Our Story

How this happened

We were friends for almost 10 years and best friends for 5. We were best friends long before either of us thought of it this way. Neither of us can tell you the moment it turned.

Josh introduced us back before any of it. For a long stretch, we were 2 people who knew each other but did not see each other often. Then one summer, a whole group of friends started ending up at Bruce's pool, and the 2 of us were always there.

After that, we talked every day for years. Not about anything, but about everything. When Barry walked at Liberty University, Alisha rode up to Lynchburg, Virginia with him and both of his aunts, Kim and Karla, to watch.

There was a stretch where Alisha’s camper sat in Barry’s back yard, and a neighbor's doodle kept getting loose and wandering over on Sunday afternoons, or as we called them, “Sunday Fundays.” Somebody asked what his name was one of those afternoons, and Barry just blurted out “Frank!” We did not know his real name, and neither of us had any idea he would one day be our sweet Franklin. Franklin took to sleeping underneath Alisha’s camper, and by the time we admitted he lived there, we had already become his parents at the same time. That same doodle is carrying the rings in April.

Somewhere, this summer, it stopped being just a friendship. Neither of us can point to a day or tell you what changed. We can only tell you that it did, and we both knew. We had both prayed a long time for the right person. Neither of us knew we were praying about each other.

Alisha

Ask anybody who knows Alisha, and they will tell you about her as a mama first. Alisha raised Kaleb, and you can see her all over the man he turned out to be. Kaleb is kind, he was raised right, and he works hard. Watch Kaleb with Scotti, and you can see the love coming off of him. He got that from his mama.

Alisha loves Lexi like her own, and the 2 of them are close. Lexi is a wonderful mama to Scotti, and that little girl has 2 parents who pour everything they have into her.

Alisha is her daddy's girl. It was Bruce's pool that whole group of friends kept ending up at, so he had a hand in this long before anybody was paying attention. Barry went to him before he ever asked Alisha to marry him. In April, Bruce is the one marrying us.

In February, Scotti came along and made Alisha a grandmother. Scotti will call her Maudie. The 2 of them light up when they see each other. Alisha is hands on, and when Scotti needs something, everything else waits.

For Barry, Alisha is his calm. Alisha keeps Barry grounded, and when things go sideways, she is the steady one. On a regular evening, we are out by the pool or watching TV with the dogs sprawled out around us. Simply being in the same place is enough.

Barry

Barry takes care of everybody. When something breaks or somebody needs a hand, our friends and family know who they can depend on. The dogs figured that out as well. Franklin wandered over and never left. Sully came in off the street this summer. Caddie and Alisha come as a pair.

Barry comes by it honest. His mother, Kelley, was the rock of the family for a long time. Kelley held everyone together, never quit, and took care of her family. She leaned on the Lord, and the rest of the family leaned on her.

Barry's grandfather, Danny, helped raise him. Barry called him Daddy, and he meant every bit of it. Danny taught Barry how to work, how to be a man, and how to trust the Lord.

Kelley and Danny passed away 5 days apart. The family could have fallen apart right there. Barry worked tirelessly to get what was left of the family under one roof and did whatever it took to care for them. That roof is the house we live in now, with Barry's aunts, Kim and Karla, and Kim's husband, Dave. Barry followed right in his mother's footsteps and became the rock for his family.

They took in Alisha as one of their own. Truth be told, everybody seemed to know about us before we did.

On September 4, Barry got down on one knee on the beach at sunset, surrounded by family and closest friends. Bruce and Kaleb had already given Barry their blessing.

The 5 of Us

Kaleb and Lexi are Barry's kids now too, and Scotti is his granddaughter. When Barry made up his mind to ask Alisha, he went to Bruce, and he went to Kaleb, because Kaleb's blessing mattered just as much.

Scotti will call us Maudie and Papa Bear. Alisha always called him Bear, so Papa Bear came easily. In April, Scotti will be 14 months old and carrying the petals, and we are fine with every eye going to her.

The sand we were standing on that evening on the beach came home with us. In April, it gets poured in together in a ceremony that unites us as a family. Purple (both Kelley and Alisha’s favorite color) for Alisha, teal for Barry, and coral for Kaleb, Lexi and Scotti. The place we got engaged becomes the symbol that makes the 5 of us a family.