Bride surprises the Matron of Honor in the most unexpected way. Her best friend missed her wedding so the bride surprised her at the hospital. Friendship holds a deep bond anchored within our hearts, especially our best friends. They become the sister we never had. We can be our most authentic selves, and they love us for who we are. RELATED: Bride Is In For A Huge Surprise When She Gets Tom Hanks In Her Wedding Photos Arielle and Christine Have a Special Type of Friendship True friends become an integral part of each other’s lives, sharing in every joy, sorrow, triumph, and challenge. They hold each other’s secrets, dreams, and fears, providing a sanctuary of unconditional love and understanding. This kind of friendship is more than just a relationship; it’s a soulful connection that offers strength, support, and unwavering loyalty. It’s about showing up in the most critical moments, even when life gets complicated, and cherishing the shared memories that weave a tapestry of trust and devotion. Such friendships become the bedrock of one’s existence, promising a lifetime of companionship, love, and a bond that can never be broken. This kind of friendship is shared between Arielle deNeergaard and Christine West, who have been best friends for nearly two decades. When Arielle was planning her June wedding, she knew she wanted Christine by her side. Christine, who had Arielle as her Maid of Honor at her own wedding, eagerly anticipated returning the favor. RELATED: Wedding Bouquet Toss Turns Into Surprise Proposal For Bridesmaid A Sister and a Soulmate “She was my maid of honor at my wedding, so me being the maid of honor for her and doing those duties was something that I really, really, really wanted to do,” Christine said. To Arielle, Christine was not just a best friend but a "sister and soulmate." However, shortly after Arielle’s request, Christine discovered she was pregnant. Both women were unsure what would happen, given Christine’s due date was so close to the wedding. Christine gave birth to her first child with her husband Chandler on June 6, just two days before Arielle’s June 8 wedding. It seemed likely Christine would have to miss her best friend’s big day. Arielle had made peace with the idea of not having Christine at her wedding, but when she realized she could surprise her friend before the ceremony, she jumped at the chance. RELATED:101 ‘What Is Friendship' Quotes Will Touch Your Heart Arielle Drove to the Hospital With Her Photographer “She’s my best friend and my sister and soulmate. I just couldn’t imagine not sharing that moment with her,” Arielle said. “And because there was a way to make it happen, too, I was just like, let’s do this.” Arielle had a big surprise planned for the best friend she’d known since first grade. On the morning of her wedding, Arielle, dressed in her white wedding gown, drove to the hospital with her photographer for a special surprise visit. With Chandler’s blessing, Arielle opened the door to Christine’s hospital room. Christine was “shell-shocked.” “The thought of her thinking to do that was just absolutely beautiful,” Christine said. “It just shows how selfless she is as a person and who she is to her core and how important our relationship is, for her to genuinely have taken time away from her literal wedding to come and see me all in the hospital bed.” RELATED: Bride Chooses Her 89-Year-Old Grandma As A Bridesmaid Both the Bride and New Mom Teared Up Both the bride and the new mom teared up during the surprise, and they said it couldn’t have turned out any better than they imagined. What an incredible moment to witness your best friend dressed in white and ready to walk down the aisle. Christine got to see her best friend before anybody else got to see her on the big day. As Arielle and Christine’s story beautifully illustrates, the bonds of true friendship and sisterhood are unbreakable. Their unwavering support for each other, even in the most pivotal moments of their lives, demonstrates the profound impact of such a connection. This extraordinary bond not only enriches their lives but also serves as an inspiring testament to the enduring power of love, loyalty, and friendship. Through every milestone and challenge, friends who become sisters remind us that we are never alone, and that the ties of true friendship can weather any storm, providing strength, joy, and a sense of belonging that lasts a lifetime. YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Grandparents Finally Get Their First Dance At Wedding 65 Years After They Tied The Knot Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” WATCH: Her Best Friend Missed Her Wedding, So the Bride Surprised Her in the Hospital LISTEN: Bride's Father And Stepfather Unite To Escort Down The Aisle | Good Samaritan Thought She Was Rescuing Kittens h/t: ABC News Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Good Morning America The post Her Best Friend Missed Her Wedding, So the Bride Surprised Her in the Hospital appeared first on GodUpdates.

