Floods, weddings, and family

Time for the Tuesday update!  I have taken so many pictures this week that I decided to put most of them into collages.  (The collages will get bigger if you click on them.)  The first one is the rain and flood collage.  We had so much rain last week that even when the sun was shining the white clouds were mixed with gray (top left).  There was a lot of serious flooding in Pennsylvania.  Thankfully we live high enough to have no worries.  But I did have to drive through shallow water to leave our community on Friday afternoon.  The photo on the bottom right was taken by our neighbor later in the day.  That "lake" is normally a ball field and playground at the entrance to our community.

When I took dinner over to Anthony and Lori's that afternoon I was pleasantly surprised to find Hunter at home with Anthony.  He had had a croupy cough the night before, so they had kept him home from daycare.  I had some time to play with him before I had to leave.  Is he not the most beautiful little boy??

Dick and I left right from his shop around 5:30 and headed for Sam's.  I was so hoping that things would somehow work out for Miki to get to see some more family members before her stay was over, but sometimes it's really hard to pull busy schedules together.  So I did what I so often do - I threw out some suggestions and just prayed, "Lord, work it out."  And He did!  Later in the evening we had a really fun and crazy time with Sam, Ray, and Miki.

Dear Kicki just put up with the craziness.  But I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it too!  She has her own sense of humor, trust me!

Saturday was a special day - Frank and Lauren's wedding.  After all that rainy weather, what a pleasure to wake up to a beautifully sunny day!

Unfortunately Sam could not go to the wedding because he's still too new to the postal service job to demand certain days off. 

Ray couldn't go to the wedding either because it was his Navy Reserves drill weekend.  He works every other weekend at his regular job, so it's just really difficult to change things up.  

Miki couldn't go either because she had an important date with Bjorn and Jess to go Mother-of-the-groom dress shopping (for their wedding in February.)

And Jenn had to have Bianca's birthday party that afternoon because she has drill next weekend.  I was sad to miss it, but that's how things go sometimes.  Bianca will turn 4 on Thursday.  She looks more like she would be turning 6, she's so tall!  I stole this picture of the party from Jenn's sister's FB - the boy cousins assembling Bianca's scooter. 

But WE were wedding bound!  And halfway there I realized that I had forgotten my camera!!  So for this important event I had to take cell phone pictures.  I couldn't believe it!

Anthony and Lori and the boys came too.  Anthony was the photographer.

The wedding ceremony and reception was held at the Leesport Farmer's Market hall.  I was SO impressed when I walked in!  They literally just picked a wedding date at the end of June and pulled everything together in that amount of time!  Absolutely AMAZING!!

I took these pictures while waiting for things to get started - Jada on the left, Destiny on the right.  On the center photo Frank's biological mother can be seen in the background. 

One of Lauren's friends, who was the wedding coordinator, took this picture of Dick and me before it started.

Walking in.  Destiny was walking with her Uncle Johnny - Frank's brother.  Jada and Alaya were the cutest flower girls!

The ceremony was lovely.  The minister had a really good, practical message about love being a decision.

Walking out.  I LOVE that celebratory picture of Lauren and Frank!  Top right is Destiny and Uncle Johnny;  bottom left is Lauren's daughter Nicayla with Frank's son J'von; and of course Jada and Alaya on the bottom right.  I had not seen J'von since Christmas and could not believe how tall he has gotten!!

Anthony took a lot of bridal party pictures outside afterward.  It was hot, and I decided to stay in the air conditioning with Lori and the kids.  Here are a couple of Anthony's pictures.

Jada and Alaya were getting really, really tired of being hot and getting their pictures taken, hahaha!! By the time they got around to family pictures, they were long gone.  So here they are with their "big kids."

The little girls were inside waiting for some FOOD!

At last the caterers had everything set up and the bridal party entered.

The food was scrumptious!!!  Rice and beans, pulled pork, mac and cheese, several kinds of chicken, salad, fried plantains.  And more!

We took more pictures - Destiny with her dad, her brother J'von, and her step-sister Nicayla.  

Dick and I with the bride and groom; Frank with his two mammas; Frank with his brother Johnny; Destiny and Grandma.

I really, really wanted a picture of their whole family.  It seemed like it would be impossible to get the little girls to cooperate.  They were having fun with all the other little children that were there. But we tried anyway, and I'm so glad we did!  It was not easy, hahaha!

And there they are - his, hers, and theirs!  I love it!

Hunter LOVED that runway!  In the back they had a children's activities corner.  What a great idea!!

When we left, the dancing had just gotten started.  First dance as husband and wife!

Here's a beautiful picture from Anthony.

If you would like to see all of Anthony's pictures, this is the link to his file.  

After we left we went to nearby Cabelas.  Lori and Anthony had never been there before. Such a great place, except my feet were hurting, and I was WAY overdressed!  Austin really, really wanted to catch some of the big fish and bring them home to their pond!

We went to Sam's then and had tons of fun with Sammy and Bianca Saturday evening and Sunday.  Sammy is such a great story teller!  He and Dick had the greatest time making things run with his batteries.  Bianca let me do her hair in two curly piggy tails.  

On Sunday afternoon I took Miki and Kicki to visit Grandma Mary.  They had had lunch with Dick's parents on Friday.  We did not get to see his parents on this trip, so we need to plan another visit soon. 

We had a wonderful visit with Grandma Mary that afternoon.  After we sat in the living room and talked for a while she took us upstairs to show us the quilt she's been working on.  I guess I didn't take my phone along upstairs to get a picture.  )-:  Then she did her favorite thing - fed us!  Fresh cantaloupe and homemade cherry pie.  Yum, yum, yum!

Of course when I wanted to get a "three generation" picture things got a bit silly!

What a hoot!  We are a special kind of three generations.  I was 32 when I became Mary's daughter, and Miki was 14 when she became my daughter, but that does not matter.  We fit together just fine and have a whole lot of fun together as you can tell!  

Dick and I drove home Sunday evening, our hearts full of love and warm memories.  Miki and Kicki flew back to Sweden Monday night and I woke up to messages from each of them this morning that they were home.  What wonderful times we had together!  And before we know it, it will be February.  Yikes!  For now I'm still loving summer and hanging on to it with a vengeance!