Memories

It's not "throw-back Thursday" so we'll call it "toss-back Tuesday." (Do ya buy it? Do you, huh?) For some reason, I've been having a grand time looking at old pictures recently.

Katie and Maggie

On the picnic table.  But why?

Wedding [cheese-]cake.

Happy day with happy friends.

All Fifteen of Us

Rachel and Matt; Gary; Maggie; Alia and Zoe; Andrew and Olivia; Susan; Mandy and Paul; Matthias, Katie, and Nathan; Philip

A Few Wedding Pictures

"Jesus Christ is the Light of the world."

My mom with me & Gary, Andrew & Olivia.

The happy couple.

Maggie, Olivia, and Andrew.

The wedding party.  [sigh]  Boys will be boys.

First dance at the reception.

My Daughters

Rachel, Katie, Olivia, Maggie, Mandy

Aren't they beautiful?!!!!




A lot happening this week, some wonderful and some nasty:
broken plumbing,
returning to my job,
yardwork,
kitty's serious illness,
a kid's moving out,
company,
a humongous case of chiggers,
and a kid's wedding. 

I should post more pictures when I get a chance to see them.

Pretty Bridesmaid

Periwinkle.
Simple pattern.
Decent and proper.
White trim, white shoes, and pearls.

I was prepping the pattern, adjusting it to fit Maggie properly.  Then I crashed and Kristine took over the sewing so I didn't have to worry about the dress.  Oh, what a sweetie she is!

Personally, I think it looks classy.  Kristine did a great job.  And it's a dress that can be worn for regular Sundays instead of hanging in the closet with a "Bridesmaid Only" label. 

Wedding Registry

This may be tacky, but here we go ...

Because people have asked about Andrew & Olivia's wedding registry, I'm announcing that they are registered at Kohl's and at Target. 

However, those are ideas, suggestions.  If you see something on one of those lists, and can find a better deal, or have a nice hand-me-down, or would prefer to give something similar but not what's on the registry, please do not be confined to The List. 

Personally, I often stick to what's listed on a registry because I know the purchase will knock that item off the list, making it less likely for the couple to receive duplicates.  So here's my suggestion:  If you find something on clearance at Bed, Bath and Beyond, or if you find something at Walmart for half-price, or if you're sewing hand-made kitchen towels, let me know.  I will tell Olivia and Andrew to adjust their registry, taking the item off their wish-list. 

End of advertisement.

just as Christ also loved the Church

How does a person vow to "suffer all, even death" rather than fall away from Christ, and then not even be able to "suffer" waking up to go to church the week after his confirmation vow.

Similarly, if a guy is going to vow to love his wife, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her (Eph 5:25), it seems like he should be working on making-the-bed and picking-up-the-dirty-clothes if that is what makes his wife happy.  If he can't sacrifice himself to take out the trash for her, then how will he sacrifice himself when it's a much weightier matter?

We're willing to make big promises ... but then we show our true colors in the smaller, relatively inconsequential things.

Upcoming Wedding

Two weeks ago, Andrew picked up the ring from the jeweler.  He came home and opened the mail to find that he had been accepted into the clinical portion of the nursing program.  That evening he proposed to Olivia, and she said YES. 

Ain't that grand?!

Wedding date is as yet undetermined, but Andrew says they're leaning toward this August.






Photos courtesy of our friend (who shall remain unnamed because I'm not seeing her name on her new blog and don't want to out her without permission).

More Wedding Pictures

More pictures are available at the photographer's Facebook page.

Wedding Pictures -- the cute little girls

When the bubble-passer-outers ran out of bubbles, they began gathering petals that the flower girls had dropped during the processional.

Alia

Zoe and her bubble-basket

Waiting patiently during picture-time.

My Three Sons

It's fuzzy, but I like the expressions on their faces.

(Taken at the wedding rehearsal.)

Some Pictures from the Rehearsal Dinner

Alia, Paul, Mandy, Zoe

Ring around the rosie ...

Doing what I do best -- cooking!

Papa and his littlest girl

Paul and Gary-in-Viking-purple

Playing the steal-the-pacifier game

The salad bar and the toppings for the potatoes

I think these were all pictures from Katie's camera.  I didn't take very many pictures, so I keep stealing from other people's Facebook pages.