A federal judge in Mississippi blocked a proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services this week, siding with a group of Republican attorneys general who warned the rule from the Biden administration would force health care providers to accept radical gender ideology. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. ruled that HHS expanded its statutory authority when it proposed a rule to expand prohibitions against sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Republican officials, led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, said that the rule would force states to pay for transgender surgeries on children. “Today a federal court said no to the Biden administration’s attempt to illegally force every health care provider in America to adopt the most extreme version of gender ideology,” Skrmetti said. “The administration has over and over again issued regulations that mangle the law to advance an ideological agenda.” “This case is just one of many examples of Tennessee working with other states to block the unlawful abuse of regulatory power,” Skrmetti added. “Today’s order puts the rule on pause while we keep fighting to ensure this illegal rule never goes into effect.” In his decision, Guirola wrote that he was blocking the rule “so far as this final rule is intended to extend discrimination on the basis of sex to include discrimination on the basis of gender identity.” “The Court finds that Plaintiffs have demonstrated that there is a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their claims and that they will suffer irreparable harm in the form of either compliance costs or lost federal funding,” the judge wrote. “The substantial cost of compliance with the 181-page rule weighs in favor of maintaining the status quo. Therefore, Plaintiffs have demonstrated that they are entitled to a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting Defendants from enforcing HHS’s May 2024 Rule.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Other states that sued included Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia. Their complaint against HHS said that the rule would make the states “use taxpayer funds to pay for unproven and costly gender-transition interventions through Medicaid and state health plans — even for children who may suffer irreversible harms.” The rule had been set to go into effect on July 5.

Tonight is the big night for Joe Biden. Why? Because his last big night, at the presidential debate, was a giant flop, a huge fail. The debate now seems like it was ten years ago. Joe Biden went on stage with Donald Trump and physically expired on the stage. He looked terrible, and he’s spent the week since the debate trying to prove that he is not, in fact, dead. He is, in the words of Miracle Max from “The Princess Bride,” “mostly dead.” Perhaps a little bit alive. So his task has been to prove he’s alive — and it’s not going particularly well.  On July 4, Biden tried to give a speech in the Rose Garden. It did not go well. He started babbling nonsensically about Trump, and suckers and losers — a perfect July 4 message for the American people, who were celebrating the 248th year of independence from Great Britain.  He babbled: You know, I was in that World War I cemetery (note: It was a World War II cemetery) in France and one of our colleagues, the former president, didn’t want to go and be up there … probably shouldn’t have said (unintelligible) … We got to just remember who in the hell we are. We’re the United States of America. It was amazing that when he said, “We have to remember who the hell we are,” that he had to take a break there to remember who we are. On his way out of the Rose Garden, he turned to everybody and said, You got me, man. I’m not going anywhere. All right. All right. I’ll come back out when they let … open the gate. Okay? Thank you, thank you, thank you … One last thing … When I was (unintelligible) there’s always congestion on the highways. No congestion anymore. No, you go out on the highway, there’s no congestion. And so what they get me to stop talking and say, ‘We just shut down all the roads, Mr. President. You’re going to lose all the votes if you don’t get … (unintelligible).’ This is him reassuring people that he’s not leaving? This man is an empty suit. He is no longer even room temperature. He has now entered into his carbon-dated half-life. WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show The whole Biden administration is missing. They are the empty chair that Clint Eastwood was talking about at the 2012 Republican National Convention. You have Biden; you have the Secretary of Defense, who goes missing for weeks on end without telling anybody; you have the Secretary of Transportation, who takes a two-month paternity leave to take care of his husband after the ravages of childbirth and no one notices that he’s gone. You have Kamala Harris, another empty suit and fraudster. It’s a cavalcade of the absolute highest intellect and people committed to the job. Over the past 48 hours, Donald Trump has opened a six-point lead, 48% to 42%, over President Biden among voters nationally. 80% say Joe Biden is too old to run for a second term. You can’t get 80% of Americans to agree on the moon landing, but 80% of Americans agree that Joe Biden is too old to be president because that is more self-evident. Remington Research Group surveyed the swing states. Trump is up in the following states: Wisconsin, up by six Pennsylvania, up by five Michigan, up by three Arizona, up by seven Nevada, up by seven Texas, up by 10 Ohio, up by 10 Montana, Trump is up by 20 Those are horrifying numbers if you’re a Democrat, but there’s some even more bad news for them: a Daily Mail poll came out over the last 24 hours, and it showed that Donald Trump is outpacing Joe Biden 47% to 42%, but also skunking Kamala Harris 49% to 38%. Somehow Joe Biden found the only person more unpopular than he is to be his vice president, which is a disaster area for Democrats. All of which means everything for Joe Biden probably comes down to this interview with George Stephanopoulos, the Keebler elf of American politics, on Friday night, since Biden is not capable of doing a full press conference. ABC News is going to try to either save him or euthanize him. But here is why this is so completely dishonest: Absolutely no one believes Joe Biden will complete his second term in office. The only question is whether he can survive the campaign. Everyone knows that if Joe Biden becomes the president with Kamala Harris as his running mate, Kamala Harris will be the president of the United States in 2026, and possibly 2025. So this is simply a place-filler election for the Democrats, to see if they fool the American people by sheltering the American people from the reality of the awful, inauthentic, fraudulent vice presidential candidate by pretending that Biden actually might be able to withstand the rigors of the office for four years. Time is getting very short for the Democrats. If Joe Biden is not out of the race by the end of next week, in all likelihood he will be the nominee. So tonight is a big night.

