This past month I had the privilege of not only attending but officiating the religious ceremony of my little brother William’s wedding in southern France. You may not have known that I had a “little brother” named William. The story is that I adopted him way back in 1995 when I was at boarding school in the Ivory Coast.
Our school had a “Big Brother/Big Sister” program where high schoolers would mentor an elementary kid and they’d do activities together every Tuesday night. William was the son of our school’s new French teacher Hélène Darriet and since I spoke French fairly well I decided to adopt him. He was quite a… rambunctious… little fella and his two nicknames were “Le Petit William” (the Little William) and “Bete Enfant” (Crazy Kid). We were a good pairing.
After I graduated and went to university in the US, the Darriet family eventually moved back to France. We stayed in touch and my family visited them several times in France and their daughter Alexandra even came to live with us for a time in the US.
I was honored to be invited to perform the religious part of William and his bride Sophy’s wedding on June 17th in the beautiful hills around Pic St. Loup in southern France. Thankfully, his mother (my French teacher) helped me to write my message and the vows in proper French so that I could deliver it to those gathered.
The service was incredible, the food was to die for and the partying was awesome. I’m so proud of the mature young man that William has become.
William and Sophy, may God bless your marriage richly as seek His will for your lives and love each other in the way Christ loves you!
You can see more of the beautiful photos by photographer Yann Luine here: https://yannluine.lumys.photo/sophy-william-2017