here comes the bride...

So...this saturday my brother will marry his high school sweetheart, Emily. We are all VERY excited about this and have been for a while, seeing that their engagement has lasted over a year. I have the blessing of being the maid of honor, and one of my duties will be to give a toast at the rehearsal dinner. If you know me at all, you'll know that I tend to enjoy speaking in public, and am usually not at a lack of something to say, but this one has me stumped. I want to be funny, personal, sincere and really express my love for both of them and my excitement for their marriage. I have no doubt that my body language will show all of those things, but I want my words to back it up. So in hopes that this will help me develop my speech I've decided to make a list of my favorite memories of my brother...

1. When I was in the 8th grade I was in the backyard trying to help Walker find a limb for a project he was working on for school. We were searching and searching and we finally found the perfect one. As we were walking back to the house I felt something crush underneath my foot, I looked down and my foot was covered with blood. I had stepped on a piece of metal. Walker looked down at it then up at me and immediately took off running as fast as he could, and he was very fast, to the house screaming the whole way for my parents. I know this sounds like a weird favorite memory,it sounds more like a painful one, but it was at this moment that I knew my brother really cared about me. It scared him that I could be hurt and he was going to do whatever it took to make sure I was ok.

2. I love to dance. LOVE IT! and so does my brother! When I was a senior in high school and Walker was in the 8th grade we got to go to youth camp together. This was so fun and the week in and of itself is a great memory. One night at camp we had a dance party, and yes this was a baptist church, so don't tell anyone we danced. Walker grabbed my hand and we stepped out into the middle of about 200 people at camp and he started swinging me around and we danced! It was so much fun! Everyone just stood around us clapping and cheering us on! This is one of the many reasons I love my brother, because he's so fun and wouldn't think twice about stepping out in front of lots of people to show them!

3. Walker has always been a leader. Ever since he was kindergarten my mom has always said there's just something special about him. People listen to him and he leads in a way that is never prideful and never demanding, but in a way that's as if he's listening to Jesus and then just tells the rest of us, "come on guys, this way! I heard Him say this is the way!" His natural ability as a leader led him to many places in life, such as the quarter back of the football team and his classes president. When he reached the end of his senior year of high school he was nomitated for a really great award in Montgomery called the Jimmy Hitchcock award. It's an award for Christian leadership in athletics and academics. It's a huge honor just to be a nominee from your school. Walker has always gone above and beyond making over a 4.0 in high school and excelling in athletics due to his self discipline and hard work. He was blessed enough to be the winner of the award. In my heart, I knew that he had to be the winner, even before they announced it, but when they called his name my heart swelled with pride (the good kind) and I was so thankful that everyone in Montgomery saw the same thing I had always seen in my brother.

This is getting long...so those are just a few favorites, but I feel like this is helping my speech. So, thank you blog world for helping me get a jump start to a very special toast!