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During their Wednesday morning newscasts, ABC, CBS, and NBC surprisingly debunked some of the crafted excuses the White House has created for President Biden’s debate performance last week. The White House had given every reason possible for Biden’s poor debate performance besides acknowledging his age and mental state, from colds to severe jetlag. CBS Mornings Gayle King began the segment by sharing a CBS poll showing Biden “behind by three points” in battleground states. Chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes gave an overlook of all the excuses the White House has created for Biden’s performance such as “the President saying that it was jet lag, the White House saying that it was a cold and just an off night.”     At a fundraiser Tuesday night, Biden claimed he was just tired at the debate lamenting, “I decided to travel around the world a couple of times shortly before the debate. I didn't listen to my staff, and then I almost fell asleep on stage.” Cordes' response was simple yet logical: “Biden did travel back and forth to France, Italy, and California, the first half of June. But he returned to D.C. 11 days before the debate” – giving Biden enough time to recover from his travels. As she concluded, Cordes identified four Democratic senators and representatives who have openly voiced their concerns about Biden’s mental cognitive state. She also highlighted Vice President Kamala Harris who professed “beat Trump once, and we're gonna beat him again, period.” On NBC Today, senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez also pointed out that Biden had returned from his travels well before the debate. He showed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledging she’s concerned about Biden’s performance as she exclaimed “I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition?” Gutierrez also shared the Washington Post report that former President Barack Obama told “allies that his former VPs path to the presidency has now grown more challenging.” He then noted the New York Times reported meetings where “several current and former officials noticed the president increasingly appeared confused or listless or would lose the thread of conversations.” As he concluded, Gutierrez observed that since the debate Biden has not “taken questions from reporters” and has only delivered “scripted remarks from a teleprompter.” The White House, attempting damage control, has scheduled a “flurry of events” for the president including interviews and a press conference next week. ABC’s Good Morning America Rachel Scott noted how some of Biden’s “closest allies say questions about his age and mental fitness are legitimate.” At Biden’s recent fundraiser, she exclaimed that “some in the room were laughing” at his attempt to cover up his mental state. Like the other networks, Scott pointed out that the president returned to the U.S. two weeks before his debate. She went on to note that “sources say during his debate prep at Camp David, advisors blocked out time in the schedule for rest” – dismantling the jet lagged theory the president created. At the White House briefing, Rachel Scott asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if Biden’s debate performance was an “episode” or a “condition.” Jean-Pierre replied “Well, what I can tell you is that he had a cold and a bad night. I would not see this as an episode. I would see this as what it was and what we believe it to be, which is it was a bad night.” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos was also set to conduct a sit-down interview with Biden, which would be live, but rather chopped up and edited for TV. Click "Expand" to view the transcript:   CBS Mornings 7/3/2024 07:01:51 AM EST GAYLE KING: Wouldn't you feel pressure if everybody was wat–even if you know how to do it, wouldn't you feel pressure with everybody watching? NATE BURLESON: Definitely. KING: Waiting for you to screw up! TONY DOKOUPIL: I feel pressure just with my wife watching, and she's next to me. Alright, I got this. Don't worry. KING: You always make it, Tony, you always do. We're gonna begin with talking about pressure–growing pressure on President Biden from inside his own party after last week's very poor debate performance. And we now have a new CBS News poll. While the presumptive nominees are functionally tied, in our national poll it does shift–shows a shift towards Former President Trump. Now, our last poll had President Biden leading very slightly. The President was also in battleground states in the last poll. Now he is behind by three points, though that is still within the margin of error. This comes as the White House offers multiple explanations for the President’s debate performance. Nancy Cordes is at the White House yesterday. Nancy, good morning. That White House press briefing was one for the books. NANCY CORDES: It really was, Gayle, because now you've got the President saying that it was jet lag, the White House saying that it was a cold and just a–an off night, while Democrats have begun to say publicly they think it's something more. To counteract that notion, the President is now adding more campaign trips and a network interview to the schedule, but it is not clear that that's going to be enough to stop the fallout. [Cuts to video] At a fundraiser in Virginia last night, President Biden offered a new explanation for his poor debate performance. “I decided to travel around the world a couple of times shortly before the debate,” he said. “I didn't listen to my staff, and then I almost fell asleep on stage." Biden did travel back and forth to France, Italy, and California, the first half of June. But he returned to D.C. 11 days before the debate. