On the Journey

All wedding photos are by Gina Dreher at Gingerroot Studios in Wichita.

It's been a year since Jill & Eric walked out the door of the sanctuary, and our little girl became a wife.

This year has flown by as quickly as the other 24 years of her life. How can she really be 25 next month? Wasn't it just yesterday that we awkwardly nestled a tiny 5-pound, 13-ounce baby girl into the car seat for the first time?

We looked at each other. No nurses to consult. Just him and me. All alone. With this tiny baby girl.

Wasn't it yesterday when she took her first steps? And yet, there she was walking out of her childhood church and into a new future.


Life shifts as quickly as shadows on a summer day.

We had held the hands of a 9 1/2-month-old, still-bald baby as she took her first tentative steps. We held her hand when she crossed the street. We held her hand when she was sick.


And now she would hold another's hand, a hand that would also offer her unconditional love, a hand that would support her when she was unsteady, a hand that would feel her forehead when she was sick.

Her daddy's little princess would be dancing into life with another. It made it easier knowing that someone would be Eric.

It also made it easier knowing that she was still our little girl. As I watched her dance with her dad ...

... as I watched her dance with her little brother ...

and he twirled her in circles instead of wrestling with her.


... as I witnessed her joy


... as I watched them drive away the next afternoon ...

I knew she was still our baby girl ...

just in a beautiful, smart, grown-up package.


And we were welcoming a new member of the family, a son that our daughter had chosen.

And through it all, I said a prayer of thanks.

Happy 1st Anniversary, Jill & Eric.

May your journey be long and filled with love. Each step of the journey IS the journey.