August 20th 2011- Here comes the Bride

Mac, Carolyn and Kailynn

When we checked weather.com ten days before the wedding it said there would be a chance of rainfall. Thankfully, as the wedding day approached, the skies remained clear and the day couldn't have been more perfect for a wonderful ceremony.

Kailynn before the ceremony

The bridal party made their way down the grassy aisle to the sweet sound of a harp. Kailynn, my granddaughter, made it all the way to the front. "Hi...Hi...Hi..." she kept saying to those sitting along the aisle. We joked later that she thought this was HER day :)

The Ushers giving out the programs

As the guests walked towards their seats they were handed a program. It comprised of 5 cards tied with jute and slid into an airmail envelope. The final page read:

""Remembrance - Elcho Zaire Redding- my hero grandfather, he gave me his middle name, dry humor and vision of the Kingdom's agenda. 
He would have adored you, Katrina."

I must say, when I was helping to 'stuff' the envelopes I cried every time I read what Micah had written. 

Photo display

After the ceremony, people walked through the various rooms and looked at the different displays. There was a "guest book" which consisted of tags which were to be hung on branches. Carnations filled vintage jars...old books stacked on the center of tables....crocheted doilies filled in empty spaces. Instead of the usual slide show, there was a photo display of the bride and groom at various stages of their life. Also, corresponding photo frames encased pictures of parents, grand parents and great grandparents. 

Jam for the guests to remember the day

Each guest was asked to take a bottle of homemade jam...(I had never made jam in my life...the things we do for our kids)...200 jars of blueberry and strawberry jam rested in vintage crates and containers. Each jar had a burlap cover with a tag which read, "Home made with love" written on one side. Katrina insisted on writing each tag herself. On the other side of the tag there was a strawberry stamp if it was strawberry jam and a blueberry stamp if it was blueberry.

After a lovely evening of 'mini' reunions between friends and relatives....laughter...tears and lots of hugs, it was time to bid the bride and groom farewell as they headed off on their honeymoon. 

Sneak Peek

My elder daughter is married- here is a sneak peek- more pics to follow. After the weeks of planning- whirlwind preparations- it was over in a blink of an eye. She did an amazing job with her decorations and planning! 
As I said- more pics to follow- now I'll take a deep breath before I have to dive into preparations for my youngest daughter's wedding in October! 

Bridal showers, Babies and Birthdays

The past few weeks have been full of all the usual activity and then some extras. My eldest daughter had a bridal shower a few weeks ago and it was really amazing. I think what was so amazing was two young ladies- 13 years old and 11 years old, did alot to make the day a special day. 

One of our dear church members- Belinda- created a spectacular cake. It was in the form of a wedding dress!! She is absolutely amazing with her cake creations (and her other food) as can be seen on her blog- belzyskitchen.

Right after the bridal shower, my son and his wife and daughter arrived. My granddaughter has stolen my heart!! It has been wonderful having her around. I just wish they lived close by and I could see her more. (they live in another state) While they have been here, we discovered my granddaughter is going to be a big sister :)....YES!!! Another grandbaby on the way- great news!


 In the midst of celebrations and family coming and other activity- I had a birthday. It was one of those "significant" ones :) I'll talk more about that later....but I must say my family and friends out did themselves on this one. I'm not a 'birthday' type person- inotherwords, I'd rather my birthdays came and went with out much ado -- but they did not allow this to happen- and actually all they did was much appreciated.

At our weekly Ladies Bible study- they surprised me with a cake and gifts- oh my- the cake looked like a tea pot because that is my absolute favorite thing....tea...tea cups...tea pots...drinking tea. Of course, it was Belinda who made the cake. As I said, she is absolutely amazing with her cake designs. The cake tasted so good. 


TOn my birthday itself, my family tricked me. The girls said they were taking me out for coffee...by this time I thought I was all birthdayed out. I tried to get out of going for coffee- "why not we just hang out with the boys" I asked. They would not hear of it. So we jumbled into my daughter's car and drove away. "But before we go for coffee we need to stop off at Param's house" they told me. This seemed to be a reasonable thing to do because there was something I had to pick up from her house. Oh the rascals, they had planned a surprise birthday brunch! Brunch is my favorite meal...and Param outdid herself with the decor and the menu! My family were tickled pink that they had pulled one over on me...and of course, I was in tears! (happy tears)

Feature Friday - Elcho and Millie Redding

Millie Redding has completed her life story and it is now available for purchase at createspace. Wherever He Leads chronicles some amazing life adventures of Millie and her husband Elcho in India, Japan, the US and China! I had the privilege of reading through the manuscript before it was published and I found it was a fascinating read.

