A Few Wedding Photos!

Yesterday was the day!

Afternoon photos were planned, so we started with hair and make up at our house at 10:00am.  1 bride, 8 bridesmaids, 1 flower girl, and 2 Mama's were getting ready here!  Also my friend Amy came and spent the day with me.  She really was a help to me in setting up the facility and then later during the reception.    She and I actually had to chance to go get a late lunch, early dinner and spend a quiet hour and a half before we needed to be back at the wedding venue.  It was a gift!

 Our pastor's wife did Emma's hair and make up!  She also helped with 2 other girls hair.
 

 Our friend Julie (who cuts our hair regularly) came and did my hair, Lindsay's, Rachel's, and Sarah's. This is Rachel's hair.
 

 Here is Sarah.  She was a beautiful woman yesterday.

My friend Susan does amazing arrangements with flowers.  She, Emma and I had all gone to choose flowers last month.  This is what she did with what we chose. Susan sent me these photos from her phone as she was doing the assembling of bouquets and arrangements.

 A bridesmaids bouquet

  The bridal bouquet

 A wonderful arrangement that was used along with another like it and a candle, at the alter.

 This is what we did for centerpieces.

Here comes the bride!

 Kamryn was a cute flower girl!
 

Sarah, Rachel, Joseph, Jennica (a dear friend to Emma, and we love her too!), Nate, Kamryn, and Lindsay.
 

 Emma and Vinnie, you can barely see the other groomsman Ethan and JP, then his sisters Kitty, Krissy, and Simone, Kyle is the ringbearer tucked in there and then Em and Vinnie's good friend Deb (she's a dear girl).  They are blessed with their siblings and good friends to support them.

All these girls are so very sweet, and fun.  We had a really good time with the rehearsal and the wedding.  

I was struck by how many people commented to me last night that they were so excited to be there and be a part of their wedding.
  

 Our pastor, Mike Galus, did the service, and they asked Tim to speak as well.  He spoke about how she was prepared and how he appreciated Vinnie's care and treatment of Emma, and he prayed scripture over them.  Then he made us all cry when he finished by saying with tears in his eyes, and a choked up voice, "I loved her first, now you love her better." 
 

 They had quite a kiss! 
 

 Cutting their cake!

I can't wait to see the professional photos!  They went to one of the bridesmaids' family's farm during the afternoon for photos, while we set up the facility, so I have no idea what they are like! Some of these photos were taken by me during the service, some by my niece, and the flower ones were by Susan, my gifted friend.

We are so blessed by the families that our girls have married into.  Thankful for unity in the Lord, and genuine liking of each other!

More to come, but for now I'm back on my break!

  

A Brief Break

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We did!

We spent it with all our kids, and our granddaughter, my parents and our friend Denny, and our long time friends Rick and Jane. So really it was a family day.

We've been friends with these two for 26 years.   Nate was 3 months old when we met them!  We have shared our lives over the years and love them like family.
 
Very fun, and laid back, just how I like it.

Tonight Tim and I are going with our friend Denny to see Star Wars.  That should be fun, too.

The wedding is now 3 days away.  So very exciting! Monday we will pick up our desserts, and the sheet cakes (the wedding cake will be delivered on Tuesday to the venue), have the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Emma's out of town bridesmaid flew in this afternoon.

I am going to take brief break at least until after the wedding, but perhaps until after our anniversary on January 2nd.

I am so thankful for all the Lord has done in our lives.  How He has brought my children their spouses, how He has used hard things to work in our lives.  I am thankful for all of you as well, readers and commenters who are such a blessing in your friendship!

     
 

Merry Christmas!

He was created of a mother whom He created. He was carried by hands that He formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute." Augustine

If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: "God with us." We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth! John MacArthur

"A Hallelujah Christmas" by Cloverton from Ross Wooten on Vimeo.

Momentous Moment

Rachel is now a licensed driver!

Woo Hoo!

 Congratulations!

 

Sitting In The Quiet On Christmas Adam

 

Today is Christmas Adam, the day before Christmas Eve.  It's quiet this morning with the kids sleeping in, and Tim off to work.

I'm spending time talking with the Lord - praying about details for the wedding, work for Tim over the winter months (especially with the rain), the day ahead.

I'm going to get my hair trimmed today, and then I pick up my dear friend Jane from the train station.  She is coming in from NYC which she has been visiting as a birthday treat with her oldest daughter.  Her husband, our pal Rick (we've known them 26 years), is driving up from Florida and visiting some of his family in Maryland before he arrives here!  We are so excited to have them spending Christmas with us!  They are going to visit some other friends between Christmas and the wedding, but will definitely be here for the wedding.  The kids are excited that today is the day they come, and so are we.  They're family, though not by blood.

