The Bachelorette

Did you think I was going to talk about the show? Ha! I have admitted before that watching The Bachelor and The Bachelorette is one of my guilty pleasures.

But, that's not what (or who) this post is about.

My dear sister Allison is getting married in just 6 short days (it's coming up so quickly now). Isn't she gorgeous?!



Both Jenn and Courtney (the other sisters) have posted about how this wedding is somehow different. Somehow bittersweet. It's getting all of us choked up for many reasons.

First of all, Alli is the last sister to get married. It's like closing the final chapter to our childhood. It's made all of us very nostalgic lately. There have been many conversations in recent weeks talking about our childhood. The things that made us laugh, the hard times, the many ways we saw God's hand working in our lives, both individually and as a family.

That brings me to the second reason this wedding is a little more emotional than the previous ones. It's a long story and I'll really try to summarize it for you. Alli became anorexic in her early teens. She was very sick, in and out of hospitals and she got down to a scary 58 pounds at one point. We thought we were going to lose her.

Although it sounds strange, her sickness saved our family. After it was obvious that the hospitalizations weren't doing anything for Alli and her eating disorder, she was sent to Remuda Ranch, an inpatient center that specializes in eating disorders out of state. In order for Alli to be fully recovered and free to return home, a week of family counseling was required.

It was one of the most intense, hardest weeks of our lives. We cried. A lot. We watched our Dad break down many times. Our parents marriage was saved because of that week of counseling too. SOOO much healing came from that week.

And after a couple long months of being at Remuda Ranch, Alli was healed. For good!

Now, 13 years later, Alli is living a happy and healthy life. And praise God, she's getting married! We are all SO thrilled for her and her fiance Brian.

Alli's bachelorette party was last night and we had a wonderful time! We started out at a martini bar in Old Town. At first it was just the 4 sisters and our very close friend Annie who we often call our 5th sister. Annie lived in our neighborhood and grew up with us. She was always with us. :)







After the martini bar, we walked to my favorite restaurant of all time and had dinner at The Melting Pot. I would say that was the best part of the night. ;-)



We played a fun game where we each had to buy Alli some panties and she had to guess who bought which one. She did amazingly well.



We were joined at dinner with 3 of Alli's close friends. There was 8 of us total. At first I thought that sounded like a really small bachelorette party, but it turned out to be the perfect number. We were really able to have great conversations because we all fit perfectly around the table.





We talked and laughed a lot. It really was the perfect bachelorette party.



I'm so glad Alli had such a great night honoring her. I praise God that Alli is where she is today and that he brought Brian into her life. I just know her wedding is going to be so beautiful and sentimental. I think there will be plenty of tears shed on Saturday. The good kind. :)