Best. Wedding. Ever.

At least, the best wedding I've ever attended, including my own.

Lovely Niece and -- ooh, should I give him a blog name? Let's see... oh, maybe later -- he who shall be known in the short-term as New Nephew made it official last weekend. The bride was simply gorgeous... here she is an hour or so before the ceremony, held at our home church:


No photos during the event itself -- it was a thoughtfully planned and meaningful worship service, and even if I'd wanted to take pics, I was kinda busy with singing. It was a great honor to have that role in the event. (My 19-year-old nephew walked by me afterward with his girlfriend and ordered, "You're singing at my wedding." So I take that as a good sign. Also, one of my mother's best friends was there, and she said I sound like my mom did. Loved hearing that.)

The bride and groom included sweet individual touches in memory of several people. Candles were lighted in the official remembrance of six people listed in the program, but most people probably weren't aware that the bride's bouquet included a single sunflower in memory of her little sister; that her grandmother's Bible lay on the altar; and that the groom was wearing his grandfather's boots -- the ones worn to walk the groom's mother down the aisle at his parents' wedding.

One of our hometown national park's renovated bath houses made a great reception site, as it's now an art museum -- an elegant setting for a joyful evening. Here are Lovely Niece and New Nephew during their first dance:


The DJ did a nice job of keeping things understated and elegant as far as the music mix was concerned. But a few hours before the wedding, we managed to arrange a little musical surprise for the groom.

You see... Last year, after my oldest nephew's wedding, The Alpha and I met up with Lovely Niece and he who was to become New Nephew, plus another couple who were to become their honor attendants, at a local establishment featuring German cuisine. We walked in to find a tuba/accordion duo onstage. I don't remember exactly what they were playing when we arrived, but their repertoire included a mix of genres, all polkafied. Before we even got to our table, New Nephew stopped, pointed, and announced, "I want them to play at my wedding!"

That's when it all started. It took more than a year to bring the plan to fruition.

After the engagement was announced this summer, planning rolled into high gear, and we kept teasing Lovely Niece and New Nephew about hiring the band for their reception. I became a Fan of The Itinerant Locals on Spacehook. We even checked to make sure they would indeed be local, not itinerant, on the date in question. They were, and their gig that evening ended at 9:00. But we didn't book them. We weren't sure how long the reception would run, and the bride and groom had decided on a DJ, after all. Wouldn't want to step on any toes.

Then, a few hours before the wedding, Lovely Niece was in the Bride's Room of the church, having her makeup done, and I was sitting nearby, checking Spacehook on my iPhone to pass the time. Guess who popped onto the screen with a status update? Yes, our favorite polka duo was promoting their 7 to 9 p.m. gig at the Brau Haus. Two blocks from the reception location.

I informed Lovely Niece of this opportunity. Should I go for it? As a special surprise for the man who would by then be her husband? She gave me the nod.

Via the comment field on the status update, I asked the Locals if they'd like to stop by a wedding afterwards. Their response was enthusiastic: "We'll have the kids with us, but we are game--that sounds like fun. We love weddings! Kids ok? 9:30ish ok? Just go through the front door?" A couple more exchanges, and we had secured a visit from the entire family.


When they walked in, New Nephew's jaw hit the floor. At that moment, The Alpha and I officially sealed our status as The Cool Aunt and Uncle. At one point he was hollering at us, "I love y'all SO MUCH!"

I leave you with a selection of video clips. My only regret is that I didn't have the camera set on high resolution.

Friday Five Do Nothing Edition

Over at RevGalBlogPals, Sally writes:

I am reading a wonderful little book for Advent. Its title: Do Nothing, Christmas is Coming!

So this week's Friday Five is simple. List five things you won't be doing to prepare for Christmas.

1. We are pretty sure we're going to skip putting up the tree this time around. I haven't been too excited about it for several years now, and it feels like such an unnecessary chore.

2. No other decorations, either -- other than the gigantic Advent wreath that's already in the front yard.

3. No aimless shopping. We're pretty good at having an idea of what we're going to buy for a person before we go looking for it, thereby minimizing our time lost on attention to retail. Also, we are donating to organizations like Nothing But Nets, Heifer International, and Arkansas Rice Depot as part of our gifts to family members.

