So, lets try out the title of Grandma.

That's right.  Congratulations to my lovely daughter Ri and her hubby, who are making me a Grandma!!

We've know for a couple of weeks now, but were respecting their wish to keep it fairly quiet until they made the announcement at church.  Since that happened this morning, I'm free to shout it to the rest of the world.

Yay!!  Grandbaby number 1.  I expect to have a lot, but I'll let them start with one. :D

We're all extremely excited, as you can probably tell, and I will certainly post updates.  I can hardly wait, but now that I'm older, and not the one who's pregnant, I know it will pass rather quickly.  So, I'd better decide what I'm going to sew, knit, or stitch for the baby and get to work on it pronto.

Do I need blessing, or am I already blessed?

We were at a wedding just a few weeks ago for someone very close to our family.  It was a lovely wedding, but unfortunately, not without a bit of drama preceding the ceremony.  When I intervened in an altercation that was underway, merely to point out that it wasn't the time or place for such a display, I understandably ruffled a few feathers.  Thankfully, the participants went their separate ways, but I did receive a rather pointed look later on in the day from one of them in particular.  This made me a little wary when, just as we are about to leave, this person approached me.  I won't go into details, but this was a very odd encounter.  It seemed as though she felt the need to pray for me, which I wouldn't ordinarily balk at, but given the previous events, and her, ahhh, unusual manner, I wasn't as thrilled as I could have been.  She encouraged me to relax and said that I needed to be blessed because I had so many girls.  I assured her that I had already been blessed by having those girls.  In the end I just let her say her prayer so that I could leave without making another huge scene, but I was not at all comfortable with it.

So what do you do when someone wants to "bless" you, but you aren't certain of their heart?  Many times these people do not mean any harm, so it's not a problem to humor them.  At other times, the person may make you feel uncomfortable.  And worst of all are times when you seriously question their intent.  Most of the time I will allow someone to pray for me; as I said, people usually do so with the best intentions.  Occasionally, if I feel uncomfortable, I try to excuse myself from the situation if I can do so gracefully.  If not, I will do as I did on this occasion and allow the person their prayer, excusing myself as quickly as possible afterward.  I certainly won't allow something that's making me uncomfortable drag on very long.  And last of all are the times when you get a really bad "vibe" off the person offering to pray.  In those cases it's best to excuse yourself as quickly as possible.  For the most part, these are usually people you don't know anyway, so although you risk offending them, you probably won't see them again.  If you do, and get to know them, then you can always apologize later if necessary.

People have all sorts of beliefs, and if they are determined to pray for you they will, even if you don't stand around while they do it, and there are weird people in the world who give you the creeps when they approach you offering to pray.   But, my God is bigger than creepy people and misguided prayers.  When in doubt, pray while they are praying - louder, if necessary to get your point across.  Finally, I would add that you need to take into account the age of the person offering the prayer.  Older people may be suffering from some sort of dementia which can make a well intended prayer seem confusing or uncomfortable.  In the end, the age of the person who wanted to pray for me this time is partially why I allowed the prayer instead of excusing myself beforehand.

So, do I need blessing, or am I already blessed?  Of course the answer to that is, both.

Some more wedding photos.

Wow - it's been almost a month since Ri got married.  Time does skip ahead at an ever increasing rate.  We've had access to some of these photos for a couple of weeks, but I couldn't post them because I needed Ri to show me how to download them from where they were at, to my computer, so I could put them here.  So here goes.

Bias has nothing to do with it - she's beautiful.

The flowers at the waist were the only decoration on her chiffon dress.

Simple, elegant, very Ri.

T.Lynn was helping Ri on with her necklace.

The florist did an excellent job on the bouquets.

Just above Ri's fingers, you can see the pendant that we wrapped around her bouquet.  

This was a necklace that was given to my great-grandmother when she was a baby - roughly 118 years ago.  My great-grandmother said the marks on the back were from her teething on it.  She passed away when I was 18, so I remember her very well.  We took it off the necklace and threaded it on green ribbon; I figured it would be safer that way.  It fit the bill for something blue, and most definitely for something old.

They decided to use a unity sand ceremony in place of the unity candle.  I liked the symbolism of the mingling sand even better than the lighted candle and we were able to put white sand in the bottom to symbolize Jesus as the foundation upon which they intend to base their marriage.  It was beautiful.

Horsing around during picture taking.

