June 8th, 2002
Nine years ago, our twin daughters were married in a double wedding ceremony to two very special young men. (click to read about how the decision to have a double wedding came to be) In the photo above: Joshua Alexander & Jamie Lorraine ♥ Jill Arlene & Brad Emery
Nine years ago, our twin daughters were married in a double wedding ceremony to two very special young men. (click to read about how the decision to have a double wedding came to be) In the photo above: Joshua Alexander & Jamie Lorraine ♥ Jill Arlene & Brad Emery
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| Jamie John and Jill |
John’s heart swelled with love for his daughters as he walked them down the isle to give their hands in marriage to their waiting fiancĂ©es.
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| Brad, Jill and John, Pastor Mark, Jamie and Joshua |
Giving them in marriage was much easier knowing that the men they chose, love and honor the Lord and desire to be godly husbands to their wives.
~*~
Joshua Alexander
The thought never crossed my mind when I met this little guy he would one day be our son-in-law.
Josh and John are identical twins too (Josh is wearing the helmet).
We met these sweet little boys when they
were not yet two years old.
were not yet two years old.
When I was expecting our twins, we moved in with John’s parents for seven months, with our 1 1/2 year old daughter, Erin to save a little for a down payment toward our first home.
I have mentioned that my husband grew up with many of his cousins as next door neighbors and that the family got together frequently for backyard barbecues.
Right next door lived John’s great-Uncle Wes who was married to Aunt Bobbi.
Aunt Bobbi had a niece who had two little twin boys.
During one of the barbecues (Josh’s mom remembers it as a shower), Jane and Albert came over for us to meet their little guys as they knew we were expecting twins too.
I vividly remember looking down at two adorable, dark haired boys and thinking about my own babies due in several month.
Great-Uncle Wes was the brother of John’s Grandmother.
Since Jane’s Aunt Bobbi married into the family there is a distant relation through marriage but not through blood. John and Jane share cousins, her first and John’s second, and we occasionally attend a common wedding, shower or funeral together. And, bless her heart, she and Albert include us in many get together’s,
because, she says,
“We’re family!”
because, she says,
“We’re family!”
We didn’t keep in touch with Jane and Albert as we were from different sides of the family.
Years later, Jane and Albert began attending the church we attended since the girls were just three years old.
Jamie and Josh connected through church youth group and ministries as well as some homeschool activities and continued as friends until Jamie finished high school. After high school, Jamie headed on a missions trip to Brazil and it was during that time of separation that she and Josh realized their love for each other and their relationship became serious and focused on marriage.
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| Jamie and Joshua |
Now, nine years later they are raising five little ones,
Keri Jill, Noah, Silas, Caleb and Cambrie
(ages now 7, 6, 5, 3 and 1)
Brad Emery
We met this cutie pie when he was a freshman in college.
Brad came from Central New York and Jill from Southern New Jersey to attend Baptist Bible College located just about equidistant from both families.
They met three days into their freshman year.
Jill would email about her new life away at college and mention a young man she was friends with.
As the email continued, I sensed a deepening fondness and would write to her saying,
“It’s growing”.
“What’s growing? Nothing’s growing”,
she would respond reminding us of her adamant decision to have no attachments as she entered college.
she would respond reminding us of her adamant decision to have no attachments as she entered college.
During our first visit back to her college for Parents Weekend, we went to watch Brad play basketball.
She pointed him out across the gym and admitted a liking toward him.
Well, that liking soon turned into a serious relationship.
After freshman year ended, Brad transfered to the University of Syracuse and lived at his home and Jill returned home where she began studies in a local Nursing school. (She soon realized that nursing was not where her heart was and left school to work full time).
Jill and Brad continued a long-distance courtship and were married the summer before Brad entered his Senior year. Their first baby came just before their first anniversary and he worked and studied to get his Master’s in math and teaching certificate.
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| Jill & Brad |
Brad & Jill with their three children
Shaela Jamie, Ryan, Brenna
ages 8, 6 and 4.
“Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”
Ephesians 5: 24-25
Photos by Photo Loft Photography, Medford NJ
Beautiful post, love the stories and the photos. God is good!
Thanks so much for joining our Wedding Blog Party! You've shared such a wonderful story of two very loving beautiful young ladies and their husbands. I just love this post! I enlarged each pic to pour over them all! Beautiful brides, beautiful families. And I love that each girl named a daughter after the other! You have such a precious family! Thanks again so much for sharing!
Big TX Hugs,
Stephanie
Angelic Accents
Congratulations to Jill and Jamie and their mates on their anniversary….very sweet post and memories.
What a lovely post! and a wonderful family. Your daughters, 'sons' and grandchildren are beautiful. Our daughters were married 6 weeks apart.
~ Julie
This is the most beautiful post – how special for them to be married together AND that they both had godly husbands that you loved. I am glad to have found you.
many blessings!
The double wedding was beautiful. And the stories added some intimacy of your beautiful family.
Wow! A double wedding, sounds fantastic!
You have a very beautiful family!
Big Hugs
Charo
I found this post so interesting and so well done. What a beautiful family God has blessed you with. Twins marrying on the same day…how special.
I never cease to be amazed by the way the Lord brings couples together. My name is Marenda blog is ButterFly Flutter http://www.stileshouseisfull.blogspot.com. Found you by Jeremiah 29:11.
Precious photos and stories. …what special memories! And your family continues to grow and be blessed.
Blessings & Aloha!
Lovely story telling Lorraine, and all true!
Precious photos! What a blessing to see your lovely daughters with such wonderful guys and families.
A most blessed and Happy Anniversary to your precious couples. This is the sweetest story that I have read in a long time. I am such a sap for love stories~grin~. And those children are so adorable. Lorraine, You have such a beautiful family.
Thanks for sharing.
Sue
What a great story. Thanks for sharing!
Sweet! Lovely! Adorable! Amazing!
And Blessed!
What a lovely post, and wonderful family! God bless them!
Lorraine, I love reading this post of your girls and the stories of how they met their husbands! (and wow, double wedding – reminded me of 'pride and prejudice'!)
def blessed with so many beautiful grandkids too 🙂
Beautiful! I enjoyed reading about the girls and their stories. Thanks for sharing your family with us.
This was such a fun post to read. Congratu;ations to both couples. The pictures are lovely and look at all those little blessings you have!
How sweet the story about your twin girls and their hubbys, thank you for sharing it. I love the wedding pics and you're all beautiful!…and the grandchildren, well!…so very lucky with eight!! Lots of hugs.
FABBY
that must have been some wedding. Happy Anniversary to both of the lovely couples. Wishing them many more to come
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What a lovely posting. Thank you! You all are truly blessed! Cassandra ♥
What great photos and special stories…wow! you much be so proud of both girls and their choice of fine young men. Look how your family has grown!
Thanks for sharing all of those lovely memories…
That was such a good post, I really enjoyed reading it! Your daughters are still as beautiful as when they got married. How fun that they had a twin wedding!!! Thank you for sharing:)
Beautiful family!!
What a beautiful family you have. So fun to have twins and a double wedding and to be blessed with such Godly SIL's. Your grands, which also includes Jared, are all such blessings! I enjoyed these beautiful stories and photos so much.
Lorraine- What a beautiful family you have…and wonderful sil's and beautiful grand kids. I grew up just across the border from Syracuse NY in PA. The boy is from good stock, isn't he?;>)
Wonderful pictures and memories. What a blessing. I'll bet your hubby shed a few tears giving both girls away on the same day! xo Diana
Wow! What lovely pictures and even lovelier stories! So fun to see a twin wedding! I will have to show it to my twins…they are only 5 years old now, but they do love twinny things!