My Brother's Wedding (part one)

So tomorrow is my baby brother's wedding. Tonight was the rehearsal dinner. My brother is one very blessed boy. (Actually, we were all born into an awesome family) But tonight was all about Andrew and Erin. My mom graciously opened up her house to 85 people. Yup, 85 people! And most of them were from Erin's side of the family. We ate outside and it was beautiful. Here's my photomentary.

Getting ready

Look at all of the homemade rolls...YUMMY!

Some of the yummy homemade pies

This is my parent's garage that was transformed into the serving area

This is the driveway where we all ate (see the 1st picture)

Cousins Isabella and Gracie Jane meet for the 1st time

My dad giving a speech

Cutest baby ever!
All of the people
The happy couple
A.I. +E.B. (it looked better in person)

The Human Spirit

I am often amazed by the power of the human spirit and how people overcome tragedy or withstand adversities that come their way. Many of you know about Ellie the strength of Ellie during her fight and her family today amazes me. Now there are some more people who are in need of prayer. Watching ER I was brought to tears once again as Angela Basset said

"When your parents are gone you're an orphan.
Spouse dies you're a widow or widower.
But when you lose your baby there's no words for that"

Wow! What an amazing statement. Losing a child is so unnatural. Parents should go first.
Melanie and Nick went through an awful struggle only to lose their precious Anna. Please go before God on their behalf and ask him to comfort them. Melanie was such a warrior for her little girl.

A lot of people have heard about Nie Nie. I love Stephanie's appreciation of the small things and how happy she was in her life. Please pray for Stephanie, Christian, and their 3 children. Stephanie's sisters have been awesome warriors on her behalf, stepping in to care for their nieces/nephew as their own.

I am not a big fan of religion or religious people. I truly believe with all my heart that the truly religious follow this verse:

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father
means caring for orphans and widows in their distress
and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
James 1:27

Have a great weekend!

Some quickies

I love quickies :)....quick lunches that is...since I'm a working girl who has to get up o so early I LOVE food that is healthy and quick. So here are some quickies.

Egg roll (baked, no MSG) strawberry and raspberry salad(organic)
and snap peas.

Chicken salad (veganaise, chicken, celery, and LOTS of dill)
on whole wheat with organic pears.

Organic peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat
with organic kiwi and tangerine. (sorry about the flash)

Gratitudes

I try to do this every week in my journal so I thought I would start sharing my gratitudes here. It's also part of my quest to be a more authentic person :)

1. A great church where I have heard God speak to me volumes. It's not perfect.But neither am I. And I'm learning to listen to God's voice and obey and let go of what I want.

2. Even though times are tough and even though my boss is crazy I have a job. And its an awesome job. I have the sweetest classes and I love every single minute (of working with the kids) That's me being brave an holding a baby chick. (I'm scared of birds)


3. Spending every Thursday with my sister, Nick, and the cutest baby ever.

4. Having a best friend who keeps it real.

5. Realizing that no matter what I do and who I am I matter to God and He cares about me.

6. Cheap new shiny shoes. My little girls love these shoes too :)

One word meme

For some reason I like these things...a lot...maybe too much...especially reading other people's

Where is your mobile phone?purse
Your hair colour? brown
Your mother? caring
Your father? kind
Your favourite thing? fries
Your dream last night? never remember them
Your dream goal? authenticity
The room you're in? comfy
Your hobby? reading
Your fear? the unknown
Where do you want to be in 6 years? house
Where were you last night? bed
What you're not? materialistic
One of your wish-list items? community
Where you grew up? safe
The last thing you did? facebook
What are you wearing? favorite dress
Your TV? addicted
Your pets? sick :(
Your computer? apple
Your mood? stressed
Missing someone? katie
Your car? blessed (to have one)
Something you're not wearing? shoes
Favourite shop? target
Your summer? birthday
Love someone? really
Your favourite colour? green
When is the last time you laughed? today
When is the last time you cried? yesterday

Young Amercians

Yesterday I was so excited on my almost hour commute I saw the longest lines to vote as the polls opened. I feel like apathy is disappearing. I was excited all day long because people were voting, even if they didn't vote for my guy. In kindergarten, we have been working on elections for over a week. Learning about the candidates, how voting works, and learning to be young Americans. We also had our own "heated" election.

The candidates : The Velveteen Rabbit: sweet, caring, and "real"
Paddington Bear: loves marmalade , lots of worldly experience

Campaign Posters and necklaces were made


Each child had a state and different electoral votes...the ballots were cast





and the winner is....





The Velveteen Rabbit...which was not my candidate but the people have spoken :)

The preschool had a less involved election...we just made posters
It was duck vs dog (see them in the background)...dog won :)

Off the farm today:)

I'm sad :(

I am sad that we live in a great country and people are so ugly. It makes me more sad that a lot of the ugliness comes from Christians. Who said we had to agree on everything?

"Respect everyone, and love your
Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king."
1 Peter 2:17

Respect and love goes a long way. I heard the best message at church yesterday. What if Christian republicans/democrats said, " You know I know Susie and she's a (insert political party) and she's not so bad. In fact, she's a nice person" And we as Christians REFUSED to talk smack about the party. Disagreement is fine, being ugly goes against our core values. It goes against who Jesus is. When Jesus walked this earth he loved everyone. He sat, dined, and made friends with those were the least worthy. Today, he does the same. I am one of those...who does not deserve his love but his mercy is poured down on me. So what can I do in return... LOVE ALL

John 14:34 &35-Words from my master

"A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."