Goin' to the Chapel

Right now, I'm procrastinating my packing for no particular reason....With that said, this weekend is a HUGE weekend. Ya see, my best friend (one of them, just to clarify) is GETTING MARRIED!!!

Let's rewind just a bit. 3 1/2 years to be exact, when Kasey and I first met.

Me, Kasey, Todd, Ben, and my little sister Jenna were working a retreat at good ole CVP when I first met those 3 WKU kids. Kasey and I clicked instantly and before the weekend was over, we had shared a bed in the duplex, given relationship advice and laughed a lot while cleaning dishes and such.

While she was dating Ben and I was dating Todd, she and I would message back and forth over facebook and met up a couple of times during that Spring semester to go on double dates.

This was in Nashville at the Matt Wertz, Jon McLaughlin, Daves Barnes and Gabe Dixon Concert

Please ignore how nasty I look in this picture. And fyi--that was the Braves home opener and it was snowing. Brrrr.

Before we knew it, summer was here. It was my 2nd summer and Kasey's 1st working at camp. She was in Cabin 15 and I was in 14 (as always) and almost every other morning, we would go on prayer walks together to catch up and calm our hearts. What a rare and beautiful time to share with a best friend!!

This is the only picture I could find with both of us in it from 2007. Weird.

Kasey was starting her senior year at WKU and I was in my junior year. We kept in touch through phone dates, facebook messages, and texting whenever we could. If I have one area to brag in, I'd say that I'm pretty good about keeping up with long distance friendships for the most part! We say each other at the Christmas party that year and probably only once or twice more before we started another summer at Vesper Point together.

This was before the Christmas party...we were reliving our glory days of dance clinic! haha

We learned a lot about our friendship that next summer though. With Kasey as Head Girls, we definitely didn't see eye to eye all of the time, but our friendship grew stronger because of that.

One Sunday after church, we did a little photo shoot. How rare it was that we were in make up, let alone a dress!!

This was one of the several times that summer that we completely unintentionally matched--great minds think alike?

After that summer Kasey started working as a dental hygenist in Bowling Green and I embarked (that sounds so heroic) on my senior year at Georgia. I've learned so much from Kasey because she's been a year ahead of me in school and in life! We talked a lot that year about the transitions we were both going through. I can also, no matter what, count on Kasey to give me honest (not always easy to hear) Biblical advice on my life. I have taken that quality in her for granted from time to time, but I appreciate and value that in her so much more than she'll know.

This was during one of our weekend trips in Chattanooga when we stayed at the Geyers! That already seems like ages ago!

Towards the end of my senior year, Kasey started to talk about a boy. And I could tell that this wasn't just any boy because every time we talked, JR's name came up in conversation. But she always reassured me that they were just friends like they had been for the past several years--yeah right, I thought. The whole time we spent together before camp started, she was texting this boy and I knew this wasn't just any boy.

Carrying on our tradition of running the Peachtree! At least Kasey had the right sized shoe this year!

But Kasey kept would never admit it was more than just friends--until one weekend while I was at camp, I checked facebook and saw "In a relationship with JR Vance". I called her right away! And called her out on not telling her best friend! But we quickly got over that and I insisted on details of the relationship. The rest of this fall, we would talk about JR and I knew that something was coming--a ring.

JR sent me a facebook message asking for my approval more or less and at that moment, I knew he was the one for Kasey because he knew how important our friendship is to one another. Ever since the night she called me to ask me to be her maid of honor, our talks have been about flowers, programs, and dresses (and other life happenings too). I'm not gonna say that it's been easy to be the maid of honor from afar, but I wouldn't want to see anyone else being there for Kasey. I know Kasey's heart and I know her excitement for her new life with JR. She is going to make the most beautiful bride and I consider it an honor and a blessing to know her as my best friend and I as her maid of honor. It's going to take an act of God for me to not cry from time to time this weekend, so we'll have to see how my tear ducts hold up. I cannot think of anyone more deserving of a wonderful, Godly husband that JR will be for her.
I love you best friend and I'm so excited to share this weekend with you! And besides, I'm not losing a best friend, I'm gaining a brother-in-law because, let's be honest, you're more like a sister to me than anything else. And yes, I just started tearing up a little bit...bring out the kleenexes!