BreAnne's Bridal Shower

Warning: This post contains oodles of photos. I'm sorry if it's slow for your connection to load....I want them printed. 

Krista, as Maid of Honor, pulled all the bridesmaids, Sherri, Lorri and my Mom together to pull off this event. She is a master at delegation. We all had our small parts. It was fun to see the many pieces come together to make a very nice bridal shower for BreAnne. Seventy women and some girls joined to bless BreAnne in this new role. 

A bit of family trivia. My parents were married in the "old sanctuary" of this church when they were Bible College - fifty one years ago. Nearly thirty years ago Michael and I were married in the current sanctuary of this church. Michael served an internship at this church when he was in Bible College. BreAnne and Krista were both dedicated in this church.  Friendships/ roots go deep here.  

Mom and Dad were missionaries for decades. Michael and I have been in the military for eighteen years. There have been many life events and firsts which were celebrated alone, with our immediate family.  There have been many birthdays in the past 18 years which hit after a PCS when we know no one. LOL I was very aware last night of the blessing of celebrating this season in BreAnne's life surrounded by family,  in a location where we DO have family friends going back generations, as well as the new friends the girls have made. 

I know five of BreAnne's seven bridesmaids. It was fun to meet the other two last night.....now I'm SURE I was introduced to Gaylene before but we hadn't had time to "bond" and cement those names. We did last night. She discovered I'm really fairly good at spotting someones talents and capitalizing on them. I told her I could discern she had the anointing of tulle and I promptly turned my job of hanging photos over to her. She did a great job (as you'll be able to see parts of her work in the photos where Bre is opening presents). I somehow neglected to get a photo of Ann and her girls. 

These sisters worked hard to make this a special night for BreAnne! 

Bridesmaid, Flower Girl, Maid of Honor

 Many years ago I babysat for our assistant pastors. Their son grew up to be on staff with our daughter at this church.  They are back in town and wow - can Sue ever make pretty cakes and cupcakes! Aren't these lovely?

Mom and Bev. There are a few women who were constant in my life...in between four year mission stints etc. Mom and Dad were friends with Mike and Bev , Chuck and Kathy, Rich and Velma....and a couple of other couples who I haven't seen in a long time. Seeing these couples always makes this feel like I've come home. It was fun to have Bev, Velma, and Kathy at the shower.  Mom and Bev check out the "naughty" gift Mom had bought for BreAnne and Izaak.

Mom & Bev

Larry and Judy are another couple who have played a big role in our lives. Larry was a professor at the Bible college when we attended. Judy was the "receptionist," but I believe her true role was to offer smiles and encouragement to students.  They were still at New Hope Christian College when the girls attended. It was fun to see Judy too. 

BreAnne & Judy 

Chelsea and Bre

 Krista attends another church in town. BreAnne attended there as well for a few months several years ago. It was fun to see some of those women at the shower. Below are Cindy and Talina - from Krista's adopted family here in Eugene.

 

 We were able to set tea cups at each spot from Mom's teacup collection. What an amazing thing that she can remember where each of the cups come from. A trait I do not have. Most of the tea pots used were Mom's as well. This front table are the women from Lively Stone.

Group Shot - Ann Bridesmaid - blue back

 Velma is here in the left front in purple....and at the head of the table...my all-time favorite (and toughest) English professor - Ms. K....I believe the girls would say she is also their all-time favorite (and toughest) English professor. She also is a great mentor for them.

Donna (another bridesmaid) was in charge of the BreAnne trivia game. Arielle (sister) and Mikayla (a mentee of Bre's) tied. I knew Arielle would have an unfair advantage with the tie breaker question so they did rock, paper, scissors.

I was asked to share a bit of marriage wisdom and to pray a blessing over BreAnne. Krista wanted this to be a celebration of BreAnne and Izaak and a time of women in the faith blessing BreAnne as she enters this new role.

BreAnne takes my advice very seriously as you can see! ::grin:: 

 This was such a special moment when I asked the women to gather around and pray with me. 

I love this photo...my daughter, my mother's hand on her shoulder, a young gals hand on her shoulder and mine on her back. 

Gift time...Donna, BreAnne and I worked out a system

 I seriously explained she would have one child for every ribbon she broke. Gift bags are a pain. LOL 

Krista asked her to look at the camera more often! ::snort:: 

Love the little girls eating up Pastor Bre's big night. They'll all be fun at the wedding. 

 I believe this is the point where we asked Kathy if she'd included a cooking lesson in this big box of wonderful kitchen goodies...which Bre called thingies and thingamajigs as I tried to record gifts.