Depth of Emotion, Depth of Love

Mandy's dad caught this snapshot.  I love it.  Paul is his dad's boy.

A Few Wedding Pictures

Dinner for 40

I was serving dinner for 40-45 people, some of whom had special dietary needs.  And I was doing it far from home where I had limited access to a kitchen.  The menu was a potato bar and a salad bar.  I seriously over-estimated how much food was necessary.  So that I have records for another time, these are the amounts we should have bought and prepared:

20# baked potatoes
2# butter
24 oz sour cream
3# onions, caramelized
4# mushrooms, sauteed
4 bags (12 oz each) steam-in-bag frozen broccoli
2 quarts thick chili
8# bacon, cooked and chopped
2# shredded cheddar

2 quarts cole slaw
1 quart corn-&-black-bean salad

1 bag fresh spinach
6 bags (5-8 oz each) mixed salad greens
1 cucumber
4 pints cherry tomatoes
3 large bell peppers
2 large carrots, grated
16 oz raw, sliced mushrooms
1 pint black olives
1 bunch green onions
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
8 oz cashews
6 oz sunflower nuts
4 bottles of various salad dressings

1 watermelon
1 large cantaloupe
3 pineapples

1 loaf of homemade bread
2 pans of bars/cookies (13x9" each)
2 gallons lemonade
2 gallons iced tea
12 cups coffee
water

The Wedding Rings

Wedding rings.  For some reason I always thought my ring was a reminder of my promises at the wedding.

But what I've heard from my pastor is different.  My wedding ring was given to me.  And it was given with a promise to me.  The ring isn't a reminder of what I said I'd do.  Rather, it's the reminder of what my husband promised.  My wedding ring is not the symbol of my duties; it is the symbol of a promise given freely that he will love me and be faithful to me.  That's gospel, not law.

Gettin' Me a New Daughter

Paul proposed.
Mandy said yes.
This is a marvelous thing!


When Paul and Mandy were here visiting last month, she left her jacket.  Paul always leaves things when he visits.  When I discovered the shipping costs for the jacket, and when I discovered that she had other jackets, I decided to just hang onto it and give it back to her next time we see her.  A week later, when I had to move the jacket off the ironing board, a wild and wacky thought occurred to me: "What if we wouldn't see her again?  What if they broke up?  Boy, it would be awkward to return the jacket then."  But then I consoled myself.  Breaking up?  What a silly notion!!

I recently bought little presents for all the daughters.  I bought one for Mandy too.  Presumptuous of me, I know.  But it's all good:  in less than a day, Paul called with the news.  Yee haw!!

Five Years

And the two shall become one flesh
(or one flesh, and then one flesh again,
because I see two cute, laughing girls here)

Arranged Marriages

What does a person do with a whole day to herself? (Well, besides clean and cook and catch up on all sorts of tasks?) Last week the kids were visiting friends, and Gary was at work. After cooking lunch-for-one (and I managed to pare back the recipe appropriately, amazingly enough!) I sat down to watch the beginning of a movie that none of them would want to see.

Self-control didn't kick in very well. I watched the whole movie that afternoon [like potato chips -- so good that ya just can't stop] and I didn't accomplish one lick o' dusting while watching.

The movie "Arranged" is about an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim. The two gals met each other as first-year teachers. Even though many people expected them to view each other as enemies, it turned out that they got along with each other better than with their co-workers, who had very different views of morality and faith and family. Each girl had reached the age where the parents were ready to arrange the daughter's marriage. Were they scandalized by the prospect of having the family involved in choosing a husband? What did the people around them think? How does it work?

I enjoyed the movie simply for the sake of a mushy love story, as well as a story of friendship. But what resonated most with me was how the main characters were fairly comfortable with their own beliefs in spite of being misfits with so much of the world. Yes, there is discomfort in knowing that the rest of the world thinks you're off your rocker, but not enough discomfort to abandon your integrity. I wonder sometimes how my co-workers see me: as a complete oddball or as just a little different?

A link to a video from a Lutheran pastor about the topic of dating and marriage.
A link to an article about homeschoolers being oddballs and proud of it.

February 20, 1960