A Few Reception Pictures

Here are a few pictures I took as we were setting up for the reception and taking a few family photos. Then I put my camera down until the next day.











The next morning, the very first thing that Thomas and Emily did was go back out to the dance floor (in their pj's) and practice their moves. That made me laugh.

I was dressed first, but Kelly says she packed before I got dressed. She has such great taste in clothing.

It felt so great to take a nap.

Backyard

Mom and Dad,
Here are some of the things we did in the back yard to get in ready for the wedding reception.

Here is a "wall garden" of succulents that Matt and I put together. He then built a frame to go around each garden and painted the frames in yellow and purple to go with the garden chairs.


Of course there would be a garden even if there was no wedding. I feel like I'm in a Beatrix Potter book watching Mr. McGregor work.


One of the clever things Matt did was drill holes through all of our flower pots and then connect each one to the sprinkler system. He put bubblers in the middle of each pot and it has kept everything thriving and we don't have to worry about forgetting to water the pots.

During the rainy days of winter, Emily and I worked in the garage painting the old chairs shades of yellow. Matt built 3 new chairs and Emi and I painted them blue and purple. We added pillows and I'll have to take a picture. I love the color in the yard, it looks so cheerful.


Bob made several little glass butterflies to go in the pots and a large dragonfly for a garden box. I LOVE them.




Our dogwood was in bloom - a little strange for June.

Matt, the boys and his dad put in the fountain I gave him for Christmas.

Somehow Matt timed the roses to be in bloom perfectly for the reception night.




Matt and the boys took out the old wooden bridge and put in the stones and new rocks. We added a pot and it looks so nice.


I didn't take too many pictures the day and night of the reception. But everything looked lovely. We added lanterns and small lights around the yard. Look at Marie's blog "A New Family" for pictures of the wedding day. Hopefully I can find some more pictures of the yard the night of the reception. It was so fun.

Inspired by Her Goodness

If you have the time I recommend reading Anne Marie's blog - see to my right sidebar. She is just finishing a 3 week experience of working in a leper colony in India. Anne is a dainty, feminine, pretty, girly girl. She has a heart of gold and has every desire to be and do good. My 3 favorite posts (and are best read in this order)are HANDS written on May 28, I can't even begin to explain her experiences and insight, it's better to just read them yourself. One line that really touched my heart was, "They may not have hands, but they all have gratitude." The second post is LOOK UP from June 1, and the final sentence sums up her tender feelings at the end of this day, "I try to remember to look up to my Heavenly Father who never lets the prayers of my heart go unheard, no matter to what sky I LOOK UP." And the third post is SEEING. Her experience of seeing a small disabled boy who was ignored by all the passing crowds and her response to him just softened my heart. The sentence, "He was made invisible by the visibility of his differences.", makes me want to look more carefully with my eyes.

Many times I have been inspired by music or dance, but perhaps more inspirational is to see someone's heart trying to be good.
I hope to be like Anne Marie when I grow up.

Doug's Fortnight

This blog makes me feel like I'm bragging. But I just remind myself that 50% of the reason I write a blog is to keep my parents in touch with my kids. They live 3 states away and can't possibly be here for every event in our lives.

Doug graduated from the 8th grade this year and will be moving on to high school. It's nice, then, that before he left Hoover Middle School he was honored for a few things.

At the Sports Banquet he received Most Valuable Player for the baseball team:


At the final Band Concert he received the award for Most Outstanding Band Student:




At Graduation he was given the award for the Highest Achieving Student:


It was so fun for us (his number one fan club) to cheer for him and enjoy his moment in the sun. I know, I know the hair is crazy but I love to see Doug smile. He is a great kid!

On Being Nice

Last week in our community's newspaper a local journalist wrote an article titled, "To Those Who Make Things Work". He began the article this way, "This is a tribute to Mercedians who make things work and happen. Who go above and beyond their duties to take that extra step to lighten our load a little, each in her or his own special way." He then went on to share some personal experiences and individually thank by name, people who have helped him.

No one in our family read the article, so we were surprised when someone called to tell us the Matt was included in the list of helpful people. It read, "Two dentists, Thomas LeQuia and Matthew Rowan, an endodontist. When my left jaw swelled up like a squirrel's last month, Tom diagnosed the problem and sent me to Matt, who fixed it. I'd rather be on a night infantry patrol in northwest Baghdad, than sit in a dentist's office. But both men exerted such a calming chair-side manner that I was able to get through the ordeal."

It's always nice to receive a compliment, but it's even nicer to just be nice. Matt is always very careful and patient with those who are nervous in his office. It's not always easy to be nice, in fact, it can be exhausting and many nights Matt comes home completly worn out by people who have the jitters. So I think it's nice that someone thanked him for being nice.

My Own Happiness Project

Let’s hear it for Book Clubs! I love that several of my sisters are members of a book club. I love hearing about the books that they are reading. And kudos to my own book club because I’m finally reading a book that I blogged about last fall and was going to read but never did. It’s not that I was lazy or never got around to it, I have legitimate reasons – really.

The book is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and I heard about it on NPR last fall and totally fell for it. It’s in my nature to be drawn to a word like “project” and of course I want happiness. It’s not like I’m sad or depressed or unhappy but hey if someone has found a way to be MORE happy, I’m in.

After hearing about it on the radio I went to the author’s blog to check it out and changed my mind about reading it. First reason, it turns out that her book was compared to the book The Year of Living Biblically, and I hated that book. I won’t go into the reasons why here but anything that is compared to that book loses credibility in my mind. Second reason, her Happiness Toolbox included such resources as making resolutions, personal commandments, lists, secrets of adulthood and a one-sentence journal. Oh boy, that sounded like a lot more work that what I wanted to do just to be happy. Third reason, her method of approaching happiness is so systematic – she researched all kinds of sources, and came up with 12 monthly themes of ideas she felt would bring her happiness. Then she chose a subset of goals to go with each theme and then she designed check-off charts of detailed to-do’s that would help her accomplish her goals. Why did all of this bother me? I felt like I was reading my own mind. I am totally a goal making/checklisting/gold star kind of a person. But it’s actually something I’ve been trying to change about myself. Honestly checklists can get tedious, I know, I have one in front of me almost all the time. I decided some time ago that I wanted happiness that is inside of me whether anything gets checked off my list or not.

So, I didn’t buy her book until now, but I do think about happiness for myself and others. I think happiness is a choice and I know there is a plan of happiness that when followed will bring us the truest happiness of all. That plan comes from God and any plan designed by us mere mortals will always fall short of bringing the surest happiness.

So after browsing her blog, I decided I didn’t need her method to bring me happiness. Instead, I started jotting down on my blog things that make me happy. This list is simple but true. I could write something every day but it’s fun to just add something now and again.

Thanks to book club, I’m reading her book now and I’m enjoying it and yes learning or thinking about a number things…..I’ll keep you posted.

Here is my short list of things that make me happy. This list is subject to be added to.
Exercise
Contentment
My husbands attention
Friends
Learning and growth
Being outside
Feeling like I make a difference in someone else’s life
Being a mother
Taking care of myself