WD - 1 (belatedly)

The Day Before the Wedding was pretty full, and there's lots I could tell you about flowers and errands and the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner, but the event of the day was last night. We got home from the dinner at ... 9:30 maybe? ... and Deb set to work decorating the last section of the cake. Then Deb, Craig, Ben, Vicki and I piled into the car, holding sections of cake. We had to get in one by one - each person got in, buckled the seat belt, and then was handed his or her cake section. Craig was the last one in and had the formidable task of driving us over 45 minutes of country roads and highway 15 South without hitting any bumps large enough to disturb the delicate balancing acts inside the car. This was sometime after 11 PM, by the way, and we all got a little punchy. "I spy something white." "Cake!" "I spy something round." "Cake!"

At one point Ben and Vicki pointed out that in the warmth of the car, my cake was slowly sliding across the wax paper and creeping closer to my sweater. I had to rotate it carefully around so it could slide back towards the center of the circle. Other than that, though, we had no mishaps, and the cake arrived at the Holiday Inn unscathed. Praise God.

Then we spent more time setting up the cake table, and drove back, and finally got to bed around 1:30 AM. The sunlight and The Wedding Day woke us all up early-ish this morning, though, and for now I think we're all running on adrenaline. I think all of us, especially Deb, will crash pretty hard sometime this evening when everything is over. But for now, the adventure continues ...

WD - 2

Last night was the shopping marathon. Deb and I visited at least five different stores collecting wedding items - emergency supplies (deodorant and tissues) for the bridal party, flower holders for the mothers' bouquets, six packages of strawberries for the chocolate fountain at the reception ... it was ten o'clock by the time we got home, and then Deb stayed up to do some more baking.

A side note on how much I love this place. Before going to bed last night I went to get something from my car and it is so very dark out here at night that if I didn't have my remote to blink the lights, I wouldn't have been able to find it. But, looking up, I remembered again how many stars there are up there. I honestly never knew what the night sky was supposed to look like until one summer night when my brothers and I came out here to visit and slept outside. I laid back on my sleeping bag and was astonished at all those stars. It still surprises me, every time I'm out here.

This morning we left early to run errands and have been working on the cake since we got back. Or rather, Deb's been working on the cake and I've been cleaning up the bowls and pans in between batches. Between yesterday and today, Deb has made six cakes, about a billion cupcakes with leftover batter (I'm learning about baking. She can't just save the leftover batter for the next section of the cake because of what the baking soda would do during the extra time; if she mixed the old batter in with new batter it would make an uneven cake), and three (or was it four?) batches of frosting. She's put the crumb coat on most of the cakes and will decorate them all this evening.

And, of course, all of this activity has been interrupted frequently by phone calls from various people ... the best one was from the bride herself. I heard only Deb's half of the conversation. "The bridesmaids are all sleeping here Friday night? No, you didn't tell me that before ..."

The adventure continues ...

WD - 3

Three days until Courtney's wedding. I am out here in Liberty, PA (pop. 868) helping my sister Deb for the next few days til her daughter, my niece, gets married. I arrived last night, had dinner, and plunged into the midst of it. We got all the candleholders ready with the fake vines wrapped around them and then took about a hundred wedding favors out of their boxes. This morning we went to decorate with bows and tulle at the cutest little country church you've ever seen. Right now Joe and Courtney are practicing their first dance in the living room. Courtney is wearing her big puffy slip over her T-shirt and jeans, and Joe (the Marine) is in his uniform jacket and cargo pants. I'm having so much fun being behind the scenes here. Praise God for family, and friends, and weddings!

read any good books lately?

I read some books yearly. Christy by Catherine Marshall. The Chosen by Chaim Potok. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the past couple years, The Grapes of Wrath has been added to the list. These are different from my heavy-reading, PLS-major books (e.g. War and Peace) and also different from my bedside-table light reading (e.g. The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency), although the categories mingle sometimes. Last year I had some light reading that I affectionately labeled "Amish romance novels" - the Abram's Daughters series by Beverly Lewis - and right in the middle of enjoying/ridiculing it, I happened upon one amazing and inspiring character who still kind of lives in my mind. I'll probably go back and read at least one book from the series again, and it has the potential to join my yearly list.

There are other books that I have reread numerous times (Alas, Babylon; Little Women; anything by Jane Austen), and they are a part of my personal culture and my language (shelves in the closet! Happy thought indeed!), but those first four I listed - they are a part of my soul. ... it took me about five minutes to write that last sentence because "part of my soul" sounded at once too cheesy and too intense. But I just can't think of any other way to put it.

So, what I want to know is, what are the books that are part of your soul? Not a book that you did in book club recently and it was kind of cool, or that you studied in college and had excellent metaphors - but a book that is part of who you are. Let me know, because I'd like to read it.

Totally Homemade Meal

Clockwise from top: homemade pita bread; salad; homemade hummus; and curried carrot soup. Last night's dinner was ENTIRELY from scratch ... the only exceptions were the veggie bouillon in the carrot soup recipe (I think I made up for that by pureeing two pounds of carrots) and the salad dressing. I managed to get it done in just under two hours, but only with lots of planning and concentration and the assistance of master dishwasher Anne Brewer, who generously cleaned up as I went along. She also generously took this picture with her digital after I mentioned I was so proud of it I wanted to put it on my blog. Thanks Anne!

driving home

Last Tuesday I wanted to write about how much I love driving home at the end of my late shift at the shelter. Cruising down Lafayette (the lights are all timed) at the end of a long day, usually happy with the work I've done ... breathing the night air and looking forward to my pillow and some much-needed rest ... I love driving home on Tuesday nights.

But just now, driving home after Cold Stone with Katie and some wedding-gift-shopping at Target, I realized I just love driving home at night. Whenever. From wherever. And I think what that means is that I love my town and I love my life.

I truly love South Bend (and if you think that's weird, well, I'm not open to listening to you right now). It is my home now and there are a hundred little reminders and memories always around the corner. Going through the roundabout at Twyckenham &Douglas reminds me of Owen & Claudia and our "exciting" trip to the Brewers' house when I moved (they were thrilled at corners and hills). Driving by ND, of course, always makes me nostalgic for college. Driving downtown makes me think of nights with friends at Fiddler's, and also of the street people I sometimes recognize from the shelter. Even commercialized Grape Rd., which I drove down tonight - the jeweler's reminds me of my recently engaged coworkers, Olive Garden makes me think of going out to dinner with Mom & Marshall and my roommate's parents one move-in weekend, and I even drive by the bowling alley where my women's group spent an evening celebrating a birthday. I am so comfortable in this town and happy to be where I am.

And I love my life. Whenever I am driving home late at night, that means I've had something valuable to do until late at night, and that's a great thing! Sharing life with my women's group; working hard at the shelter; singing with my choir friends; going out with the PoP young adults; going to Lord's Day; playing soccer ... what an amazing blessing, to have a life so full. To be so full of life! And at the end of the night, to have that time to myself, thinking back on my day, looking ahead to rest, praising God for my work and my friends and my life and my health ... praise God. I'm the luckiest girl I know.

Very Belated Photos (Valentine's Dance)