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Tag Archives: milestones
Wedding, continued
Rich is home safe and sound as of one o’clock today. Now my system can relax again. I just shut my door so I couldn’t hear Caleb announcing that “someone stole the power cord to my PS5”. I don’t know anything about it. I’m resting in bed and going to watch a little tv but first thought I would write a little here.
Today I went and helped out at a soup kitchen downtown at the church. It was joyous. Everyone had such personality and I do so love to observe. I was set to work on three huge metal bowls of fresh green beans—trimming them for the pot. It was green beans from my nightmares. Jill guessed about 30 pounds worth. I didn’t do it alone and I would probably never do it for a home-meal. Doesn’t that sound terrible. Now that I’ve become more accomplished at it, maybe I will. I used to love watching my Grandma or mom slice through a pile of green beans all lined up as best as they could be, in order to efficiently trim as many as possible in one swift cut of a large sharp knife. They are the gardeners that inspire me. Anyway, today we of the soup kitchen made large quantities of spaghetti and meatballs, tossed salad, fruit salad, and the beans. Hungry people come to the church to eat but most of the meals were packed in containers and delivered. I came away with some meals for the kids and when I was driving to the HS to get Caleb I took a turn and two of them spilled over into the trunk of my new car. So that was annoying (exciting) and I got a bucket of soapy water and cleaned it all up when I got home. I remembered when something like that would be “the straw that broke the camels back” in years past when I was stretched thin with all the children home and babies and toddlers and today was so thankful to realize that I could clean up this unexpected mess while remaining (be shocked) CALM, and even like sort of content and —rather enjoyed it! I carried the bucket back to the house and washed off the door and trim, too.
That was the major event of my day besides my husband coming back home. We had about four hours before he went to get Seth and Sarah from school and got subs for dinner.
Of note- I got myself gardening gloves and have been working on weeding and planting pansies, which I adore. My best -friend- cat Sammie found the gloves on the counter and as I was cleaning up the kitchen I noticed her writhing her face into them in pure ecstasy . “She acts like they’re catnip!” I said to David. “Do I have catnip out there??” I went outside with my handy dandy plant identification app and BEHOLD—discovered that we have big healthy clumps of it in the flower gardens and I just am so perplexed. Sammie figured it out. So that was fun, a fun story to tell Sarah when she got home. “So that’s why the cats eat that plant!” She said. “You’ve noticed them eating it?” I asked. “Yep!”
Isn’t daily life full of surprises? I never dreamed when I got up this morning that I would clean spaghetti out of my car and also discover catnip in the garden.
Here are some more promised wedding photos:
It was obviously a day of LOVE.
I shall leave you with the kiss.
The Kiss
The wedding kiss!
I should blog about the wedding
(These first three photos curtesy of their photographer).
Ethan and Sierra were married on April 15 and then they went to Italy for their honeymoon.
I think there has been a part of my heart recovering since then!! It was an absolute dream wedding and beautiful in every way. To dance with my son, wiping his tears away as we were together in that priceless moment, seeing Sierra marry my son with her beloved Grandfather officiating, my children all dressed up and so glad for their brother, the food.. the music ..the smiles. It was enough to “spoil” me from every day life for a good many days. Just savoring the memories. breathing deep. Thankful.
Ethan is our third child to get married. Jacob and Brittnee are going to celebrate their second anniversary soon, and then Brogan and daughter Grace shortly after.