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Look–if—we finally beat medicare. CORDES: And the White House press secretary had a different explanation for Thursday's debacle. KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: The President had a cold. [Transition] He had a cold and a bad night. CORDES: She insisted Biden is not suffering from something more serious. JEAN-PIERRE: He can do the job. He can. CORDES: But even as she spoke, a New York Times report was taking Washington by storm, citing White House and foreign officials who said Biden has, quote, “Increasingly appeared confused or listless,” and even sometimes seems to “freeze up.” On Tuesday, Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett became the first Democratic lawmaker to call on Biden to step aside. REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D-TX): The President cannot make the kind of effort that we need in this–these closing days to prevent Trump and his gang from taking over. CORDES: And now other Democrats are opening up about their concerns. SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI): Like a lot of people, I was pretty horrified. [Transition] REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): We have to be honest with ourselves that it wasn't just a horrible night. CORDES: “You can see it: the dam is breaking,” a Biden donor told CBS News. “There are non-stop phone, email, and text conversations going on as donors toss around names of possible replacements.” Veteran Congressman Jim Clyburn said the Vice President should be the only alternative if Biden steps aside. REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): This body should not, in any way, do anything to work around Ms. Harris. We should do everything we can to bolster her, whether she's second place or at the top of the ticket. CORDES: In a brief interview with CBS News, Vice President Harris said this. VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Look, Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once, and we're gonna beat him again, period. [Cuts back to live] CORDES: President Biden himself is getting involved in the damage control today, meeting with Democratic governors, some virtually and some in person here at the White House. He needs their support, so we'll see what they advise him to do, especially since some of them, Tony, have presidential aspirations of their own. DOKOUPIL: Yeah, this issue is not going away. Nancy, thank you very much. (…)   NBC Today 7/3/2024 7:08:44 CRAIG MELVIN: We turn to politics now and the mounting pressure on President Biden as more Democrats voiced concerns about that shaky debate performance last week. Meanwhile, a New York court has given an update on former President Trump's hush money trial sentencing. There's a lot to break down this morning. We've got it all covered for you. We're gonna start with our senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez. Gabe, good morning to you. GABE GUTIERREZ: Hey there, Craig, good morning. The White House chief of staff will hold an all staff call later today as the president also reaches out to reassure lawmakers and governors, what Democrats have been saying privately for days is now spilling into public view, and now the president is offering his own new explanation for his debate performance. [Cuts to video] Off camera at a Virginia fundraiser, President Biden apologizing for that disastrous debate saying he “wasn't very smart” for “traveling around the world a couple times” before that showdown with former President Trump, and he quipped that he “almost fell asleep on stage” -- adding “it's not an excuse but an explanation.” The president returned to the U.S. from back to back trips to Europe 12 days before the debate. Meanwhile, this morning, a political dam may be breaking. One of the president's most important allies, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, acknowledging concerns about the president's debate performance. REPRESENATIVE NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition? And so when people ask that question, it's completely legitimate of both candidates. GUTIERREZ: Adding that both he and former President Donald Trump should take cognitive tests. While Pelosi is continuing to support President Biden, Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas is becoming the first elected Democrat to officially call for the president to leave the race. REPRESENATIVE LLOYD DOGGET (D-TX): We must call on him to give the ultimate sacrifice of saying that he will step aside because that's the best way to save our country. GUTIERREZ: As more Democrats question whether he should step aside. REPRESENTATIVE PETER WELCH (D-VT): And raise questions about his physical condition. REPRESENTATIVE JULIAN CASTRO (D-TX): I don't think he's going to have a leg to stand on for very long. GUTIERREZ: The Washington Post reporting overnight that former President Barack Obama has expressed concerns; privately telling allies that his former VPs path to the presidency has now grown more challenging, according to people familiar with the conversation but that Obama has offered support to Biden. The New York Times