda White. He asked her father's permission and blessing (in fear and trembling :-) about a month prior to the Cavs game where he asked her to marry him. They are very sports-minded (they go to a Red Sox game at the "Green Monsta" every year), so this was a fitting scenario. He attached the ring to a lotto parachute and told her she could have whatever they won. When she looked at the ticket and began screaming as she saw the ring, he asked her to be his forever love in marriage. They have been married for 4 years in April, and gave us little Skylar this year.

Rachel married Aron Carpenter in November '08. Aron is a great guy, and both he and Rachel kind of "fly under the radar"...they keep things quiet and private till they are ready for news to be public. So,after dating over a year, Aron asked me about styles of rings I thought Rachel would like (my clue something was about to happen :-). He officially asked Charlie for Rachel's hand in marriage, and for his blessing the first week of July. When he went to pick up Rachel for a July 4th all family Bar-BQ, he delighted her by dropping to one knee, ring in hand, and very romantically proposed. Then they came to the party where we welcomed them to the music of GOING TO THE CHAPEL.

Jessica Harold and JL went to high school together at Coventry, though they didn't meet until one SNL service at Cornerstone after her family had been attending for about a year. They have been great friends and then an official couple for 2 years.
JL works at Cornerstone, and tonight he prepared the sanctuary with candlelight and memories. He surprised her (she thought he had to go on to turn off the projection system :-)by saying something like, "We met in this room, we have grown in Jesus together in this room, and I hope that we will celebrate our marriage together with friends and family in this room. So (now on one knee) I want to ask you in this room: will you be my wife? will you marry me?" And she said yes. :-)

So...we are so thankful to all 3 families for sharing Amanda, Aron, and Jessica with us. They are all 3 wonderful young people with Jesus at the center of their hearts. Prayer matters. It really, really does.