This was my favorite picture of their rings.

This willow tree was a gift from him.

The reception hall we used was lovely.

Each table had a bit of nubby weave linen fabric that closely resembled burlap (but without the smell), piled in the center with a basket full of favors, and a bud vase with a yellow flower in it.  Simple, but pretty.

Lots of food.  Thank you girls for all your hard work!

There was a separate table for the punch and cake.

They also wanted a remembrance table with pictures of all the grandparents they knew and loved, but that have passed on.  Her bouquet was placed in the vase on the back when she arrived at the reception.  Part of the words on the plaque at the top are a Shakespeare quote:  "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember."  And of course, the plant on the table is rosemary.  The willow tree figurine is the "Angel of Remembrance."

Cutting the cake.

Feeding each other was definitely more civil here than I've seen at other weddings.

Next step - life!

Congratulations again to my gorgeous daughter and her sweetheart of a husband.

As I type this, my baby, T.Lynn, is spending the next couple of nights with them at his suggestion.  He knows how much she loves her big sister, and he knows how lonely his lovely wife gets now that she doesn't have all four of her siblings around her constantly.  

I am blessed to be able to entrust my precious daughter to such a wonderful man.

Happy Birthday Ri!!

20 years ago today, my first-born (to me), my little Ri, made her way rather quietly into the world.  I wasn't screaming (more along the lines of grunting), and she wasn't either.  That was a little worrisome to everyone else in the room, but it had been a very long, difficult delivery, so I didn't even have enough wits about me to realize there was a problem.  I was rather surprised when they wouldn't let me hold her, ("Just give her a quick kiss Mom"), but regained enough presence of mind to ask my mother to accompany her to the NICU.  I was very pleased when my mother returned not too long after that to report that all was well.
In the ensuing 20 years I have watched her grow into such a lovely young woman. Intelligent, loving, independent, and thoughtful of others.  Now I watch as she starts this new part of her life out with the man she loves, and who loves her dearly in return, and I'm so very happy for them both.

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
as long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Happy Birthday Ri!!

Ri's wedding.

Well, the first courtship for our family ended even more beautifully than it started.

She is a lovely, Christian, young woman, eager to be an exemplary wife, and he is a true Christian gentleman, and equally eager to be a wonderful husband.   

Here are a few preliminary shots of Ri's wedding.

Of course, we don't have the pictures from the photographer yet.  These are just some shots taken by family members, but I really couldn't wait to share.  

The walk back down the aisle as the new Mrs. M.

This was the arrangement that was with the cake.

It didn't look a thing like this when we picked it up from the florist.  This is how we did want it to look, but when we picked it up, it was way too tall (even after I said something and the florist cut it down some), and had a bunch of other flowers and stuff in there we didn't want.  Thankfully, I had ordered extra sunflowers (just in case), so I took out what we didn't want, cut all the rest of it down and re-arranged it.

I don't have a close up of the cake yet (that's assuming the photographer got one), but the dark band at the bottom was green modeling chocolate that I rolled out and pressed on a patterned fondant mat to look as though it had vines pressed into it.  Then I added dark green, matte powder and green, pearl powder (both edible of course) to give it some depth.  Overall, I thought it turned out okay.

The icing was smoothed buttercream.  We don't like fondant.

This is kind of an odd angle.  It makes the photos look as though they were far away, but they weren't.

BTW - Ri doesn't mind showing her face on the blog.  I just don't do it for my other children (and didn't initially for her) because I feel as though they should be able to make the decision for themselves whether or not their face is on the internet once they are grown.

They each had nine photos ranging from baby to adult in these frames.

The Mr. & Mrs. sign, next to the Willow Tree he gave her, was on the cake the ladies from the church served at their pounding.

Lovely, don't you think?

Don't worry, the dark line across the bottom of the dress is just a reflection on the glass.

And here they are leaving the reception.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. M.!

She is so beautiful.

I'm in the light green dress on the right. The wind was blowing my direction, so the bubbles kept coming back at me. :)

I'll post better photos as soon as I get some.

Almost Time

It's almost time to watch my first born baby, and second oldest child walk down the aisle.  It's almost time to cuddle my youngest because she's going to miss her *favorite* sister terribly.  It's almost time to start introducing my daughter with a new last name.  It's almost time to watch her fulfill all that I've seen in her.

