Another Milestone...

Today started as any other normal Wednesday. The girls both got up and got themselves off to school, Doug got off to work and I began to make my check-list for the day since I had the day off from BB&T. It was a rainy fall day in October and everyone was going about their business like normal. The afternoon however was another milestone for me as a mother. You see, this afternoon Hope and I had her hair done and then met her photographer at the Penn House for her bridal portraits. I watched in awe as she slipped that long, lean, slender body with skin like porcelain into that beautiful wedding gown. I hooked and zipped it, fluffed the crinoline, and slipped the shoes on and buckled them for her. With hair pins of pearls and rhinestones in place, and long elegant earrings hanging from her lobes we began the photo shoot. As I stood back and took it all in I couldn't help but shake my head in astonishment that this was real. My Hope, my little girl who had freckles on her face, who loved for me to read to her and lay with her until she fell alseep, the little girl who has always spoke not much above a whisper, the little girl who has always soaked up everything taught to her like a sponge, that little girl isn't a little girl any longer. No the young woman who stood in front of me today was confident, kind, genuine, and had a glow about her. The Hope that stood in front of me today has committed her life to serving Christ. She trusted that same Christ to send her the one he had created for her and she is 100% sure that someone is Ben Minter. She is filled with joy and expectation at what their life serving Christ together will hold. She is truly an amazing young woman and I am honored to call her my daughter. The tears were hard to hold back but I did my best, and in the days ahead it most surely will be harder. The tears aren't because I disapprove or because I am sad, oh no, they are because I know when I look at her that I have been truly blessed that God entrusted this special young woman to Doug and I to raise and because of the sheer joy she has brought us. Hope, we love you sweetie....more than you will ever know.