We Are Family

I thought I would share some wedding day photos of our family.  These are just random pictures taken at the wedding that family members have sent me. Some of you are old friends and have known our children since they were little.  But some of you are new friends and haven't met all of our children.   We have five children: Caleb, Seth, Zachary, Ruth, and Titus.  Caleb & Kristina and Seth & Camille and their children live here in Durham, ON.  Zachary & Elisha live in Charlotte, NC.  Ruth and Glenn live in Raleigh, N.C.  And now Titus and Alyssa are living in Lynchburg, VA.  So we are a bit spread out and the last time we were together as a family is almost three years ago and that was just for a few hours.  So I thought I would share some pictures that were taken at the wedding.  

Caleb & Kristina

Gideon, Aurora, & Evie

 Seth & Camille

Aubrey, Jeremiah, & Gavin

Zachary & Elisha

Ruth & Glenn

Caleb, Ruth, Titus, Alyssa, Zachary, Seth

Kristina, Elisha, me, Ruth, Ruth, Camille

Aurora, & Aubrey

Vern and I with our grandchildren

Gideon, Evie, Jeremiah, Aubrey, Gavin, & Aurora

Ruth and I

 Caleb and Kristina

Kristina, Ruth, Aurora, & Elisha

Elisha

Me and my sister Ruth

Our Chicago family that made it to the wedding.

PJ (nephew) DanRon (brother), Charles (brother) My sister Ruth and her husband Al, Darius (brother)

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Titus Otto Dyck

The rain did lift and Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day.  Vern had the privilege of marrying Titus and Alyssa so that made their wedding extra special.  Alyssa was a stunning bride.  But what made her even more beautiful is her lovely sweet spirit.  She was radiant inside and out.  Yes, tears of joy were shed as Titus and Alyssa committed their lives to each other.  Here is a snap shot of some of the wedding.

Destination Wedding - Dayton, TN

Our last family wedding was a destination wedding to Monroe, NC.  This time, the destination wedding brought us together at the Fort Bluff Christian Camp which is located close to Dayton, TN.  Days before the wedding there were thunderstorms.  I think each car load of our family members drove through pouring rain to get to TN.  We were all praying like crazy that Titus and Alyssa could have their wedding ceremony outside at the beautiful Bluff lookout as it is such a beautiful location.  The Lord answered those prayers and we had a beautiful day. It was a joy and blessing that all of our children and grandchildren could make it to the wedding.  Our family got together with Alyssa's family for a rehearsal dinner (that we had at lunch time).  We followed the lunch with the rehearsal which made it possible for the Dyck brothers to get away and spend a special afternoon/evening together with Titus before his wedding.  

The Ending of Another Chapter in Our Lives

As I sit here writing this our baby is downstairs packing up all of his earthly possessions and loading them in the the awaiting vehilce for his big move early tomorrow morning.  The summer is over and it is time to get back to university. Yes, we have gone through this drill before with him as well as with each of our other children.   Although this is not just any ordinary move back to school for another year, this is a move into a new chapter in his life.  In five days, our baby who is now a young man, will be getting married.  It seemed like just yesterday that we were holding him in our arms.  We have been savoring these last days as we have tried to make some special memories together before he moves out.  

For years we have prayed for a Godly young lady for Titus to marry.  And God has answered our prayers in a BIG way in bringing Alyssa into his life.  We could not be happier for Titus and Alyssa!  However, as this chapter in our lives come to an end and Titus spends this last day in our house as a single man, we find ourselves in need of a few extra hugs and a box of kleenex close by.  

A Dream Come True

Right now my mind is flashing back about 24 years to Vern out on our porch attending to the medical need of the people we worked with in South America.  A long side of him is a little three year old girl who was always very intrigued with what was happening.  At times she would be holding the flashlight to give her dad a bit of light to look at an infected wound.  

Then in high school this little girl started talking about becoming a nurse or even a doctor.  Off she went to university to get her nursing degree.  The nursing program was very intense and through Ruth's high school and college years she had a number of sicknesses coming down with Mono a number of times, getting bitten by a cat in which she needed emergency surgery, and then there was the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  

Ruth has had a lot of determination and was able to make it through university even through all her health issues and still graduated with excellent grades.  

It wasn't long after she finished university that she started looking into becoming a nurse practitioner.  It is quite competitive to get into a program but she only applied to one place and God opened up that door to her to continue on with her dream.  Thus she started on her educational journey to become a nurse practitioner.  Although being in a new phase of life with being married and working full time going to school was going to be a HUGE challenge.  So 27 months ago Ruth started a program to become a nurse practitioner.  It has been a LONG haul with early mornings, late nights, saying NO to many things in order to fully focus on her schooling. (And of course drinking a LOT of coffee.)  This morning Ruth took boards to become a nurse practitioner and passed.   YEAH!!!

She now has a few more letters after her name:  Ruth Galle MSN FNP-C.  There were indeed tears of joy being shed this morning when Ruth called that she had passed her test. Our little girl's dream has become a reality.  As we were crying and celebrating together we took a minute to thank God together for the health and strength he gave through this whole program.  YEAH GOD!!!!

To Our precious daughter Ruth: we could not be prouder of you.  We know how hard you have worked to push through this program and you have once again finished with honors.  You are such a tender and kind hearted person we know God will use you in so many ways to not only help people with their medical needs but to shine the love of Jesus on them.  As you  enter into a new phase of life as a Nurse Practitioner may you continue to make a difference in this world touching lives for eternity!  We love you and your cheerleading squad it ready to cheer you on in this new chapter of life.