She's Getting Married

Brandon Stewart proposing to the soon-to-be Mrs. Logan Stewart

Meg and Logan at her shower

This is what I wanted to share at her wedding shower yesterday, but didn’t want to make it this blubbery soppy occasion instead of the grand joyous time it was meant to be. So here is what I would have said…

Logan and I at her shower

Logan and Meg
on a babysitting night, 2009

If you know our family much at all, you know our Logan. She’s not just a babysitter, she’s like a third daughter to us. I remember well when we started using her. You see, she just lives down the road…

babysitting 2009

babysitting 2009

literally six minutes. This made the non-driving-girl-from-church easily accessible. (very important when you live out in the boonies where everything is “making a trip into town”) When she was just thirteen, I asked Britt if we could use her to babysit our then 5 small kids. I guess 13 was too young for his comfort. So we waited until she was 14 and she’s been our babysitter ever since. Every-other-Thursday night for the past 7 years she’s spent the evening with our kids, while Britt and I leave for a much needed date-night.

They’re like sisters

2010 Fort Morgan vacation

All 8 of them.

Doing an impromptu photo-shoot
at the fort on vacation

The day we snuck off to the Dunes.

Logan and I having one of our chats
at the Dunes with the family. 

the beautiful girl God loaned us

On a date night about 3 years ago, I shared with Britt my hopes and future for Logan. That’s odd, you might think. “She’s just your babysitter”. She was a senior in highschool. I had been reading so much at that time about what comes next…after highschool…thinking ahead for my own kids, of course. It was the time when everyone was asking Logan what her future plans were, and I wanted to give her my input. But, you see, up until this point there was not much of a relationship between Logan and I. If you know Logan, you know she’s rather quiet. She’s not much for words. In fact (and we’ve had many discussions about this), she’s incredibly similar to Britt in personality. However, there’s an awful lot going on in that pretty little head of hers that just has to be encouraged out. So after I told Britt my thoughts that night, he said I should share them with Logan. I hesitated, not wanting to invade where I didn’t belong. But I gathered my nerve and when we got home, as I watched her tidy up (she’s so good at that…we’re kindred there), I blurted out my thoughts. That was the beginning of a discussion that lasted until 2 a.m. and a relationship that bonded us like a mother and daughter. I found out she’d been watching our family in a covetous-sort-of-way all these years. I was humbled but giddy to form this new bond and share old memories and make many new ones.

One of our most bonding family times was when Logan accompanied us on our yearly vacations to Fort Morgan, Alabama that spring of her senior year. Then there was the spur-of-the-moment trip to the dunes, while her senior class was away on their senior trip. We wanted to take her on all our following vacations with us, but she got a job. We wanted to take her with us on our first trip with the kids to Guatemala too. But again, there was the job.

Our family with Logan in Gulf Shores, Alabama @ Lulu’s

Logan helped me put on a princess tea party for Kate’s 10th.

All 8 of them.

We pulled off a surprise
birthday party for Logan’s 20th.

Logan and I at the Dunes as a family

So when God called us to move to Guatemala, Logan was the very first person I shared our big plans with. Actually, at the time, they weren’t even plans…just thoughts. When I told her I had big news to share, she said, “I thought either you were pregnant or moving to Guatemala”. Haha.

Now as we are just 2 weeks shy of uprooting our family off to Guatemala, minus Logan (she decided she’d rather get married than move to Guatemala with us), I feel the pain of our separation looming.

We didn’t miss this important event!!

The date is set. She will wed her highschool sweetheart on October 6th. The original plan was for our kids to be a part of this big day. But it seems God has other plans. I’m not right with it yet, no matter how much Logan has assured me that it’s okay. We’re talking of Skyping the wedding at this point. How do you accept the verdict that you won’t be at your practically-a-daughter’s wedding, a once-in-a-lifetime event, without a bit of resentment and self-pity? I am trying. I’ve prayed. God knows my heart. And I know He will heal my sorrow. At-the-moment, it just stinks.