My grandson Ty married his sweetheart Ava on August 1. It was a wonderful event, start to finish. It was my privilege to serve them communion, so I talked to them while everyone could see us talking but the three of us spoke privately. Then I prayed for them, and honestly, if I could choose whether to perform a whole wedding (which I’ve done many times) or have those special moments centered on Christ’s sacrifice for us, providing the model for godly marriage, I would choose leading in communion in a heartbeat. It was precious and a pleasure not to have a microphone so I could say just what I wanted for only them to hear.
Ava is a godly young woman and has become very dear to me over the last few years. After raising two daughters, then having five grandsons who Nanci and I adore, it is my joy to now have two wonderful granddaughters added to our family through marriage!
Ava Stump, you are the best! Richie Stump, you are the best! I thank God for both of you, and I thank God in advance for who He may have in mind for my other grandsons.
There is nothing like seeing five grandsons grow up to become good men who know Jesus. But there is also nothing like seeing two new young adult granddaughters (who I did not know as they grew up) and realize how God was sovereignly working in their lives all those years preparing them to meet and marry our grandsons. They love Jesus with all their hearts. (And they both call me “Pops,” as their husbands do, and as all the guys on our tennis team did. 😊)
Here’s Ava and Ty with her family:
I videoed Ty and Ava having fun with their bridal party before the wedding. (The photo shoot was a blast! 😂) The guy on the right is my grandson Jake, Ty’s older brother, who got married to his wife Richie last summer. The guy on the left is William McLaughlin, son of Heidi who is a vital part of EPM, and William is a close friend of both Ty and Jake.
Jake and William are below again. Check out what they did when the photographer asked them to move closer:
Seeing my grandsons with their closest friends, some of whom I coached for Barlow High tennis, was such a highlight.
Watching our daughter Angie and her husband Dan help put on their sons’ weddings for two summers, back-to-back, takes me back to Nanci and our daughters' weddings six weeks apart (yes, they both got married in the same summer!).
Ava and Ty and with the pastor who married them, my friend Steve Keels, up front at the beginning of the wedding:
Ty and Ava dancing:
Ty and his mom Ang dancing:
I said at both Karina’s and Angela’s weddings, in the summer of 2001, that I believed their two grandmothers, Lucille Alcorn and Adele Noren, were watching from Heaven, since Scripture suggests our loved ones now in Heaven are sometimes witnessing, in at least some capacity, God’s unfolding plan on Earth (see what I share in this video).
Because Nanci’s mom had been blind her last few years here, she was likely seeing the girls’ weddings in a way she couldn’t have before she died.
Now, 25 years later, Nanci is the grandmother who couldn’t be there for her grandkids’ weddings. But I truly believe God gave Nanci a front-row seat to both Jake’s and Ty’s weddings to their brides. Resurrection and eternal life await—Angela, Karina, and our sons-in-law and grandchildren and friends who love Jesus will one day be with Him and each other forever.
Honestly, Nanci’s single greatest regret in her final month before going to Heaven was not being able to meet the women that would marry our grandsons. Nanci hasn’t met Richie and Ava yet but she certainly will. And I guarantee she will adore both of them! I strongly suspect she already does!