We were reading from the book of Acts on Sunday, verses about the early days of the church, and that simple yet glorious phrase “and the Lord added to their number…..” gave me pause—of course me being me at this time thought that certainly these words could be applied to family as well, a growing family in the next stage of life, marrying adult children and welcoming their life-partners as true and most definitely loved children, too. I feel so amazingly blessed, and so does my husband, that the two of us over the years have turned into a family of twelve. 1+1=7+1+1+1=12
We are somewhat calming down after the big event, yet how can we with this number? Rich is at this time away on a business trip and since he rarely goes away anymore I can’t sleep very well without him. I woke up at three and couldn’t get back to sleep until after 4. I even went upstairs to make sure David didn’t oversleep for his Fed Ex shift. I woke him from a sound sleep and he was so kind about it, “my alarm is literally set to go off in one minute…..” which to me was pretty amazing that I had that sense. Obviously he needs no alarm with this kind of mother. I went to bed and read my book and then even though I didn’t want to I made myself sleep some more and the dreams, I’ll tell you, were vivid and strange. For example, I almost bought a medium green very rare and large fiestaware platter but by the time I got off the bus it had been sold for 50 dollars, in my dream I said “I would have given you 100”, etc and so on. I woke up for real at about 7 and when I reached for my phone I knocked the remote off my bed and it went underneath it. In my sleep drunken state the only thing I knew was “I dropped something I need to pick it up” therefore I started my day squeezing under the bed on one side and then the other, pulling things out and getting dusty to the point that I asked myself “am I just still dreaming” but there….I finally found it. I have since accomplished my morning routine of bedtime coffee and YouTube (Crazy Lamp Lady).
Then I went out and fed all five cats their daily cans of fancy feast. Perfect attendance is rare for my little cat family as there are some concerning animosities among them.
I proceeded to then take all my bird feeders (full of feed and suet cakes) off the table and back out into the bushes by the living room window because some large animal has been knocking them down in the night. As Aunt Colleen says “it’s quite exciting” which was nice because all I had felt was “annoyed”. Wouldn’t it be so much better to face life’s little challenges as exciting rather than annoying?
Speaking of….my children have been annoying my aura…..in other words -I have also been annoying as much or more than they have been. So I bit the bullet and took the four of them out to the mall yesterday after school and by the time we had car rides, shopping and pizza (Ethan joined) and more shopping we had reunited as a nice ( it annoying) little family again. We got home and had two hours of congenial family time; Dave even made another bowl of his famous guacamole while I read magazines with a cat on my lap.
Well I gather you’re here, dear blog friend, for the wedding photos…….enjoy!
before the wedding.
(No photos were taken by me during the ceremony)
More tomorrow!
Sending love to each and all.
It’s going to be a beautiful day.
Please say hello!!
barred owl today
I could always hear the hooting off in the distance usually across the road in the woods. Always it felt like a call and I wanted to go to it, I ached to do so. I had never seen an owl in the wild before.
I love this picture because it’s moody, dark and mysterious. Sarah came to get me. She had been over by the stream when it, like magic, swooped by to land and perch on a tree branch. We were delighted that it was still there. It looked at me as I clicked the shutter of my camera. The stream was flowing cool and steady past us and twilight had come. Sarah was smiling. She was glad I was able to get a good photo and she was the one who searched the bird book to identify it.
***************
“Those who believe in tomorrow can live better today,
and those who expect joy to come out of sadness can discover the beginnings of a new life in the center of the old,
and those who look forward to the returning Lord can discover Him already in their midst.”
~Henri J.M. Nouwen, Readings and Reflections
a bridal shower, of sorts
Oh covid. Changes everything, doesn’t it?
I mentioned a few posts back that my daughter Grace is engaged to be married this coming June 12. We have been busy making plans and on Friday we were intending to drive five hours to her (she’s in Pennsylvania, a senior in college) so that we could do the following:
- and by we, I mean myself, my husband Rich, my sister Amanda, her daughter Naomi, my son’s fiancé Brittnee, and my daughter Sarah.
- check into the hotel, where we had reserved two entire suites so we had plenty of room.
- get Grace from college so she could be with us for the weekend.
- go to my brother David and his wife Ann’s house to visit
- go out to eat with them, adults only, while the girls watched a movie at their house
- go back to hotel to sleep
- go back to David and Ann’s for more visiting, and breakfast
- leave from there to drive 2 hours to a bridal salon that Grace’s fiancé’s grandmother used to own, which still contains some of the dresses she had stocked there herself.