I'm not sad, but I am thoughtful tonight as we prepare ourselves for the rehearsal tomorrow, and then her wedding on Saturday.

I love her so much, and I'm so very happy for her.

A Pounding

The folks at our church are wonderful.  They held a pounding for Ri and Superman last week and we had such a good time.  For those of you who may not know what a pounding is, it's kind of like a shower (complete with a couple of really cute games), but instead of household gifts like blenders and towels, you bring non-perishable food.  I told her you could tell we went to a church with lots of large families because she is well supplied with rice, pasta, and beans, instead of things I've seen at other poundings, like hamburger helper and boxes of macaroni and cheese.  Some of the ladies included a favorite recipe with all the necessary non-perishable ingredients she will need to make it.  Two of the families had their offerings in laundry baskets and one had theirs in one of those cute market baskets.  In addition to all the beans, rice and pasta, she has all the basic baking supplies (including chocolate chips - for us, they are considered one of the basics), quite a nice quantity of canned food, all the basic herbs and spices, and I got her some of the blends we use most, in addition to some of her favorite herbal teas.  So her pantry is pretty well supplied.  She's relieved; she knew he doesn't cook much at all, and she was afraid they'd have nothing to eat until they went grocery shopping, and that the first trip would cost a fortune.

We have such a great church family!!

Two Weeks!

In just two weeks Ri and Superman will be getting married.
Am I stressed out?  About to lose my mind?  Freaking out over all the stuff that still needs to be done?  Agonizing over losing my baby?
Trust me, I've heard all these questions lately.  And the answer?
Well, lets take it one question at a time.
No - I'm not particularly stressed out.  Occasionally something will come up that momentarily bothers me, but I just take a second to remind myself that absolutely nothing can happen with regard to this wedding that will stop the world from spinning on it's axis.  Plus, I've been planning, organizing, purchasing, and making stuff slowly for several months just to keep things from getting any crazier than they have to here at the end, and so far, my plan has worked out just fine.
No - I'm not about to lose my mind.  I did that years ago.  It's much easier to function in a crazy world if you're a little abnormal anyway.
No - Sure there are some things left to be done, but all of the really big stuff has been done and even if some of the little stuff doesn't make it in the final cut, they'll still be able to get married, and the marriage is much more important than the wedding.
No - I'm not an emotional basket case because "I'm losing my baby."  I'm not losing her.  I know exactly where she'll be.  I see it as kind of a long term version of what happens the first time they take off driving somewhere without you.  Yes, you are worried about them, but things will go along much better if you get busy doing something and don't sit there and fret about the fact that they are on the road with a bunch of crazy people.  Besides, as I mentioned before, I'm really excited for her.

And, when it all comes down to it and you're really having trouble coping with something, inhale deeply once or twice, and take a moment to pray for peace of mind, solutions to problems, your child's safety and future, or for all of the above.

Just Four and No More

Ri will have to excuse me for borrowing a line (and the title, I think) of a post she made a couple of years ago.  Her post was in reference to something T.Lynn had said when Ri was trying to talk her into letting Superman have some cookies they were making one afternoon.  After wheedling, and eventually bribing her, Ri finally talked T. into letting Superman have some cookies, but T.'s response was, "Just four, and no more."  That, as I said, happened a couple of years ago; before he and Ri were engaged.
Now those lines apply to how many more weeks I'll have her here at home before Superman takes her as his wife, and they start their new life together.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not sad.  I know things will be different around here, and I'm sure I'll miss her, but I don't really feel as though I'm losing her, as so many people have described it.  I love my daughter dearly, but this is exactly what I raised her for - to start her own life and family.  I feel as though it would be inappropriate to be morose about it.
On the contrary, I'm excited for her.  I look forward to seeing them grow in their relationship, and of course, I'm also looking forward to any grandbabies the Lord sees fit to provide. :D
So, four weeks to go before she gets married.  May God richly bless them as they join their lives and form a new family.

Happy Birthday T.!!

A big ol' HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby.  T.Lynn turned 11 today and we marked the occasion with a trip to play mini golf, bumper boats, and arcade games.  We had a great time, and finished off the day with her requested birthday dinner of macaroni and cheese with bacon, fresh cut veggies, and the requisite cake and ice cream.  
When you look around all the goofing off and clowning, you can see glimpses of the fine little lady she's turning into.  She does love to make people laugh though, and she has a rather quirky way of looking at things that keeps us in stitches on a regular basis.  She is also very affectionate.  As I type this, I have two labels (she has a fondness for my label maker) stuck to my monitor, telling anyone who cares to read them that she loves her mommy.
I love you so much honey - Happy Birthday!!

