Two Funerals and a Wedding

Nathan and Marsha both lost their spouses about a year and a half ago. Today they were married with their children as the beautiful attendants. A lovely day for an outdoor wedding, even if it is December 17.


My favorite part of the ceremony was the congregational singing of this song. It brought tears to my eyes. When we got home Gary asked me if I remembered that we sang that same song at Nathan's first wife's funeral.

WE WILL DANCE
David Ruis

SING A SONG OF CELEBRATION
LIFT UP A SHOUT OF PRAISE
FOR THE BRIDEGROOM WILL COME, THE GLORIOUS ONE
AND, OH, WE WILL LOOK ON HIS FACE
WE WILL GO TO A MUCH BETTER PLACE

DANCE WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT
LIFT UP YOUR HANDS AND CLAP FOR JOY
FOR THE TIME'S DRAWING NEAR, WHEN HE WILL APPEAR
AND, OH, WE WILL STAND BY HIS SIDE
A STRONG, PURE, SPOTLESS BRIDE

CHORUS:
WE WILL DANCE ON THE STREETS THAT ARE GOLDEN
THE GLORIOUS BRIDE AND THE GREAT SON OF MAN
FROM EVERY TONGUE AND TRIBE AND NATION
WILL JOIN IN THE SONG OF THE LAMB

SING ALOUD FOR THE TIME OF REJOICING IS NEAR ......
THE RISEN KING, OUR GROOM, IS SOON APPEAR ......
THE WEDDING FEAST TO COME IS NOW NEAR AT LAST ......
LIFT UP YOUR VOICE, PROCLAIM THE COMING LAMB ......

Bridal Shower

A lot of nice gifts.

Including a toaster.

Jessie will be married in less than a month.

Packages Mailed

I hope it's not too tacky to send the Christmas gifts in a toilet paper box. And I hope they get there since I'm kind of late getting them out.

More Cookies

I get infected with this bug every Christmas--I just have to spend way too much time making way too many goodies for people who weigh way too much already! Alas!

I finished the sugar cookies this afternoon, and as soon as they are dry, I will pack up a bunch to go into the Christmas packages that are headed for Michigan, Oregon, and Arizona.

I also have made three other kinds of goodies, and I've started the dark chocolate truffles. I promise, after I finish the truffles, NO MORE! Some years I've done caramel corn but I'll skip that this year.

Oh, and I had to try a a batch of peppermint bark that was selling for $24/lb at Sonoma-Williams just so I could say that I made it every bit as good and it only cost about $2/lb!

Starlight

I don't really know why I keep making Christmas cookies, but each year I make a few standbys and then try a couple new ones too. This year we have butterscotch candies turning into stained glass cookies.

Christmas Eating

After two Christmas parties in less than 24 hours, I'm starting to feel like Mrs. Claus--fat and happy!

These two ornaments were a gift from a young couple who were working with the Peace Corps in the Solomon Islands when we lived there about 100 years ago. Most of the ornaments on our tree are of the homemade variety which makes for bringing back lots of good memories, if not producing a tree that would work for Better Homes and Gardens. The majority of my ornaments are ones crocheted by my grandma. She died a few years ago, and I still miss her.

Thanks

A couple days ago we received this thank you card from friends who had stayed with us. They seem to have picked a card that is right up our alley.

Open it up, and here's the inside:



Inside the card was a nice little check that paid 3/4ths of the bill to get Rachel's car fixed today. I guess we should be thanking them, and we will.

I've Hit a New Low

I went to Taco Bueno twice today.

The lady there asked why we hadn't been there for so long, to which I replied that we were still working on the turkey leftovers.

Almost Advent

Tomorrow begins the season of advent, a time of waiting and anticipation of celebrating the birth of our Saviour. I didn't grow up in a liturgical church, but the traditions I've learned surrounding Advent have become important to me, a way to keep one's perspective during a time of year that can be hectic for many people. The first candle will be lit tomorrow, the candle of hope or prophesy.



The previous two years I was able to send someone else out to buy the Christmas tree, but this year I had to do it myself. We've got it in the stand, but the decoration will have to wait another day or two. Our church Bible study group is having a Christmas dinner at our house on Thursday, so I need to have it decorated by then.

An Old Day

I'm feeling old today.

Maybe it is the hip joint pain. Or maybe it is the lack of energy.


In some ways, I should be feeling young. Today at work we celebrated the work of someone who is retiring at age 75 and who has worked here for 51 years. She plans to spend more time with her kids. And her grandkids. And her greatgrandkids.

If I live to be 75, it is not likely I will have greatgrandkids.

If I live to be 55, it is not likely I will have grandkids.

But I do have kids, even at my age.

Good Kids

We had a mostly pleasant, busy Thanksgiving week that was topped off with a 14 hour visit by Andrew, half of which he (and we) spent sleeping. Andrew was passing through Dallas on his way to Ethiopia for a few days. David was already here visiting for Thanksgiving, so we had a rare occasion for a photo with all three kids.

The time was spent teasing me about my suburb fashion sense, taking care of some financial details, preparing another suitcase of books for the Impact Library (e are now down to just two boxes left in my storeroom) and eating. Oh, and there was also some time for calling people oafs.

. Every Christmas my standard answer to "What do you want for Christmas?" is "Good Kids." I'm fortunate to get what I want.

Thankful for Computers

Now that we've got Gary's new laptop organized and the wireless router working, he's having fun computing all over the house. I also introduced him to wireless radio, so he can have baroque music anytime he wants.

David seems to have found a novel way to use his computer too.

Testing, Testing (web photo album)

I keep thinking I need to redo my website. I kind of gave up on it a while back because I ran out of disk space on my Comcast site. And the way I did the photos was a bunch of work. So I'm now experimenting with a new way of doing photos using the Web Photo album feature of Picasa. If it works in a blog, maybe it would work in a website too.

I suppose if you are reading this and only have dialup, it could be not worth it.

Bugs and creatures

flowers, wild

David

Tick

Within thirty minutes of coming to our house, Sarah was dissecting a tick. What is her mother going to think??
(Be sure to click on the photo to get a closer look.)

Conversation Piece

There has been a lawnmower sitting in our living room for over two weeks. Most visitors are too kind to ask the obvious, so it just sits there in its corner until we feel obliged to explain how this is our third lawnmower and there really is only room for two in the shed.

But today the nice man from church came took one of the two half-broken ones away. We hope he can fix it and then give it to someone who might need it. Now there's room for the newcomer in the shed. But if we move it, what will we have to talk about?

I'm So Young and Beautiful

...that I got carded at Home Depot today for trying to buy this. The computer would not let me buy it until I told it my DOB. *eye roll*

Fruitcake

You know the holidays are just around the corner when the fruitcake arrives from Collin Street Bakery. This is an annual gift from my mom to Gary--I don't touch the stuff myself (except to steal a pecan off the top).

Find The Way

Where is Grace and Purity?

Just down the way from Hope and Purity.

Self Portrait

Two Possible Interpretations

1. These people know a good thing when they see it.
2. These people are stuck in a rut.