Thursday, September 14, 2017

Going to the Chapel! ...And Pics to Show it Too!



Well, this could be called The Wedding during Harvey but actually it is the wedding postponed one week after Harvey!

Wow.  The night before the wedding, Harvey came rolling in... It was the craziest thing ever.  Obviously the wedding was postponed and the next week worked and fell into place, it was interesting let me say!  : )

The florist was displaced in a hotel in the next town not even knowing if she would return to a home or not, the water from this storm was huge.  She is a precious friend of mine as I had gotten to know her during Michelle's wedding.  God bless you Sylvia.

So at the last minute, the groom's friends in his hometown made the most beautiful bouquets ever!  A precious, precious family.  And get this?   The bride who married the day before at this venue left her flower decorations so we could enjoy them too! 

Here are some pics I hope you will enjoy:

This is Joycie, our daughter and bride.   Grace, our youngest daughter and sister of the bride, and Janie driving, our daughter and sister of the bride as well!  Going to the chaaa-pel....!   Zuzu was riding in with her husband after being displaced.  She and another bridesmaid were displaced but remembered to grab their bridesmaid dresses and accessories on the way out from being evacuated!  What a story!  It reminds me of the story of my Italian great-grandma fleeing her home in Naples, Italy with her bridal embroidery project in her hand as the volcano erupted! 

 



After arriving to the venue, Grace our artist daughter applies make-up to Marianna in the suite.  The feel of this photo that Rebecca Slater, our precious longtime friend and bridesmaid captured has such an ethereal look and feel I think...
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Sisters!   Baby sister, Grace and big sister Joycie.

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My 87 year old mother adjusting Zuzu's corset back on the dresses as Zuzu adjusts Janie's corset!  Talk about team effort!   Little Emily is here too, a little angel.  I recently had the pleasure of playing with this little angel in her playroom at her house, she had me take a 'nap' on the floor.  (so cute).  We also played with her stickers and I was quite honored to have stickers all over my dress, and I mean that.  God's heart is with these little ones.

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Zuzu, our married daughter looking on while Janie and Grace are adjusting Joycie's veil.

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Pretty and sweet bride, Joycie.  Aren't the bouquets the groom's friends made beautiful?  The family is a large homeschooling family that served on the mission field.  Many of these friends drove far more then several hours away to come to Pete and Joycie's wedding.

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Isn't the Conservatory pretty?  The glass was shipped in from Europe.  You can see the bridesmaids: longtime friend; R and sisters; Zuzu, Grace and Janie.  The bride and groom.  After the ceremony the entire congregation there at the wedding sang:  Great is Thy Faithfulness

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Janie and R.  R, now a mommy herself who I used to rock in the church nursery!  Emily our sweet flower girl angel is her little girl.  R took most of these beautiful photos.

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Presenting the bride and groom!

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Our longtime friend, Cat caught this image on her way back from the wedding.  This tells the tale I think.
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I have more photos too taken by caring friends.  Perhaps I will share more in the future?

Well, everything turned out beautifully, the good Lord sure had His hand in this wedding.


We are resting now, trying to get used to a new-norm after all the whirlwinds.  Even during stressful times God is there working His hardest though we may not realize it at the time.


And by the way, if you would like to see what Harvey was LIKE in our area?  Click HERE 



I was able to see neighbor helping neighbor and it was a beautiful thing, the adversity seemed to bring out the best in people.  I learned that in our county people were told where animals were trapped that people were to cut the locks on the gates and let the creatures go.  I say Bravo on that! You can see in the link, cattle being led to safety.  Our area looked just like that.

In our daughter's subdivision, the levee was breached and people who stayed  behind got sandbags and worked night and day to repair the levee.  These people saved the entire neighborhood from flooding!   

Well I better run dear friends.  I will be fixing a pasta gravy with roasted yellow squash for supper tonight.  I am listening to the old 'Little Women' (1949)  movie, it's a sweet one.

I know that God is faithful. I know that He answers prayers, many times in ways I may not understand.   -Sheila Walsh

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Winding Down...Thoughts, Remembrance, Skirts. Yes, Skirts.


'When any church will inscribe over its altar as its sole qualification for membership the Savior's condensed statement of the substance of both the law and the Gospel, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself” that church will I join with all my heart and soul.' 

 -President Lincoln

I've posted the above quote before but I thought it was very timely indeed these days.  I had originally found this quote on a very old downtown church's site...


The old Episcopal church was built in 1917-20.  It's the Episcopal church my Uncle Wesley was married in.  it's very near Rice University where Uncle Wesley attended back then.

It's after the wedding festivities for Marianna and James and so it's a winding down time for me...

It's also after Harvey.  

All I can say is a big wow.  ...And thank God we are okay.  Praying for those who are not, Jem rode around today checking on neighbors seeing if they needed help.

People who have never been flooded were flooded in their homes this time.  We were surrounded by water and some still cannot return home.  The emotions with  my father's death, a week-postponed wedding due to a historic hurricane have been overwhelming at times, but now I'm feeling somewhat of a release...