- spend time supporting Grace as she tried on dresses and hopefully find one
- then go back to the hotel
- church with Grace and Brogan, and my best friend Joanna, on Sunday morning
- bridal shower for her on Sunday afternoon
I was a little anxious about these plans because of the sheer magnitude of them. These were plans upon plans and more plans. However, I went through the week trying not to think much about all that we wanted to do, and instead, just took things one day at a time, one event at a time, one chore, one afternoon, and sometimes one hour, at a time. Also, maintaining a sense of flexibility and humor is a great help.
Well, then we got word that the bridal shower was now going to be a “drive through” shower because of Covid.
Then, we got word that the Bridal shower was being cancelled entirely because of Covid and the desire to keep people safe.
And THEN, on Thursday, the day before we were supposed to leave for this adventure, Grace called to tell us that there was Covid in her dorm, Covid elsewhere on campus, and she herself had a “sore throat but it wasn’t that bad and it already went away.” Her Dad and I talked about what to do. She wasn’t able to get a rapid covid test until the next day and if we waited until then we would lose our deposit on the hotel rooms. We DID want very badly to be there for our daughter, as it was an important weekend for her. We DID NOT want to drive all that way and then end up not being able to do anything. We also felt there was a slight but very real chance we ourselves could get the virus and then what would we do (manage, but still). We talked to mom and dad and they helped us with the hard but sensible decision to stay home.
Grace was on her own. But wait, noooooooooo………that’s not true, because she never was and never will be on her own. God in His love and kindness arranged the weekend for her ahead of time, and He knew that she would be just fine. She had her rapid-Covid test done (which was negative!!) and with relief, she was able to continue with her dress shopping. She’s tired today, yes, but on Saturday, with her mom and dad and (some) siblings watching and involved through a zoom meeting (!!!!!) she found the most beautiful wedding dress of her dreams. Brogan’s loving and capable Grandmother helped her each moment. And then today she was taken out to lunch at a pretty club by Brogan’s family and given some lovely gifts.
It was a great lesson for us, because yes as parents we have great responsibility for each of our children and no one can take our place in their lives, but at the same time, we are not so important that we can’t step back and let go when absolutely necessary, and watch them handle life on their own, with God’s help and with the help of friends and sometimes even strangers. Truly there is no need to be anxious, only expectant.
Grace is being showered with encouragement and love (a bridal shower, of sorts) in a variety of ways. As her mama I see it clearly, and I’m sure there are a lot more stories she could tell me. How could we keep from smiling?
We wish we could have been there in person, but really, it did work out beautifully.
We all have stories like this we could tell. Isn’t it encouraging?
This is the moment that Sarah was waiting for. The moment she found out that she was going to be asked by her big sister to be in her wedding as her “Junior Maid of Honor”.
“I will cause showers to come down
in their season;
they will be showers of blessing.”
permitted
We left at 8:15 this morning to drive through rush hour traffic to go to the DMV testing center. The weather was astounding; pounding rain and in the 50’s after days when everything was frozen solid and not even 10 degrees. We drove through it together, my hands on the steering wheel, his hands clutching the laptop on which the driver’s manual was displayed.
Neither one of us slept much last night for whatever reason.
When I tried to make conversation he said, eyes on the computer screen, “Shhhhh, stop” and so I just reached over and patted his shoulder with a laugh. I’m glad he’s safe and comfortable enough with me to be true.
We arrived 15 minutes before the doors would be unlocked and Dave thought it was just way too long of a wait. He was nervous.
Just as I knew he would, he passed easily.
“That was incredibly nerve wracking.”
“My hands were shaking the whole time.”
“Okay now I gotta do my History homework.”
And that’s what he did.
We also got Dunkin Donuts coffees and listened to music.
Me and my buddy Dave. How I love him.
I dropped him off at school and then got groceries…and very wet…..came home, and crashed on the couch. I didn’t do a thing for the past 2 hours but watch TV and snooze with a cat on my lap.
When Caleb got home from school, he joined us.
This is the view from here.
Happy Thursday, friends.
this is the sweet face of great relief
“I feel like a huge burden that I’ve had since I was a child was just lifted off of me.”
