My First Neice Engaged over Easter Weekend!

So happy to share the announcement of my first neice's engagement, which happened over Easter weekend in Vermont!

This is my sister Dorcas's oldest daughter, Annette, and her fiance is Samuel Johnson, from Michigan.
I'm posting these pictures Annette and Dorcas sent family, with permission.

He's from a Christian home-schooled family of ten children.

So now it is so fun calling my sister in Vermont and chatting about the fun weekend the newly engaged couple spent over Easter, 

and plans for the upcoming wedding in July.  

So I have two nephews married, one with a baby girl, and another nephew is engaged to be married the end of May.

But this is the first niece to get married!

It's so exciting!

Below was my favorite of all the engagement photos Annette sent.

Of course, I love rainbows, and my sister Dorcas told how the sky was dark and a bit rainy that Easter Sunday,

but she saw the sun peeking through and wondered if there was a rainbow. 

And there was!

.

Not only did it seem like a perfect backdrop for a newly engaged couple on Easter Sunday,

but it reminds me that God's promises do not fail.

As I wait my turn for my children to find friends and spouses,

I know that though He may choose to ask us to wait a while, He will not fail us.

He has called us to be separate from the world, but He will not ask us to walk alone.

First of all, He will be with us, and in the big picture, that is enough.

But in the smaller picture, He is preparing someone for each of our children.

As James Plank preached Wednesday night at Inter-church Holiness Convention (which we watched online), there are "seven thousand who have not bowed their knee to Baal," and we don't have to hide in a cave like Elijah did, thinking he was the only one who cared about God,
There are other young people out there who are interested in doing God's will,

seeking the lost and singing His praise,

living outside the cave and outside the box,
not all cookie cutters but all with a mind to serve God and others.
Not of the world, but in the world.
Reaching out into our communities with caring and grace.
Samuel Johnson, whom Annette is marrying, is already a member of the city council,
and Samuel Lucas (who happens to be our son) was just accepted as a member of the local volunteer fire department!

Sam had to provide a background check, driving record, physical exam, and high school diploma.
They accepted his home school diploma!
He didn't get home till 11:30 Wednesday night after training and questioning, but he was accepted.
Jonathan and I are thrilled.
Maybe we are supposed to be worried about all the dangers he may face, but instead we are thrilled and thankful--and Jonathan is already teasing the Rookie Fireman!