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  • 8 hours ago
A groom left his stepson in tears after calling him up to the altar and reading personalized vows about stepping up as a father figure. Josh Jahlas, from Des Moines, Iowa, came into stepson Levi's life when Levi was just two years old. Until then, Levi's mom, Lexie, had raised Levi as a single mother – but after meeting Josh, she introduced him to her son and the pair shared an instant connection, with Josh always treating Levi as his own. Ahead of their wedding, Levi saw Josh as no one other than Dad – and given he was very much a part of their love story, Lexie and Josh knew they wanted to include him in the ceremony in some way.
Transcript
00:00Do you want to come up here, Bubba?
00:01Okay, come here, baby.
00:03Come hold our hands.
00:05Levi, buddy, I may not have been there when you were born or seen your first steps,
00:09but I promise to be there for you in every moment.
00:12I was a single mom, finishing grad school, and trying to raise this little boy.
00:18I remember being so nervous about what somebody would think about me having a child.
00:24Lexi didn't try to hide anything.
00:25I mean, she loved this little boy.
00:27It was very obvious to see that she was such a great mother.
00:30Right away was so accepting of it, accepting of Levi.
00:35And from day one, the two of them just hit it off.
00:38I can remember driving around and playing little kid songs he would just love singing to,
00:44and I would sing along and dance with him, and that was just so much fun.
00:47Our love story was not just the two of us.
00:48It involved Levi as well.
00:50We decided we wanted to give vows to him.
00:53Buddy, I may not have been there when you were born or seen your first steps,
00:56but I promise to be there for you in every moment.
01:00Whenever you want to play, run around in the backyard,
01:03or if you need one more bedtime story, I will always be there for you.
01:06I love you, buddy.
01:08I love you, buddy.
01:11Levi, buddy, I always did my best to give you everything that I could,
01:15and it was just you and I for a really long time,
01:18and there was always one thing that no matter how badly I wanted to, I couldn't give you,
01:22and that was a father's love.
01:24But today, officially, our family is complete,
01:26and you get the daddy that you have always deserved.
01:30I'm so happy for you, buddy, and I love you.
01:32Okay?
01:34You can go sit.
01:38I just kind of said what was on my heart.
01:41I would do everything I could to make sure he was happy and taken care of
01:45and everything I could do for him.
01:47That's all I wanted to do.
01:48I didn't know, actually, what Josh was going to say to Levi.
01:51It was just overwhelming.
01:54It was such a powerful moment just to see their love displayed in front of everyone.
01:59In the moment, I didn't think anything of just him hugging me,
02:03but when I go back and watch it, it's like, wow, that meant a lot.
02:06There's a message out there to all the other single moms as well
02:11that your love story is out there, and don't give up hope.
02:16You will find that person, and you're as deserving of love as anyone else.
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