Here are the memories she doesn’t want to forget about learning to drive:
That time when her Dad had her drive around and around and around an empty parking lot at school backwards, this way and that way until she cried, and then he had her do it more.
The time she and I were going to the plant store and I didn’t tell her how long it was going to take to get there and she drove for an hour.
When she first really drove it was with her older brother Jacob and it was raining but she didn’t know how to turn on the wipers and when she did turn them on they went so fast she got nervous and asked Jacob for help.
She went to the H.S. to practice backing into parking spots and no one was there so her Dad got out of the car and walked laps while she practiced parking which was exactly what she needed…to figure it out on her own.
She had two college friends (April and Ryan) and Caleb and Kylee praying for her before her test this morning.
She and Caleb talked on the phone and went over traffic rules the morning of her test. And he reminded her to turn on her lights and put on the emergency brake which were the two things she did wrong on her practice test last weekend.
To help them with their nerves, they had a movie going in the waiting room for the students about to test, and a box of munchkins for them to snack on, but she didn’t want to eat anything or watch anything …. but she did eat a munchkin because she felt she would be rude if she didn’t. The movie playing was “Sing” and she was annoyed because she wanted to concentrate on her test but with the movie playing she started getting interested and watched it.
The songs she sang to herself while she waited for her test driver were, “Give me Oil in my Lamp” and “I love You, Lord”.
The man riding along to test was very nice; an elderly grandfather type.
She didn’t think she would do well, she didn’t think she would pass.
She and her dear friend Kylee both took their test on the same day and passed. And when she walked in to the office to hand her paper sheet to the lady for her paper license the lady said, “Look at you, you little show off,” because she got nothing marked wrong.
She walked over to the garden center after her test to find me.
happy birthday
(The boys in our family plus their Dad)
Today is Ethan’s 20th birthday.
When I think about each of the children God has given me my heart is overwhelmed. It’s 100% true that each and every child is a gift and a blessing, no matter if you have one or seven or more. Each life is of endless value.
In years past I have had so much fun taking high quality photos of Ethan on his birthday but this year we shall have to be content with iPhone snapshots because with him being a full time student in Vermont it isn’t as simple as it used to be. When he’s home he’s busy with more important things like cooking in the kitchen, eating, playing games, relaxing in front of the TV, going on dates with Tessa, goofing around with his siblings, catching up on sleep, and shopping trips to the mall………
Ethan has a unique way of scrambling eggs which leaves a solid piece of cooked eggy skin stuck to the bottom of the pan which I HATE. But look at that face. Okay, I will clean the pan for you, E, since you say this is the very best way to cook eggs.
Rich and I took him to the mall where he picked out some new clothes from Hollister. Jacob, Brittnee, Sarah, and David also went along. It was a fun evening together.
(Have you noticed all the florals this year? I love it! Even 20 year old guys can get away with roses (and serpents) on their shirts. And I bought the prettiest T-shirt for myself with big red roses on it. A must with rose scented perfume!)
We had Ethan’s cheesecake (requested) on Saturday night after the shopping trip because Rich was leaving for a trip on Sunday morning and on Monday (today, Ethan’s real birthday) the boys would be back to college. He blew his candles out with so much lung power that there is STILL candle wax on the counter.
Happiness is a big family singing your birthday song. We love you Ethan!
(We missed sister Grace who was at college but we will see her soon.)
Yesterday, Ethan was able to squeeze in a quick visit with Tessa in the morning and then I took the kids to church and lunch at Ethan’s requested restaurant, UNO’s. It was me, Caleb, Seth, Ethan, Jacob, Sarah, David, Michael, and Zach. Nine of us all together in one big booth and THANK GOODNESS for Sarah or I would have been the only female. 🙂 We had a yummy meal and when the waitress asked if we wanted dessert we were much too full but asked for a piece of cake for the birthday boy.
“But you don’t have to sing to me,” begged Ethan.
“Do you want a candle?” asked the waitress.
“No, that’s okay, but thanks.” he replied.
We were rather let down that Ethan appeared to get away without spectacle but the waitress must have sensed our true wishes and ignored the wishes of the birthday boy, much to his dismay. However he recovered quickly and was a very good sport about it.
