Wedding Preparations - Four Days to Go!

The girls and I working on the cutlery and napkins.

The finished product

Decorating practice



T.J. using my *ancient* computer to make wedding programs.

The next few days should be a lot of fun. Friends are planning to come help with food and other preparations starting tomorrow so there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to get everything done right?

I have very sternly warned everybody against stressing. (It remains to be seen whether they'll listen to me ;)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sorry but yeah, this is the only pic I've seen from mom's birthday (she hides when there are cameras around).

Update - Teeter Bob

I got a video of Meredith riding my....er..... her horse, Teeter Bob. They're getting along great. In fact, I saw ol' Teeter Bob just a few days ago and she's just as fat and sassy as ever ;)

Meredith's riding her here in an o-ring snaffle. She recently switched back to the draw-gag snaffle and has been turning a tighter 1st barrel with it. Crazy horse just like that poll pressure I guess.

One of the Teeter Bob's best attributes IMO is her "on/off switch." Calm as can be outside the pen but give her the signal and she's off! Likewise, as soon as she hits the mouth of the alley she "shuts down" and is walking with her head down twenty feet later.

A Courtship Story (The short version)

Several years ago, five maybe six, my family and I began attending worship services with a group of families meeting in each others homes on Sunday.

It was wonderful fellowship. There were only about five families at that time, we would come together in the morning to sing, pray, hear the word of God expounded upon and partake in the Lord's supper.

After the service we would have a potluck dinner which was always fun. I love seeing what everybody else has made and tasting peoples recipes ;)

Since our group was small everyone noticed when there were visitors and the visitors had the chance to meet every one there.
Which, as it turns out was a good thing for me.

This is when I met Mrs. Hall.

A family in the church, our dear friends ( and now neighbors), the Vaughns, had just welcomed their sixth child into their family and Mrs. Vaughn's mother, Mrs. Hall, came to see the new grandchild and help take care of the other children during Mrs. Vaughns recovery.

So the Sunday she was in town I met Mrs. Hall. As I recall that sunday we all got back together after lunch and had some sort of activity. I don't remember what exactly but I'm thinking either music or scripture recitation.

And then I went home with my older brother who at the time wasn't married.

The end.

Or not.

Apparently after we left Mrs. Hall began to tell my parents about this guy she knew and how he and I would be a perfect match. We just had to meet.

There was a catch though. This dude lived in central Texas.

Needless to say my parents weren't real big on the idea.

At some point Mrs. Hall went home and told the guy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. New that she had met the perfect girl for their son Gabriel.

Again, end of story.

Fast forward a few years to May 2008. This time the Vaughns, now our neighbors, are welcoming their eighth child.

It's a little different this time. The Vaughns now have a farm, a milk cow and Mr. Vaughn's job is sending him on out of state business trips.

I like the Vaughns a lot (have I mentioned that before? ;) and The new baby is just a doll which is why I ended up going over there one morning to help their oldest daughter make breakfast.

Once again Mrs. Hall was there. And this time I ended up spending the better part of the day with her.

By this time I had forgotten all about being the "perfect match" for some guy down in Texas but not Mrs. Hall.

Once again, she contacted Mr. New.

Several months went by and after much prayer Mr. New contacted Mr. Vaughn who gave Mr. New Dad's contact information.

The rest as they say, is history. Dad and Mr. New had many lengthy phone and email discussions before Dad began corresponding with Gabriel.

Later on Gabriel and I began emailing and, after meeting in person, talking on the phone.

After this had gone on for several months Gabriel asked me to marry him and I, of course said yes.

Now we're coming down to the wire. November 7th, our wedding day, is only eleven days away.

There's lot's of things left to do but it all appears to be coming together nicely.

All the extra work of planning a large wedding is made worthwhile when I see all the young girls of my acquaintance deciding what to wear or how to do their hair and lots of other things two months before the wedding.

This is a big event to them! Most of them have known our family for quite awhile and they have seen how God has been faithful in our lives. This, I think is encouraging to them because they have people in their lives who tell them the same things people told me.

Things like, "How do you ever expect to get married if you don't get out and meet guys?" or "You have to get out and date around if you ever expect to meet Mr. right - the odds of him being the first guy you meet are pretty slim."

Or how about this one, "You're wasting your life! Quit sitting on you hands and go to college...... or get a job..... or something!"

We girls are bombarded every day by well meaning people who think we're wasting our lives by staying at home, living under our fathers' authority and learning homemaking skills. (I'm sure guys are bombarded by well meaning but wrong people too, but I can only speak from a girls perspective).

So when we see, or better yet know, a girl who has lived by the same principles that we hold to,

and is on the brink of saying the vows we all dream of (whether we admit it or not),it is so very encouraging to watch that God's grace and providence at work in that couples' life.

This is why a little bit of stress is okay with me and why my family is striving to put the details in order -and happy to do it!

Look at this totally cool cross-stitch hanging my sister-in-law made! What talent, it's awesome :)

Typical ponies

The Ant and The Grasshopper

Here's a little story I found on a political forum. Enjoy!


THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

This one is a little different...
Two Different Versions! ................. Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,
building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant
should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.


CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a
video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing,
'It's Not Easy Being Green .'

Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant 's house
where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.'
Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.


Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back

of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house
he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident
and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders
who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.


MORAL OF THE STORY : Be careful how you vote in 2010 .