Wedding Reception

Tonight we had a reception for Andrew and Laura. It was a lot of work, but I am so blessed to have wonderful friends who helped make it easy: Janet was in charge of the fruit, Marilee took care of the punch, Sharla did all the decorations, Rachel made the powerpoint of photos, and Joan took care of coffee. Each of them had other people helping, so it went together quickly and turned out great. My job was the cakes.

It was so nice to see old friends from Kimball Free Methodist Church, and a number of Andrew's old HS friends came by too, as well as a number of our Wycliffe colleagues.

The fruit stack was an absolute work of art!

Dinner Conversation

Last night one of Rachel's friends, just home from a year in China as a nurse, came over for dinner. Andrew and his new wife, on their way to Ethiopia, were there, too. During the course of dinner there were discussions about condom manufacturers in China exporting the quality products and leaving the rejects for local use, eating pig uterus after an abortion, child brides and female circumcision in Ethiopia, Oprah Winfrey's fistula hospital in Addis Ababa, and defacto polygamy in Latin America. Oh, and don't forget the report that the girlfriend of the young man Rachel sent to prison was not only a new mother, she was also a stripper.

What ever happened to "Dear, how was your day at the office"?

55 Years

I drove Rachel down to the court house again today and Andrew and Laura picked her up at 4:30 after the punishment trial had ended. (Yes, the newlyweds arrived late last night and will be here for 10 days.) It was sad to hear how much trouble a person can get into in 20 years, including drugs at 11, stealing a car at 12, up through armed robbery at 20, including over 100 other charges while a juvenile. The daddy of a baby born last Thursday will be in prison for the next 55 years.

I think this has been an educational experience for Rachel, and I know it has been an emotional one. She felt pretty stressed by the experience, but handled it pretty well.

She will probably also remember to check her purse more closely next time, since they confiscated an eyeglasses screwdriver and the file off of a large nail clipper. Whoops! Of course, those things had been in her purse through all the air travel to the DR a couple weeks ago, but nevermind...

Juror

Wouldn't you know it, she got picked. The trial is actually only to determine a sentence, not a innocent or guilty verdict. It will last 2-3 days. She's not allowed to talk about it until after the trial is over, so I better stop here (I sat in the court too, to pass the time waiting for her).

Vicarious Jury Duty

When Gary got a jury summons, I drove him downtown and helped him fill out the paperwork, due to is legal blindness (which, BTW, did not exempt him from serving we found out, although being deaf does). I sat there all day with him.

Now Rachel got a summons, and since she doesn't drive much, I'm taking her there tomorrow, to Dallas county criminal court in downtown Dallas. I'll have to be prepared to sit with her all day.

And, of course, I've done this several times for my own summonses over the years. Lots of sitting, along with one murder trial.