She gave Ethan a HUGE piece of chocolate cake along with NINE spoons so we could all share it!
I gave her a nice big tip because she really did deserve it. I’m still smiling and I hope that Ethan is, too.
Seth took this photo as Ethan and Jacob were getting ready to leave for school. We are so thankful that they have a car and can come home now and then. It’s just not the same around here with the three older ones so far away but we wouldn’t change a thing because they are learning, growing, and thriving.
Happy 20th birthday, Ethan!
There is no one like you in the whole wide world.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day. Your thoughts – how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them – any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! Psalm 139
David 15
Son, you outgrew my lap, but never my heart. ~Author Unknown
DAVID
turned 15 yesterday.
The night before, I read him all the blog posts I have done in honor of his birthday. The first one was….. when he was FOUR. FOUR!!!! I cannot believe I have been blogging for 11 years. It’s so nice for the children to look back on the different days they remember and see photos. It’s nice for me, too, but I get sad. As I was reading to Dave, he was on the couch about 2 feet away but leaned over so he could see the photos and I felt all sentimental as I read the words I have typed over and over, “I love you” “I’m so proud of you” “my dear son” “you’re so special”. . . . .
Rich has been traveling a lot lately and the thing that I’ve loved is that at the end of the day, David is the last child awake with me and we visit. We talk or read our books. He likes to sit in the rocking chair and he says things to me during these quiet times. He’s interesting without being overwhelming. I’ve lately started to ask him for his opinion on things and he replies with wisdom. Like today, I asked him what he would do if someone he cared about told him that he hated himself. He said that if the situation had been going on for a while then he would try to comfort, but if it was the first time he was confided in, then he would analyze the situation and then proceed. I also asked him what he did when he was so tired at school that he desperately wanted to put his head down and nap. He said that he would do something to hype himself up….like talk with one of his friends or something.
I didn’t blog yesterday on his actual birthday because guess what?
He got his braces off TODAY.
He was very hesitant and embarrassed to smile for the camera, it was almost like he didn’t know how…..he’s been smiling with his lips together for years.
We went to Target right after his appointment, and then to Panera, where he ate cheddar broccoli soup in a bread bowl for the first time in a very long time without braces. I had a cup of autumn squash soup with a chunk of bread. The soup came with a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds on top.
I took more photos of dear Dave outside the mall.
David loves his friends and cares about them. For this reason, he likes school.
David loves his family but is easily annoyed by his younger siblings especially if they 1) enter his room, or 2) eat the last of something he wanted.
David plays soccer, baseball, and does wrestling.
David is a freshman in high school.
He has no phone.
He is currently reading Percy Jackson books, but his current favorite books are the Rot and Ruin series.
He can do back flips and does them during gym class sometimes when the teacher isn’t looking.
He absolutely loves music.
He plays the piano quite well–by learning songs through youtube.
He sings but only in the bathroom and sometimes when we’re in the car if the volume is turned up high enough on the radio.
He is funny in a dry, conversational sort of way.
He is quick and bright.
Through the years he has done origami, made homemade candy and slime, drawn comics, and made homemade walking sticks also useful for doing battles against trees or an armed sibling, and his latest thing is sharpening knives and sharpening the two collectible swords Ethan owns from the antique store.
He loves attention but gets all awkward when he gets it. Like, he tries to avoid my hugs but once he gets one (because I don’t give up easily) he walks away with a smile on his face.
He is a night owl, if I forget to send him to bed he’ll be up half the night.
He likes watching the Flash, Arrow, and Glee on TV.
He likes nature and wild life, and has been my #1 butterfly helper when we were raising and releasing monarchs. He brings me things to look at like toads, cool caterpillars, and rodents. He helped get a chipmunk out of the house this weekend.
Most of this is typical 15 year old guy stuff….but not to me….to me he is the best and most interesting 15 year old guy I know.
in the fridge
I noticed today that someone’s growing up.
(Seth, age 8)
Good to be Home 