That is all that is on my 'official' schedule, though that will likely change.  No cello lessons today, and no work for Emma or Rachel.  The pace has slowed and we are enjoying the change, even if it is only for a few days.

6 days and counting until the wedding.

They're calling for rain most of this week and next, including the wedding day.  Will you pray with us for this to change to NO Rain?  We don't even care about sunny skies!  Just no rain.  They are having an evening wedding, but are wanting to have outdoor photos taken in the afternoon.  Overcast skies will give great diffused light but rain will make it a pain!

Thanks for you prayers, and friendship and care.   

  

Well, The Weekend Flew By

Incredible.  Here we are on Monday of Christmas week!  Time is flying by!

 

I hope you are savouring the moments, and enjoying a good cup of tea, now and then, and listening to good music and enjoying all the joy of this season.

 Emma's fiance' Vinnie arrived early as a surprise to her!  We all knew he was coming, and it was hard to not tell her.  They are getting their license today!  

This is a full week for us, so I'm not sure how much I'll be posting.  Tim turns 50 on Thursday, and that is also the day that Rachel takes her driving test.  She's ready, but a bit nervous.  So excited for her.  

Our long time friends Rick and Jane are coming on Wednesday to spend Christmas with us and celebrate Tim's birthday.  His brother is home from Africa so we get to see them too!

Christmas is a favorite day around here, then we have the weekend, and the rehearsal on Monday evening, then the wedding!  I told someone at church yesterday that in a blink of an eye, it'll be over.

That's the way life is.  The Bible says that our lives are a like a vapor, here and then gone.  I love the verse that says "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."     Psalm 90:12

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.  So thankful for His coming into a world of darkness, in such need of a Saviour.  Not so very different than our need today. 

Wedding Planning: 12 Days

Can you believe it?  I can't.  Wow.

Here is where we stand.  

Brides Gown, shoes, and accessories - Ready!

Brides Hair and Make up - Trial run a success!  Good to go for the big day!

Groom and Groomsmen clothing - Emma decided to change out the ties this week.  So new ties on the way. Everything else good to go.

Bridesmaids - Ready!

Flower girl and Ring Bearer = Ready!

Flowers - ordered.  I pick them up early on Monday the 28th and drop them off to my friend Susan!

Cake - ordered!  It is going to be a petite masterpiece!

Centerpieces - Ready!

Plates, flatware, napkins, cups for hot and cold drinks - Ready!

Ceremony details - Work in Progress

Photographer - Lined up and Ready to Go.

Our venue is great, they are very helpful and easy to work with!

We have one hundred and four people who will be attending.  We will be comfortably squeezed in!  They use a wonderful online program called "All Seated."   This has allowed me to move tables around, put in our guest list, and if we were not doing open seating, we could even do the whole seating chart online!  Awesome tool!

The other evening we had a little gathering of friends to meet up casually and have time celebrating Emma's upcoming marriage. 

 I was thankful for a time to relax and visit with my good friend, Bee.  We've been friends for a very long time, and our girls are close. (that's one of her girls in the first photo with Emma)  We laugh a lot when we are together!

Her cousin also held a personal shower for her this past weekend. 

So I think we are just about ready.  The groom arrives this next week, and Emma can't wait!

Thanks for your interest and your encouragement.  Have a great weekend!  
     

Home Keeping: Holiday Baking

I have been doing a lot of baking this Christmas season.  I've made low carb Snickerdoodles (pretty decent) and Cowboy cookies (I made a modified regular chocolate chip cookie with 4 kinds of chips), and a lot of Cappuccino Muffins.

These are always popular and this year they were made a bit more special by the addition of some special chocolate chips that I bought at Aldi.  They were a seasonal item and I haven't seen any more there, but I may just have missed them the last time I was there.

The recipe is originally from this Gooseberry Patch cookbook -

 These muffins are very good anytime of year, not just in the autumn. 

The sign of a well loved recipe is the cooking stains on the page!  I double this recipe and use a regular sized muffin tin and I get 36 muffins.

  
   

I am not a coffee lover but I think these are tasty.  I don't eat them because they are not low carb but I have been working on a tweak so that they could be.  If I figure it out, I'll be sure to post it.

We are giving these out to business associates of Tim's, Rachel's cello teacher, our Pastor, Rachel took some into work to share.  We gave some to the wonderful ladies at our local produce stand, and we are planning to give some to the ladies at our favorite breakfast place!  We appreciate these people so much for the service they provide!  I think our mailman is getting a dozen too!

Do you bake to give as gifts?