Windy Wedding

This afternoon I played an outdoor wedding with a string quartet at the Windermere Club House. It was held on the lawn overlooking a small lake where a few weeping willows were drooping by the lake's edge. Quite beautiful. Unfortunately, although it was a gorgeous day, it was extremely windy! I've played some very interesting weddings at some equally interesting locations, but as far as struggling to get through, this one took the cake. Talk about battling the elements!
I like to be organized and try to prepare for all possibilities. That is why I take things like sunglasses, hair clips, clothes pins (to hold the pages open) and a heavy duty music stand. However, I don't think there was anything else I could have brought that would have helped today. It was so windy that our music stands were being blown over by the wind! Really. This was a first for me. I thought just keeping the pages open to a certain piece of music was going to be the challenge. I never imagined that the wind would actually blow the stands holding the heavy 3 inch binders to the ground. Once, while in the middle of a song, the wind blew my bow off of my strings. It was ridiculous!
So there the four of us were, sunglasses on, spitting out strands of our hair, our feet pressed on to the legs of the music stands (trying in vain to hold them to the ground), while trying to make beautiful music with numb fingers.I don't think all four of us were actually playing all at the same time for about half of the music! As soon as we started a piece, one person's stand would blow over. As soon as she got it back up, someone else's pages blew to a different song...etc etc. There were a few moments during the ceremony music where two musician's had to quit playing to hold down the music of two others - this way at least the music (be it a duo instead of a quartet) could go on!!!
And of course we weren't the only ones struggling. Two of the nearby6 foot tall iron candelabras with glass votives blew over and smashed to bits. The flower arrangements fell off the pillars, the tablecloth upon which the unity candle was placed(yes folks, they still tried to light a unity candle) was blowing up and around the glass covered candle, and of course the rose petals that were scattered along the aisle blew away about 5 seconds after they were dropped.
So. That is a peek into my afternoon. I think it will be one of those wedding ceremonies I don't soon forget!

Another Update

With our dear, long-distance relatives in mind, here are a few Lydia updates...

This is one of Lydia's favorite spots to "hang-out" in the house. Her toy chest is right next to the stairs and she loves to sit on the bottom step and swing her legs. I think most of you know she is obsessed with phones...the more realistic, the better. I gave her my old cell phone several months ago, but it was quickly discarded when she realized that the rest of us had flip phones, while she was stuck in the dark ages with a regular one. She has about four different toy phones too, but nothing beats the real thing. And she knows where to find them too! If a purse is open and within reach, she digs through it looking for treasure and if a man has one clipped on his belt, she makes it clear what she wants!







Despite the huge mess that is always created, Lydia is allowed to play in the tupperware cabinet. Just yesterday she decided it would be the most fun to take everything out and sit inside. After she had cleared the cabinet she scooted all the way inside and closed the doors saying, "Bye." Notice her partner in crime, Pup, who is never far from her side. (If anything I think she is getting more attached to that dog. When I get her out of the crib in the morning, she hands him to me first before she will let me pick her up.)

New words she can say:

No (she has mastered this one!)
Sit
Soo (shoe)
Sock
ME-muh (Gramma)
car
pane (plane)
uh-oh
gway (grapes)
Leedl-a
Hi-ee (she is particulary fond of this one and she says "hi" to strangers any time we are out)

Everyone tells me she is at the fun stage, and I admit it is fun! Everything is exciting to her and it is so much fun to see her learning and experiencing new things.

Overheard

Ben to Lydia during bathtime:
"Lydia, what is the square root of 1? Can you say, '1'?"

"Lydia, can you say 'buns'?"

Lydia to Pup as she placed him in a laundry basket:
"Nye Nye" (night night)

Lydia to herself as she was playing in the kitchen:
"no, no NO Leedl-a" (That is the best phonetic spelling I can render of the way she says her name right now.)
Over the past several days I have heard her telling herself "no Leedl-a." Sometimes she is about to do something she knows is a "no-no" and sometimes she just says it while she is playing!

Just the other day she discoverd that this cabinet is the perfect size for her to sit in. She has had a great time opening it, sitting down, trying to close herself in, getting out, shutting the door etc. etc.

Dance With Me

Chances are if you know about youtube, you have seen this guy's dance moves. For those of you who have not seen it, enjoy!! It is quite entertaining!

Here are some pictures and brief update of thing around here during the last couple of weeks. I am too tired to write much of anything....
The weekend of our church ladies' retreat, Liz received a call from her youngest sister telling us that she was engaged! I think they are planning the wedding for this Spring...When they came to Buford to get the ring sized, Liz make a very yummy meal (complete with a fresh flower arrangement) to celebrate.

Becky and Elias

Monday morning, one of my old housemates from college called me out of the blue (eight of us lived in an old house in Athens affectionately known as "the white house"). She is a middle school teacher but had jury duty that day and decided to spend her lunch break catching up with me. Unfortunately she had trouble getting to the house so our chat time was all too short.

Robin and me

(I tried my best to hold the camera and tilt my head in such a way to avoid that lovely triple chin that you get when you do the extend-o-arm shots...alas)

Monday night, Liz volunteered to come cook dinner at our house. Who would refuse that kind of offer? Since Monday is my late day at work, I don't get home until almost 9pm. Ben was happy not to worry with his meal and I was thrilled not to have to stop for fast food. (I never thought I would tire of Chick-fil-A...but I am dangerously close!) Earlier that day, the boys picked up our new mattress set and also did some shopping for camping and fishing gear. I couldn't resist getting a few shots...

Liz and I gave Josh a hard time about these waders....so sexy, right?

Lydia enjoyed "helping" set up the tent.

Lydia likes to climb in and out of the stools and push them around the kitchen.

Inside the tent...

Recommended Reading

Before Lydia was born, one of my student's mothers gave me a book on mothering. I didn't get a chance to read it before she came and it was many months later before I picked it up to give it a closer look. That book is A Mother's Heart by Jean Fleming. I highly recommend it to anyone who is or would like to be a mother. Sometimes I feel like these types of books written by Christian women portray this impossibly perfect picture of the saintly woman and mother who has the perfect smoothly managed Christian home. She never has to raise her voice, she rarely gets discouraged, she homeschool her children, she probably has her own garden, bakes bread daily and sews all of the family clothes. (Ok, maybe I'm getting carried away!) I don't mean that this isn't something to be esteemed or to strive for, but sometimes I think, "Come on! Where does real life with all of the struggles and challenges fit in in this example?"
A Mother's Heart is truly encouraging, practical and insightful. When I finished it I felt in some ways as if I should just go back to the beginning and read it again!