4. No cooking special foods. We always eat way too much when we go to visit family during the holidays, so there's no need to go overboard here at home. (Besides, we got sent home from Thanksgiving with peanut brittle and fudge, and I suspect there will be something else to take with us after Christmas.)

5. I will not be one of the people insisting that this is "the most wonderful time of the year" and that everyone should be happy. I'm attending a funeral tomorrow for the husband of a friend. I'm singing at the Blue Christmas worship service our church is offering in a couple of weeks. I'm praying for those dealing with loss and uncertainty in the face of forced joy.

Bonus: Things I will be doing include obsessing about musical obligations (not the Blue Christmas one, but the other stuff that's more complicated), traveling, and being intentional about keeping my stress level down in the middle of it all. (I have a massage scheduled for this evening.)

Also, some time this weekend I'm going to blog about last weekend's wonderful wedding of my niece and nephew-in-law!

Sunday night randomosity

...Here's a pic I took of The Boy earlier today. He was all curled up on the couch, on his dog blanket, and he actually let me wrap it up around him.


...This week is the countdown to Lovely Niece's wedding. I have yet to find out exactly when the pianist wants me there for vocal rehearsal in advance of wedding rehearsal proper, but I am happily at Lovely Niece's disposal for the better part of two days, so I'll be there when I'm told.

...My dad is part of a clinical study for cancer treatment now. He was diagnosed about 11 years ago, and it's starting to resist methods that have worked for a while. So my side of the family's Thanksgiving supper isn't an organized event this year, because he and his wife will be driving back from Amazing Cancer Center to Land of Our Roots that day. It's the first of his bi-weekly trips relating to this study. I'm hoping they don't get too road-weary in the coming months, and that he's not on the stinkin' placebo, which is a possibility.

...Despite all the stress surrounding this (and pretty much every) wedding, I'm really looking forward to seeing Lovely Niece give me my first Nephew-in-Law on Saturday. They've been together for about 8 years. It's time. I also love that she has an appreciation for liturgy, and that she and her groom are both clear that this ceremony is worship, and follows the order thereof.

...The sanctuary in Hometown Church will already be decorated for Advent, which begins the morning after the wedding. We ended Worship Committee meeting tonight by preparing our own sanctuary for Advent. I felt a bit younger climbing up the ladder to add the crown atop the Chrismon tree. (I don't enjoy decorating my tree anymore. Haven't for years. I just see it as a hassle these days.)

...I just finished my supper: One bottle of Newcastle. (No, that's not at all a normal supper for me.)

...I've known for some time that my dogs have it better than a lot of people, but I received reinforcement of that knowledge this afternoon when I upgraded The Boy's bed to the same kind we just bought for Tuesday (there was some coveting action going on). First-world guilt, served up right here.

...There's something else I want to blog, but I don't know what it is. There's a good chance it could be something unbloggable anyway, so I'm just going to leave it alone for now.

Friday the 13th Five

Over at RevGalBlogPals, Sophia writes:

The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia, a word derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή) (meaning Friday), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς) (meaning thirteen), attached to phobía (φοβία) (meaning fear). The term triskaidekaphobia derives from the Greek words "tris", meaning 'three', "kai", meaning 'and', and "deka", meaning 'ten'. the whole word means three and ten. The word was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953. (Wikipedia)

1. How is this Friday the 13th looking for you? It's looking okay... so far... (cue the creepy music!). I'm working from home, and I need to make another specimen delivery to the vet on behalf of Tuesday and her problem. Might take her in, too, just because she lived there before we adopted her and they love seeing her.

2. Have you ever had anything unlucky happen on Friday the 13th? Not that I can remember at the moment.

3. Did your family of origin embrace or scorn superstitions? Mostly scorned them. My brother is a 13th-of-the-month baby, turned 13 on Friday the 13th, and considered it his lucky day.