 A broken ribbon! 

Mom (Gma) bought BreAnne her last dolls for her doll collection -Belle and Prince Charming. LOL  Evidently the mouth thing is genetic. 

Love the expressions

Fun basket from Sherri (my sister in law). At this point I'm suggesting the little girls go with Arielle to make crafts which will be used at the Wedding reception.  The rest of us would open the "inappropriate" gifts. 

Arielle reports glitter is not a good idea with ten girls sugared up on tea treats.  They were talking about why they were leaving the shower. One little gal, about nine, said, "They are going to give Miss Bre special pajammies to make the marriage better." I love it. Pretty good summary. 

 Oida has a sense of humor.  She started us out right.  Everyone was saying, "Show us, Bre." She insisted there was nothing in the box. I made her read the note, "Wear this on your wedding night. He'll love it." 

Mom bought the infamous "Enjoy Coca Cola" boxers....BreAnne collects Coca Cola memorabilia

Another broken ribbon - I'm counting

Gaylene saved the ribbons and bows to make a rehearsal bouquet for BreAnne

BreAnne shares a few thoughts

BreAnne and one of her girls

Krista  - rare moment of repose

Kathy in the center

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Shopping and Setting Up

The girls and I got up and took Krista to work. This provided us with a car for the day. I took them to breakfast and then we headed over to Mom and Dad's. We'd planned to grab Mom and Lorri and go shopping for Bre's bridal shower. Mom had forgotten Dad had a doctor's appointment. 

Lorri, the girls and I headed to the mall. The registry wasn't working well at Target - but we still managed to buy gifts we think BreAnne will enjoy. 

We met Mom and Dad for lunch and then spent an hour or so with them. 

Lorri and I headed out to run a couple of wedding errands for BreAnne. 

We picked Krista up, headed to a new mall, enjoyed a Dakota sighting and then headed back to the church to set up for tomorrow night's shower.

It was fun to have so much female family to make this event shine. I found myself reflecting on the blessing of having so  much family around during this special time. It's not always like that for missionary families. 

Arielle & Stacia (Gma in the back) set out tablecloths 

Sherri's a champ (Sister in Love) - setting up food table

My Mother

 Krista (Maid of Honor - daughter) and cousin Lorri

Stacia moves the seat of honor

We visited with BreAnne briefly at the church and then headed home. The night concluded with talk and an episode of The Cosby Show. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

We Made It!

They really do yell, "All ABOARD!" and they yell it loud in America. 


Our train was to leave Sacramento at 11:59 p.m. last night. Michael dropped us off at 10 p.m. I knew this may be the hardest part of the trip. Somehow, I feel safer when we're all settled on the train and moving....but I didn't want to fall asleep sitting in the station.  

Stacia, obviously, does not share this concern. 

I remembered trying to lug American sized suitcases up the narrow, steep stairs in the train and so we checked our suitcase. This still left pillows, blankets, a small lunch cooler, laptop bag, camera bag and Stacia's backpack.  I settled down and tried to stay awake. 

It was at this point that I met, Lois. She came up and said, "I think I would like to introduce myself."  It didn't take long to know her story and for her to know mine. We shared watch over Stacia and luggage so we could each walk around. She has restless leg and ended up needing to walk around much more than me.  I was happy to have a camera phone. I didn't want to reveal my new camera or ipad at this point in the trip. ::snort:: 

The train was late and we didn't leave Sacramento until 0100.  I had a hard time sleeping....but it was peaceful, quiet and the stars were beautiful.  This train was kept up much better than the one we took home in December. The conductor also stayed in the car and had lots of funny messages to share. I hope the ride is that nice going back. 

Watching the sunrise in the Shasta Pass was worth the effort of leaving at 0100.  The train really does not parallel I5 - we were in pristine forests..... I relented and found the snack car for some juice and a roll for Stacia's breakfast. 

We enjoyed riding in the Lounge car for a bit of time. I will be sure to check this out on our way home. That trip will be totally in the dark - but could still be pretty in the lounge car. 

Many told me we need to ride this route in the summer - it's light more of the trip then. 

We were late arriving in Eugene. I didn't see BreAnne or Arielle. I got out my phone to text them when a text with this photo came in.  They said they were excited. I got busy looking for luggage when someone JUMPED me - it was BreAnne! This gal is getting married in 5.5  weeks. 

Bre dropped us off at Mom and Dads. We enjoyed a visit with Mom, Dad and Lorri. BreAnne had AWANA tonight. Krista and the rest of us made vegan pizza, got in our jammies, visited and watched a chick flick. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

All Aboard!

