getting ready - 45 days to go!

-for all who have asked to see the rings-



- and mine, too -

quote to ponder

Every wedding gives birth to a new history, a new beginning. The spiritual meaning of marriage is found in maintaining that history together.
...
Becoming one - in the deepest, most intimate sense - takes time. It's a journey that never really ends.
- Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage, chapter VII

invitations

they have all been mailed!

before i go to sleep ....

Tonight I realized that there are seven weeks left until the wedding. Seven. Oh. My. SEVEN!!!!!!

spring is here!

.: santa rosa plum, about to bloom :.

.: almond :.

song in the car

The kind of song that you roll down the windows and let your hair blow to, the kind that you sing along to, and at the end are so very glad that you are a woman. A beautiful one, at that. The kind of song that reminds you what a precious gift being feminine is, even though it is hard sometimes (and that is just why we do need to be reminded, because it is not easy).


Her face is a map of the world
Is a map of the world
You can see she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
The people who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She holds you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why ... it means so much to me

I feel like walking the world
Like walking the world
You can hear she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white
Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember
What you heard
She likes to leave you hanging on her word

...


"suddenly i see" -kt tunstall

thought of the moment

I miss John so much. So very much. And love him, too! (Did I need to add that?)

Am I dreaming such absurdities
I’m flying, and you’re here with me
We fingerpaint the sky
Chase constellations sliding by
Connect their dots and dance on tightropes in between
We twirl and laugh about these crazy things we dream
And then I kiss you
And I wake myself
Still laughing

It’s daybreak, and the whole world’s new
The sun smiles, but where are you?
Wish I could hold you again
Nothing a daydream cannot mend
You smile and promise me you’ll always be around
I whisper hallelu’s and sing your name out loud
But no one hears me
Well, at least for now I’m smiling
...
"amusing" by chris rice

wedding updates

Oh, wedding preparations here are going well.
Very well.
There have been tears along the way, but, my goodness, when you put two (or more) very opinionated women together, tears happen. It's not as if any of the females in this household lack an opinion, or the conviction that their's is the correct one! We are learning grace, as well as laughter.

In other news, I have another bridal gown. Why? Because the seamstress altered the other one. More than I realized she was going to. In ways that I can't fix. Number Two is gorgeous. Gorgeous-er than Number One. It will be stunning. Mom asked me what I thought my Darling John will say about, and I replied, "He won't be able to say anything." That gorgeous. Oh, yes!
A friend from church has offered to help make it fit absolutely perfectly (it's already pretty close).

John and I are getting a bit antsy. He told me, "49 more days until I fly out there." 49 days. Seems as if those days are dragging by at a snail's pace, but moving they are.

from the mouth of Ben

"Ya know what a wedding shower party is? It's a big care package party. Uh huh."

and another gem from today: "Funny? What do you mean by funny? There's no such thing as funny in our house."

beauty for ashes

[Christ has come to] provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
...and everlasting joy will be theirs.
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

Isaiah 61

remembering - sorrowing - rejoicing

Remembering is a gift. A precious gift that allows us to relive the joy of yesterday, cherish today, and yearn for a more perfect tomorrow.
I remember a woman who loved pink. A woman who loved her husband, family and friends deeply. A woman whose front door - painted pink - was never locked. She lived hospitality, and her freezer always had enough strawberry and toasted almond ice cream for each person to have a cone.
She loved dolls.
She took pictures - lots of pictures - of her family and friends. She made those pictures into cards, which she sent to them for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, their birthdays, or just because.
She loved flowers, pink things, delicate and beautiful things, but most of all she loved her God.
"Grandma" Patterson died on Sunday morning, was buried on Thursday, and her memorial service is Saturday.
I remember a woman who taught me how to make coconut-oatmeal cookies, as well as the art of offering them as refreshments to men whose hands were so grimy from working that there was no skin visible.
She and her husband were married for 59 1/2 years, glorious years that bear testimony to a gracious God and a loving humility.

"One should not develop a taste for mourning, and yet mourn we must."

-Jacques Derrida

" ... joy comes in the morning."

thoughts from a funeral

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Now there is in store for me the crown that is righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all that who have longed for his appearing.

II Timothy 4:7


Am I fighting the good fight? Am I running the race? Am I keeping the faith? Will those who look on my life be spurred to love Christ more, revel in the freedom of the grace that He offers and joy in the wonder of the life that they have yet to live, both here on Earth and in Heaven? Oh, that they might.
I desire my life to do all that and more. I want others to be truly blessed by me and the days that I have spent. I want to bring them Joy. I want to bring them Rest, Peace, Comfort, Laughter, and a desire to experience a Greater Beauty than their souls can fathom. I want to stir up an insatiable hunger and longing for the Pure and Holy.

marriage is a very special thing ....

"There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends." ~Homer

unloading the groceries

Ben did it. At least, I think he did. It's not too often that you walk into the kitchen only to be faced by a sniper!