4. Are there any unique or amusing ones from your family, region, or ethnic background? When I worked at a flower shop in college, I arrived at the store one morning while my boss was nibbling on a donut. I didn't think anything of it; she often ate breakfast there. But as she threw away the napkin she said, "Okay, now I've had breakfast so I can tell you about my dream." Before I heard her account of the strange dream, I made her explain what she meant. Turns out there was a superstition I hadn't heard of before: If you tell someone about your dream before breakfast, it will come true. Her dream had been bizarre and she didn't want it to happen in real life. The funniest thing about this one: I now tend to wait until after breakfast to tell anyone about my dreams!

5. Do you love or hate horror movies like "Friday the 13th"? I can do without them. I enjoy a suspenseful movie, but don't really care for the gore of the horror genre.

Oooh, they gave me one again!

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and I had a lot going on, so I forgot to share my big birthday joy:

I got another goat!!!

Yes, once again, my wonderful husband's wonderful parents got me a goat for my birthday. They got it from Heifer.org's online gift catalog, which has this to say about it:

Goats Are Great for Families

The gift of a dairy goat represents a lasting, meaningful way for you to help a little boy or girl on the other side of the world.

Goats can thrive in extreme climates and on poor, dry land by eating grass and leaves. The gift of a dairy goat can supply a family with up to several quarts of nutritious milk a day - a ton of milk a year. Extra milk can be sold or used to make cheese, butter or yogurt. Families learn to use goat manure to fertilize gardens.

There's probably somebody out there thinking, "But hey, your birthday was your birthday! Why did you want a goat?" Well, I've wanted one for years, and when I finally got one last year, it was so cool that I wanted another one. (And don't think for a minute that I'm the least bit underprivileged in my birthday haul: The Alpha got me a Phone with an i in front of it.)

If you're looking for a way to honor someone with a different kind of Christmas gift this year, this is just one of many ideas out there. As we're reminding people at worship during November and December, "Christmas is not your birthday. So instead of giving to each other, or thinking about what we want, why not give to the One whose birthday it is?"

Friday Five: What's New?

Over at RevGalBlogPals, Songbird writes:

There's a new baby on my street, a double PK whose Mom and Dad are Methodist pastors and church planters [in the Small World department: I know these pastors, too! Congratulations, S and A!]. I'm hoping to go over and meet her today. I love new babies, the way they smell and their sweet little fingers and toes. Little K has me thinking about all the new things that please us with their shiny freshness.

Please share with us five things you like *especially* when they are new.

1. Dogs -- I love dogs of all ages, but puppies who I am not going to take home with me are especially cute, and great for cuddling and playing. Having adopted three dogs now, I've decided that almost-grown or full-out adult adoption is probably the way to go for us (not that I would give up the memories of raising our tiny baby Cub!), but that doesn't make new babydogs any less appealing.

2. Books -- which is a problem, because I haven't read many of the ones already in my possession! I've become really careful about buying new books, because I need to read those others first.

3. Cars -- they're nice and clean and shiny and pretty and good-smelling and more fuel-efficient, if I'm going to get excited about them... and in the case of the last one we bought, paid for, in full, up front!

4. Cookies -- nothing quite like a fresh-baked cookie, eaten while it's still warm from the oven. Which reminds me, I have some dough in the freezer...

5. Kitchens -- specifically, our kitchen. I chronicled the remodeling saga on this blog earlier this year. We're enjoying it very much, but now that it's a few months old and we're used to it, keeping the clutter of our lives out of the way is becoming more of a challenge.

Halloween in brief

Okay, we confess that we totally lifted this idea from over here, but The Alpha was pretty pleased at how his first attempt at creepy candy apples turned out:


Sticks collected from the yard (and washed, yes) are way better than the ones that belong in popsicles.

Speaking of the yard:



And, the zombie gravedigger was such a hit in '08, he came back again this year:



In addition to trick-or-treaters, several friends came, and it was good seeing them all. It was also good to have their help hauling the extremely heavy wrought-iron fencing around to the backyard after the evening's festivities were over.

There are other pics, too, but it's time for me to get ready for bed. So there.