School is done. 


We are taking school with us. Is it too optimistic to expect we'll get school done in the a.m. before we reach OR?  Thirteen hours in a seat - may as well redeem the time. I DID check into Southwest it was 4x the cost to get us to OR.  

Stacia and I are packed. 

I need to find some food to take as I simply refuse to pay $17 for a snack on a train. 

I have on my tie dyed skirt and my fuzzy Crocs. Michael says I'm ready for Eugene. 

Bags....pillow...blanket....train leaves at midnight....praying for BORING fellow passengers on this trip. ::snort:: 

We're going to spend a couple of hours people watching at the train station before our train leaves....no need for the men folk to stay up to wave at the train at that ungodly hour. ::snort:: 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

The MONDAY after Winter Break

We have today and tomorrow before Stacia and I hop a train to OR. My plan was morning routine, school and Christmas clean-up.

We did it. We are focusing on table school this week....we're hitting it hard after having the month of December off.  Once again I've seen the kids' reading has jumped by leaps and bounds with a month off. I think sometimes a brain just needs to focus on something else until new tricks seep deep.

As the day wore on, it seemed we'd be lucky to get the nativities put away  and maybe I'd get to the tree after school tomorrow, before leaving for Sacramento. Nolan finished school and joined the work party right when our energy was lagging.  We got it all done. It will be nice to have the house in order as I leave.

Michael walked in as we were vacuuming and moving boxes. I commented I hadn't taken a single photo all day, therefore, I couldn't blog. He snapped one. ::wink::

Nolan won! 

We threw together a quick dinner of left overs and mushrooms....talked about the significance of Jesus declaring Himself to be "The Door" (John 10).... Michael and the kids are enjoying a round of Monopoly Empire and I am blogging...and LOOK - I found two more photos to take. ::snort::

I wasn't sure whether I should laugh or cry when the UPS man dropped by with a new package from Vistaprint....YIKES I'm committed to getting "New Year" cards out! I doubt I get them done before train time.....but maybe I can work on the letter during the 13 hour ride to OR. I also need to make some sort of computerized data base so I can print labels. That ought to fill my  midnight hours on the train.

And now Stacia is starting a sewing project....and I've still not finished the elastic on the skirts I was trying to make. I think I'll take it to OR with me and have Krista give me a hand's on demo. I've bent several pins and shed many drops of blood in my attempts. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

WHY do Wisemen Seek Him?

Simplicity.

The wise men sought Jesus to worship Him (Matthew 2:2).

When they entered His presence they fell to the ground and worshiped Him (Matthew 2:11).

They opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts as an act of worship (Matthew 2:11).

Why do I MOST often seek  Jesus? What do I MOST often do when I enter His presence? Often I seek Him to relieve my stress, to meet my needs, to FIX IT.  I enter His presence with desperation to have Him DO SOMETHING.  This is not wrong - but....

Via Google Images

Do I worship?

Worship seems a nebulous, hazy concept.  However, worship is a verb in the New Testament.  It involves concrete action. We learn a lifestyle of obedience is at the heart of worship from Abraham in Genesis 22.  Worship is more than 60 minutes on Sunday morning. It's more than the 15 minutes of songs sung during those 60 minutes.  Yes - worship is all that. But more.

Looking up the word worship in a Bible dictionary provides a beautiful word picture.

Worship is to kiss towards another, to adore, to show respect, to fall prostrate and throw a kiss in a token of respect. 

Worship - to throw a kiss at God. Sounds flippantly casual?

 In the ancient oriental world one would greet equals by kissing them on the lips (stay with me). If one met someone of lesser rank they would kiss on the cheeks.  If, however, one met someone and was much inferior to that person, they would fall to their knees, touch their forehead to the ground, WHILE THROWING KISSES AT THE SUPERIOR.  THIS is the greeting New Testament writers used to express reverence and worship.

The wise men came, humbled themselves and gave of their treasures - all in worship.

via Google Images

Do I open my treasures before God and freely offer all to Him?

 Do I clutch that which is most precious to myself in stubborn imitation of Gollum?

Do I resemble most the Wisemen or Gollum?

Worship involves seeking Jesus, humbling myself before Him and freely offering Him total access to all that I treasure.

My heart desires to seek Him to worship Him.


Note: Worship - Strongs # 4352 - Proskuneo  Sources: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, and The Complete Word Study Dictionary by Dr. Spiros Zodhiates. 


Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...