we're ready for forever.

"I knew I loved you when suddenly "home" went from a place to a person."

Jessica Lander Henderson was born on October 6 in 1990, and grew up in Lexington, South Carolina. When she was a little girl, her mom would sing while her dad played her the acoustic guitar and she fell in love with the sound. Soon, she started dancing and centered her childhood around it, making room for a few great friends, copious amounts of books and the occasional boy band obsession. Through the years, she spent summers and holidays between both sides of her family - part in Greenwood and Ninety-Six, and part in Irmo. Coincidentally, not only was her maternal grandmother the former principal of a school Harrison later attended, but she also lives just down the street from one of Harrison’s friends that he would visit from childhood to present. Her first job was teaching dance classes, followed by an ice cream shop where she had to sing for her tips.

Harrison John Pappas was born on May fifteenth in 1991, and grew up just across the dam in Irmo, South Carolina. He was a force to be reckoned with from day one, quickly learning how to push buttons - starting with his immensely patient older sister, Ellie. He grew up playing every sport imaginable and attended preschool at the same church that Jessica attended Sunday school - again just barely missing each other. Harrison found an amazing group of friends early on in life, that over time turned into family that still gets together every chance they get. His charm eventually landed him the secretive position as the mascot for Irmo, the infamous yellow jacket, and his antics will be remembered for years to come. Somewhere along the way, he fell in love with music and picked up a guitar and never put it down.. eventually using it to sweep Jess off her feet.

We were seventeen years old when we met over the mutual loss of a very special soul. We spent all summer running into each other and having fun, laughing out loud and trying to remind ourselves what it means to enjoy living in the moment. It was a summer neither of us, and so many of our friends, could forget if we tried. After high school, we went our separate ways as we continued to find ourselves and learn about the world. And though we were unknowingly in the same place at the same time on multiple occasions, we didn’t see each other again for ten years. We had been just barely missing each other for so much of our lives and then finally… we collided. It was almost instantaneous how quickly we were drawn together. We had both grown so much in the last decade… and along the way we had somehow grown into two people that fit so perfectly together.

In the spring of 2017, we discovered that we were expecting a baby girl. It was a complete surprise to both of us, but an exciting one. Of course we panicked. We weren't ready, we hadn't planned this, and we didn't feel like we could handle another dog - let alone a baby. But sometimes life knows you're ready before you realize it yourself, and as it turns out, we make a great team. Amelia Elizabeth Pappas made her debut in November, already late like her mother, and our lives have been a thousand times brighter since. We thought we knew love. We thought we had already felt the greatest love imaginable, but the moment she came into our lives we realized that it was possible for our hearts to exist within someone else. We’ve always loved a good adventure, but this one is by far our favorite. Her little feet that used to curl into the palms of our hands now patter down the hallway.. and one day will walk away to stand on their own. But until then, we will continue to grow together and learn from each other every day, and build a life that revolves around love and laughter. This day has been a long time coming, but so worth the wait. We are so excited to be surrounded by all the people we love as we make it official and finally become The Pappas Family.