Many of you will remember my youngest daughter Jessica was married last July in Port Angeles, Washington where her husband (also named) Chris is stationed aboard a Coast Guard cutter.  This past Saturday, my oldest daughter Rachel was married to Daniel King of Franklin at Hillvue Heights Church.  Here I am at 45 with both kids grown and married.  As I walked Rachel down the aisle I had to ask myself 'is this really happening?'  I don't know why but weddings and funerals all seem surreal to me...like I'm watching a movie but I'm in it.

I've grown to appreciate Rachel's husband Daniel and his family over the past two years...especially McKenzie, Daniel's six-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.  I've got to get used to saying 'I'm a grandpa now'.  Wow...that's weird!  But I'm as ready for it as I will ever be.  McKenzie is just so sweet and is still in the process of warming up to me.  I'll never forget visiting her classroom last year and seeing the glow in her eyes when she saw me enter the room.  We haven't figured out yet if I'm going to be called "Papaw" or "Pappy" or "Grandpa".  "Papaw" sounds best to me but I'll let her choose.

The rehearsal and wedding both went off without a hitch but there were a few tense moments just before Rachel was to walk down the aisle...and guess who's fault that was?  Yep...daddy-o!  As you probably heard me mention on TV, I was in charge of compiling the music for the wedding and reception.  I spent most of Thursday and Friday getting all the right songs together and making sure it was all in the right order and sounding the way Rachel wanted it.  On top of that, Rachel sang with a track called "Standing Right Next To Me" during her wedding that we recorded a few days ago in my home studio.  Everything sounded great and I double-checked my CD's to make sure it was all there.  A few minutes before the wedding, my good friend and Hillvue audio director Marc Owens ran downstairs and said "there's nothing on the CD's!"  I thought 'that's impossible...I checked those!'  Panic insued until I remembered I had backed up every song on my 2 GB thumbdrive!  There was Rachel and the entire wedding ensemble waiting to enter the sanctuary and we're still trying to get the music to work.  I was praying hard 'dear God, please don't let me ruin my daughter's wedding...please let the thumbdrive work!'  It did and everything was fine.  I don't believe I saw Rachel panic once.  Even through all of that she was calm, cool and collected...unlike her father!  After we made it back home, I checked the CD's again out of curiosity and they played just fine.  What the...?!?  My instinct with audio must have told me to never trust a CD and that's why I backed everything on my thumbdrive.  Some CD and DVD players have a difficult time "reading" certain custom made CD's.

I am happy to share some photos of Rachel's wedding with you here.  Enjoy!  CA