Wordless Wednesday

Welcome to Levi William! Eleven pounds and 22 inches long! Mom and baby are doing well.

Thanks be to God!

The Men In My Life

Two things happened recently that made me smile, or brought tears to my eyes....

My son-in-law, Gabe, stopped in at  my place of work with my daughter. Rebekah had some "Mary Kay" things she needed to discuss with the other secretary, Heidi. While we were waiting for Rebekah, I asked Gabe if he heard that I found another deduction on their taxes....adding to their refund. He said he did and then gave me a big hug to say, "Thanks!" Gabe is a hugging sort of guy....but this was out of the blue and appreciated greatly by me.

And then yesterday I was talking with Phil on the phone. He was in South Dakota this past week with Paula and I called to see how their week went and to find out their traveling details for driving back to Wisconsin. At the end of our conversation I said, "I love you" and we hung up. I didn't think anything of it...sometimes we say I love you, sometimes we do not say it. Today I saw a message on my phone from Phil, "I love you, too, Mom. : )"

That's when I cried happy tears.

Sometimes, it is the little things that matter most.

Pumpkin Farm!

This is one of Ben's favorite places...on Gabe's shoulders. Gabe has carried him there since he was little.


Gabe, Bekah and Jacob. (Can't wait until next year!)


The crew...


Phil and Kim...after we tell him, "Phil, put your arm around her!"


The corn maze! Ben took a few minutes to catch on to the idea of walking into dead ends and turning around. About midway through he began to like the experience.


I think that is a pumpkin pirate..."Rrrrr!"


Ben had plenty of people to hold him. This is just too sweet.


The boys on our windy afternoon.


The happy newlyweds.


Smooching...in public!!!


Relaxing on the hayride.


Mary and her daddy.


Ben was a little nervous on the hayride. He just sat in my lap, or here, in my arms, and I can't say I minded it one bit. (A little hard holding back the tears, though.)


Lots of love going around.


I think this was the highlight of Ben's trip to the pumpkin farm.


Oh my! Bekah is as round as a pumpkin! A cute little pumpkin!


This was an impossible picture to get...this is the best one of the bunch. He just wanted to play with them.


It was a very good day! (He slept for an hour in the garage when we got home!)

Home Sweet Home

Here is Gabe and Bekah's new place! It is such a nice place to just hang out and visit for awhile with lots of room for lots of people!

Gabe and Bekah's Place

For those of you woul might be interested in seeing the kids' place....here it is.

We have a grand......

Bekah and Gabe have granted their permission for me to post the following news...we have a healthy grandson who is in the 90th% for size. (Please remember that Rebekah's brother was 12 pounds 5 ounces at birth and a mere 24" long. We are hoping it doesn't run in the family! He was a great sleeper, though...so there is a plus side.) I am writing at our 2nd computer and the pictures are on our main computer...I will post those as soon as I can. (The carpet was just cleaned in the living room by Stanley Steamer...and they are very fast!) Now I have to clean everything and put it back before Nayeli returns this evening! I just wanted to let all of you know...they are still undecided about a name.

Grandma

Since my daughter and her husband have officially announced their beautiful and joyful news on Facebook...I can now announce that I am a grandma and, God willing, will hold the newest little one joining our family sometime in December! I am elated and joyful that God has given them (and us) such a gift!

Special people....continued

Sorry, I couldn't find another picture of these two together..."Yeah, that's the ticket." Mary and Hannah were always around, helping out with everything as their schedule permitted. Mary worked especially hard the day we took everything down...she was as exhausted as I was that day.


And Kim jumped in there too. I gave her slow, tedious jobs that were necessary...but they were not the most fun things to do....like tying thread to the snowflakes. She did as I asked, with a smile on her face. Thanks Kim!


This is our son as he would truly love to be...he was our heavy lifter loading and unloading things for 48 hours....just barely having enough time to sleep.


And, of course, the bride and groom. They helped out immensely throughout the entire planning process and that made everything so much more enjoyable. Gabe was the one who found all the rest of the glass bowls and Bekah, well she actaully got her room cleaned out before she left our house. Seriously, she helped out in so many ways and made all the planning much more fun.

Thank you so much to everyone!

The Reception

Alright...I had a few shots from the reception and here are a few in random order. Here is my son and his girlfriend, Kim. We have been seeing more of Kim lately, even having dinner with us a couple of nights. I like it when the kids enjoy hanging around...and here I just like her smile.


This is Rev. Tim and Kathy May and their daughters, Rachel and Sarah. The girls played their violins during the wedding...the sound was heavenly.


Alright, I can't believe this but I am guessing which twin Taylor girl this is...and I know how to tell them apart. This is, I hope, Megan, Sarah, Cacia, and Maggie.


This is Rachel (the other twin), Sara and our Hannah. The kids drank sparkling grape juice...all 15 bottles.


This is Alyssa and Lauren Smith...dear friends for about the last nine years. You will probably see them in Hannah and Mary's wedding pictures one day. They have enjoyed many dinners around our table and we always enjoy their company.


This is the head table and kind of shows some of the lighting. My Uncle Don is sitting at the table...he is my mom's brother. He is in his 70's and he made the trip driving alone from Chicago in the fog. I was surprised to see him at the church...and so thankful he came!


Another one of Philip and Kim. Aww....


The cake was made by the Smith girls' mom. She brought it to the reception hall a few hours before the wedding...and she makes her cakes in her very own kitchen. It is too bad we had to eat it.


And this is a dear friend from a long time ago. Her dad, Rev. Roger Pitelko, was my pastor and they lived just down the street from us. Susan and I have been friends since I was in third grade and she was in fifth. She and her husband made the trip from the Chicago area to spend the day with us. We were actually able to sit together to catch-up at bit...and that was wonderful. She even helped, as friends tend to do, to cut and serve the cake. (And that is one of our dear members, Joan, getting a piece of cake.)

The Wedding

The sanctuary was beautiful...it always is, but at this time of year we have the white lights, and chrismons on the trees and poinsettias everywhere. Thankfully we did not have to do anything to make this place more perfect, because it already was.


The twosome became husband and wife within the first fifteen minutes of the service. Before God and many friends and family they stated their vows and the proclamation was made, they became husband and wife. (The icon right behind them is a picture of Christ, blessing His people...how appropriate.)


Aaron's dad and his wife, Joan, made the trip from Florida. Thankfully, somehow, they missed all our snow.


Our family has grown...I now have a son-in-law. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Setting up

The day after Christmas we began the countdown to the wedding. Friday we set aside the day to decorate the cafeteria. It took 7 hours...which includes the time it took to load everything we needed into five vehicles. This is Gabe's mom and dad.


And here is the crew at the beginning of a long day.


Now this picture makes it seem like it was easy. So much went into the hours before this picture was taken. My husband hung all the beautiful lights and snowflakes.


The arch was a great find at a local rummage sale. We had many couples pose in front of it for a picture. My dad enjoyed putting it together and thought we should include it at all family functions this year. The tree was adorned with little ornaments that the bride and groom had been given through out their lives. And the large packages are the soda machines looking pretty.


The room took on another look as the sky darkened. It was just beautiful on the night of the wedding. We have enough icicle lights to decorate our house for the next ten years.


And here is the table as it looked before anyone sat down. The wine glasses were plastic and still looked nice. The center pieces were basically items we bought from Dollar Tree. (There were little red berries in the wreath which you cannot see from this view.)

Now that everything was set up, we just had to think about the wedding.