reports that in closed door meetings in recent weeks and months, several current and former officials noticed the president increasingly appeared confused or listless or would lose the thread of conversations. IAN SAMS (WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL’S OFFICE SENIOR ADVISER): I've got to say that doesn't look anything like the president that I know when I deal with him he's sharp, he's asking tough questions. GUTIERREZ: As some Democrats look for a way forward a new CNN poll suggesting that Vice President Kamala Harris may do slightly better in a match up with Trump than Biden though the difference is within the margin of error. Harris yesterday reaffirming her support, Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we're going to beat him again. Period. [Cuts back to live] GUTIERREZ: Since the debate, the president has not taken questions from reporters while delivering mostly scripted remarks from a teleprompter. But the White House is now announcing a flurry of events in the coming days, travel to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as well as an interview and he's expected to hold a press conference during next week's NATO summit here in DC, Craig.   ABC Good Morning America 7/3/2024                                                                                                                                                                7:06:49 – 7:10:18 AM ET GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We got the latest now on President Biden's bid to keep his candidacy alive after last week's debate. The Biden team pushing forward as some Democrats call on the president to step aside. Rachel Scott is tracking the race from Washington. Good morning, Rachel. RACHEL SCOTT: Hey George, good morning to you. In the last 24 hours alone, one Democrat has called on the president to step aside. Two others are openly saying that he cannot win the election this November, and even some of Biden's closest allies say questions about his age and mental fitness are legitimate. [Cuts to video] This morning as Democrats question whether President Biden should move forward with his campaign, the president is trying to explain what exactly happened on that debate stage. At a fundraiser in Virginia, the president saying he wasn't very smart for traveling internationally ahead of the debate -- telling donors he, quote, “almost fell asleep on stage.” Some in the room laughing. The president adding, “it's not an excuse, but an explanation.” The president traveled to Europe twice in June but he returned back to the United States 12 days before the debate and sources say during his debate prep at Camp David, advisors blocked out time in the schedule for rest. For days the White House has blamed a cold, not the president's travel schedule, insisting it was just one bad night. But some Democrats aren't buying it. REPRESENTATIVE MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): It’s really not just a bad night. It is a situation that has to be addressed. SCOTT: Now, the first democratic member of Congress, Lloyd Doggett of Texas coming forward to say the president should step aside. REPRESENTATIVE LLOYD DOGGETT (D-TX): I salute President Biden. I just feel that it's time for him to step aside if we were to be able to protect what he allowed us to gain in 2020 which was a victory for democracy but he delivered us from Trump then. He could be delivering us to Trump this year. SCOTT: Sources tell ABC News, a second lawmaker, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, was planning to urge Biden to withdraw but senior Democrats talked him out of it. Even some of Biden's closest allies like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling the questions about the president’s mental fitness, legitimate. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition? SCOTT: So we asked the White House. SCOTT: Pelosi said it is a legitimate question to ask, if this is an episode or if this is a condition. Which one is it? KARINE JEAN-PIERRE (WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY): Well, what I can tell you is that he had a cold and a bad night. I would not see this as an episode. I would see this as what it was and what we believe it to be which is it was a bad night. SCOTT: Some Democrats now casting doubt that Biden can win in November. REPRESENTATIVE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ (D-WA): Truth I think is that Biden is going to lose to Trump. I know that's difficult, but I think the damage has been done by that debate. SCOTT: And another ally, Congressman Jim Clyburn said Biden should stay in the race, but if he drops out, Democrats should rally around Vice President Kamala Harris [Cut to clip] CONGRESSMAN JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): I will supporter her if he were to step aside.  [Cuts back to live] SCOTT: A new CNN poll shows that Vice President Kamala Harris out performs President Biden in a head to head matchup with Donald Trump. The White House says the president and the vice president will have lunch together today. The White House press secretary could not answer questions about whether the two had even spoken after the debate. Also today, the president is expected to meet with democratic governors. It comes as some have raised concerns about the president's debate performance and also the path forward, Robin. ROBIN ROBERTS: Appreciate your reporting there Rachel. Thank you very much.