Ri's Bridal Shower and Quilt

Saturday has come and gone, and with it, the first ever bridal shower for one of my girls.  We had a great time.  Lys, her Maid of Honor, was in charge of planning, inviting guests, and decorating, and I provided the food.  Not to say Lys, and the other girls didn't help prepare the food, they certainly did.
The pics look a little blurry in the post, but will look much nicer if you click on them. 

Lys wanted to play up sunflowers since they will be in the wedding, so there is plenty of yellow and green. The girls worked very hard to get all the decorations up since the ceiling is so high and we don't have a ladder.

A small table was set up in the sunroom for the punch. This gorgeous old punch set was borrowed from my mom, and Bree painted the stemmed glasses.  They are so cute.  My mom, Lys, the groom's mother, and I each got to keep one, and Ri will get the other eight for her new home.

The girls used the bistro table, and my jewlery box to display the favors.

All the favor boxes were decorated differently.  I'll show how they did those in the next post.

The favor boxes had a trio of sunflower seeds in them; candy coated, chocolate covered seeds(in yellow, green, and brown), toffee coated seeds (Ri and Lys made those), and roasted, salted sunflower seeds.

There was plenty of food.  

M & M's are in the tall, stemmed glasses as a play on her new initials. 

We had little, drawstring organza bags available so folks could take some home with them.

Of course, we had some of Ri's favorites, like stuffed strawberries,

strawberry cupcakes with strawberry, cream cheese icing,

(can you tell she likes strawberries?)

and cookie dough dip.

There were also plenty of candles,

(Bree painted this holder too)

to go along with all the sunflowers.

They choose a few games to play, a couple of which left us in stitches.  

Now we just have to find a place to store all her gifts until close to the wedding, when we plan on going over to Superman's home to help her set everything up they way she would like.

And here's her quilt.  

As I mentioned before, I did manage to get it finished just before she got home from the girls' visit with my mom, so she didn't see it completed until her shower on Saturday.

I did an all over, swirly stipple for the background of the top, hoping to set off the flowers.  

I in-lined the petals, and quilted a flower pattern in each brown center.  Don't pay too much attention to the not-quite-straight lines.  From a distance it looks great. :D

Then I did a serpentine, open feather pattern for the border.

I think it turned out all-right.

T.Lynn's gift to her sister was a decorative pillow to go along with the quilt.  I used some of the extra pieces to make the top, then T. helped make the back (which is designed so Ri can take the case off to wash it), helped program my machine to write out, "Sisters are best friends you can never lose.  Love T....."(which she came up with herself), stitched that on, and then sewed on the button that holds the flap closed on the back. 

She did a great job. 

I'll have to try and re-locate the quilted, denim, scrap rug that Beenie made for her sister, so I can post pics of that later.  It's somewhere in the mass of gifts that we currently have sitting on, and around the hearth, just 'til we can find room elsewhere for them.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful day.

And I started off so well.

I managed to get a birthday post made for Beenie on her actual birthday.  I got Kay's in a couple of days late.  I totally missed hubby's (I actually forgot I hadn't mentioned his until I started this post), but he doesn't like a fuss made over his birthday.  I know lots of people say that, but he really doesn't, so I guess forgetting to mention his can be overlooked - I did take him to dinner. :) 
But I also forgot to post about Bree, who's birthday was the first.  I'm so sorry honey.  And for the record, I don't actually forget any of them on their birthday, I just forget to post about it.  So, on to the important part!

Bree is an very talented artist (although she disagrees), and loves a wide variety of things.  She likes to go shoot guns at my dad's, and bows with Ri in the backyard.  She got her own bow and some arrows for her birthday.  She loves to read and cook, and really enjoys taking long walks, usually with Ri.  She's interested in gunsmithing, and likes to play the flute, mess around on the piano, and even plays a song or two on Beenie's guitar.  She is a lovely young lady and we are so blessed to have her. 

So Happy Belated Birthday Bree!!

BTW - I'm making no guarantees about remembering T.Lynn's or Ri's since they are in May and June - which is when my older brother and Ri (respectively) are getting married.