Of course, another reason I find this particular book intriguing is because it introduced me to my future son-in-law's grandparents. I enjoyed reading of their background and their lives. I admire my future son-in-law very much and as I read about his grandfather, I could see so many similarities between them.

This is worth the read!

missing in action

I have been missing in action...so to speak...juggling various things has kept me too busy to even get into the blogs. Tonight I made a special effort to catch up with some of my blog reading- and I figured I'd toss in a short post! 

Let's see....what are some of the things I've been juggling? My hubby fell very ill last Monday. It was one of those freak things- he was fine one moment and then horribly ill the next. Thankfully he is back to himself - almost 100 percent. 

There were programs to attend- people to meet- places to be- you get the idea. I had to schedule myself to breathe.

I meet many people who have the complaint of being 'bored' with life- and my husband and I have discussed this on countless occasions..."What would it feel like to be bored???"...."What would it feel like to be lonely??"....I guess these are some of the things I should be grateful for...that I have no clue what it feels like to be bored...that I can't fathom being lonely...what a blessing!!! Sometimes we just take things for granted...we even gripe a bit..."Oh I'm soo busy" or "Oh my, I'm 'peopled' out"...not realizing these are such great blessings!!

Whether I'm sitting here at this computer or I'm missing in action- I am drowning in blessings!

Are you missing?

Lake Chelan is a large lake...I don't need to go into the details about how large it is because I already did that in a blog entry during the last blogathon.  Why am I repeating myself than, about how big Lake Chelan is? Well, something happened last night which drove home the bigness of the lake.

Two young women, Heather and Teresa, decided to take a canoe out on the lake. The sun shimmered on the water, even though it was 9.30 pm. They rowed out to the half way point as the sun slid behind the hills. At 10 pm, the sun disappeared as if someone had reached up to turn off the light. Darkness enveloped the entire lake and the two young women were no where to be seen. 

At first we waited patiently, assuming they would be paddling their way back to the dock. A little after 10.30 pm, we begin to get a bit worried because no matter how our eyes strained we could not see any proof they were still on the vast lake. We called up some locals in the area to ask what we should do and they immediately informed us of how dangerous it was for the two girls to be out on the Lake in the dark.  The police were alerted and we soon received a call from them- we didn't realize it is actually illegal for someone to go out on the lake after dark without a light. A speed boat could accidentally crash into them.

We stood out on the dock and prayed for the girls to return safely. After what seemed like an eternity (but it was probably only 20 minutes), we heard the distant sound of Heather's laughter. We stopped waving our rescue lights and shouted, "Heather and Teresa- is that you?"

"Yes!"

"Are you alright?"

"Oh we are fine, we see you. We will be there soon." Their voices echoed across the still waters. I could tell they were in high spirits. They had been enjoying themselves and did not even realize they had been in danger.

I was thinking about the entire incident this morning. How many times do we go off rowing through life when darkness suddenly engulfs us and we assume we are fine. We don't even realize we need a light to show us the way. We rely on other people's light to direct our path, but we need our own light. 

Jesus said, "I am the light of the World, whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12) Thankfully no matter how dark things get in life, I have the light to guide me.

Feature Friday - Lula Baird

Okay- Okay...I know I'm late...but I strongly adhere to the statement, "Better late than never!"  This week has been especially busy and so it took some time to sit down and get this pounded out.

I'm not sure why the price for this book is so high on Amazon.com. The same book can be purchased for 10 dollars at this website. 

Lula Baird was an amazing woman! Her life story may not keep you glued to your seat, but it tells a story of a woman totally sold out for God. She went wherever He told her to go. She did whatever He told her to do. 

What kept me reading her autobiography was her ability to never give up. Her age never got in her way, physical ailments were simply hurdles to be jumped over to reach her destinations.  Lula Baird was part of a generation which, refreshingly, never bothered making excuses...they just did what had to be done!

As I said, she never allowed her age to deter her. I remember picking her up at the Narita Airport in Japan- she was in her late 80's. I attempted to help her with her baggage and she said, "I'm not an invalid!" 

Lula at 99 with my parents having a meal

A few years later I picked her up from the Singapore airport and took her to the Garden Hotel. She had just recovered from a major accident. The doctors told her she would never walk again. They didn't even want to work on her bones because they said it was a waste of time. She forced them to do everything they could to save her legs. Lula proved the doctors wrong; she walked again and she continued to travel around the world many times over.

Lula Baird died just after her 100th birthday on December 11, 2008.  She lived a full life and I am thankful she recorded at least part of that life in her autobiography.