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I've been sewing and having a very nice time doing so, it's a very satisfying hobby and creative outlet.

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 After Harvey had hit and sat on us, one day the electricity went out so I robotically cut out three fall skirts as I listened to the radio news.  I placed the cut out skirt pieces in a clear bag much like a ready-to-sew skirt-kit.

The other day, I had a skirt-a-palooza of sorts and I now have two plaid flannel skirts with matching belts and a beige skirt with antique beige lace on the bottom edge.  I also made a beautiful apricot, peach fall-like color calico floral maxi with matching belt as well..It will look nice with my signature black knit top.

I use Simplicity 4881 now out of print but it seems easy enough to find.  It's fantastic belted with a matching belt.  Very slenderizing skirt.  I make the simple two piece version.  




My signature black knit top with skirt.  Walmart offers a White Stag knit ladies top that fits beautifully and the price is right.  The above skirt is my Museum skirt.
This Museum skirt is made with a different skirt pattern you may see on the link.  Also a very good pattern.

I will start to close now with the Theme to 'To Kill a Mockingbird'... Marianna and I love this music and she chose the part, 'Boo Hoo' of the theme to play when I was escorted down at the ceremony.  *love*



Today I was looking at a poster of To Kill a Mockingbird to hang either in my living room or even the dining room for a totally different look that reflects my personality a bit, the seller also offers a poster of The Sound of Music.  

...So that led me to think back to when I was a very little girl, my mom and dad had taken me to the movies in LaPorte to see The Sound of Music.   Upon arriving home it was late night and I had fallen asleep, I remember so distinctly my dad carefully getting me out of the back of the old 50s green Chevrolet in our old garage and carrying me over his shoulder, I was young enough for him to place a flannel blanket over me...I can remember seeing the little yellow flowers through the blanket from the garage light...My mom and dad were a fine looking couple, I was sharing with Jem the other day that I thought my mom and dad were the most beautiful people ever.  ..Those are thoughts and remembrances in the theatre of my mind today...

I've noticed the more quiet it is here, the more I see the face of Christ...God is with us.

Hope everyone is having a peaceful evening,   Amelia 

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Vintage and cardinal photos by Robert Stock

Friday, September 1, 2017

Day Before the Wedding Frantics. Thanks Harvey.




This shot Janie took is from an old Dick Van Dyke episode where Laura and Millie are quite frightened, they are so frightened and so frantic that they are looking at each other and shrieking. Lea had checked this series out from the library and it is great as all the Dick Van Dyke episodes.  Our oldest daughter, Janie reminds us of Mary Tyler Moore who plays Laura Petrie. 

The reason Janie took a pic of this is that it reminds us of today, the frantic emotions we all are feeling!  We had to postpone Joycie and Pete's wedding to this week due to the Harvey phenomenon.  I'm being nice and diplomatic calling it a phenomenon when it is a history making disaster. 

Lives have been lost and destroyed, actually we thought about postponing the wedding even further due to the heartbreak and misery.  Prayers would be appreciated for the south.  Thank God for those volunteers that are helping.






loading ...   In our home, it's a whirlwind.  Grace is hemming her bridesmaid dress, I see constant glimpses of Joycie walking around in her veil she is sewing a clip to, and arranging.  Food at a low because of the hurricane.  Crazy.   It's all crazy I tell you!  I have lentil soup cooking and I will serve it over seasoned brown jasmine rice.  It will work and it might be just good and comforting.

It's been bizarre.  My married daughter, Zuzu is displaced because of the hurricane, one of our precious bridesmaids, she and her little girl, our little sweet flower girl are displaced. It was just yesterday I was rocking this particular bridesmaid in a rocking chair in our old church nursery, now she is a mommy with a babe of her own.  In fact, it was just yesterday that my little girls were running around, playing outside with their baby dolls...  I try to be like a willow tree and sway with it all. 

We just received great news that a previous bride is leaving all of her beautiful flower arrangements in the wedding venue!  Since our florist is also displaced, a precious, precious homeschool family, friends of the groom and now Joycie are making up the bouquets and corsages.  God is so good and I thank Him for so many, many Gifts and Blessings in our lives that go far beyond decorations.


   I am missing my dad right now, I know he should have been here, if he would have moved our way he would have been so much better off at every angle.  It's so fresh, so sad to me still for obvious reasons.  Actually the storm hit where his home is.  This thing was huge and so many are affected.  I wonder if people keep up with world news...  Even our friend, the country of Israel has offered help.  Many people are giving to the area and it is a beautiful thing.  A furniture store owner is so great, he let evacuees and their pets come into his big store and stay, sleeping on the beds, sitting on chairs with their pets!   How great. 


Well Readers, I thought I would touch bases since I had the photo above taken by Lea earlier today.

If you would like to enjoy the episode from above it is really funny and I think it will make you smile and laugh too, I remember when I was a little girl, my mother and I just laughing hysterically at Laura and Millie calling to each other in the house as their husband's were away in this 1966 episode.  I think this will make you laugh, it sure did me today.   




Take care all, have a sweet evening.  God is our refuge.    -Amelia

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

 -Deuteronomy 33:27