Wedding Weekend
A huge raft of visitors were here this weekend for the wedding of Darrell, son of Steve and Joyce (Nisly) B., and Karen, daughter of Merle and Irene (Yoder) Y. I'm sure that one and all among our guests are impressed with how HOT it is. A string of triple-digit days began after mid-week last week and is predicted to extend through mid-week this week. Some of the days have also been quite windy. It's "harvest" weather, but the wheat is not quite ripe. Only a little green remains, however, mostly at the bottom of the stalks.
Many of us in the Miller family were invited to Darrell and Karen's wedding, but missed it because of a schedule conflict.
*********************
Most of our extended Kansas family traveled on Saturday to the Kansas City area for the wedding of my niece, Andrea. She is my sister Carol's daughter.
My brother Anthony flew in from Virginia for the occasion, and my brother Caleb and his son, Sterling, drove to KC from Pennsylvania. Lois, Dorcas and Clara were the only ones from my parental family who were missing. Lois is still traveling in South Africa with her family, and Dorcas lives in North Carolina, and Clara in Ohio.
Andrea has a newly-earned degree in elementary education. She applied for a job opening in the district in which she did her student teaching. She was one of 400 applicants, and one of 30 who were interviewed, but she was not hired. These statistics tell a fairly grim story of the desperation for available education jobs. Her new husband, Brandon, has a stable job and several years of experience as a firefighter, so looking for a job in the same geographic area where Brandon already lives seems like a priority.
We felt a little like an "Amish in the City" spectacle in KC. Someone had told Andrea earlier, "I can hardly wait to see your Amish relatives." So there we were, on parade for all the wedding guests to inspect. If they were trying to put us together into individual families, they must have had a real challenge. Five of us were there without a spouse. Some of us are visibly non-white. Redheads, blondes, brunettes, and Asian-black and Hispanic-black haired family members all sat mixed together in grand confusion.
I think the Amish were hardly the only source of entertainment, however. One of the flower girls was quite unenamored with her job. She started up the aisle as directed, but instead of going all the way to the front, she veered into the seating area as soon as she reached the bench where her mother was beaming from her place. She stayed there.
The very young little ring bearer apparently remembered his oft-repeated "Don't run" instructions during rehearsal, but a few other protocol details eluded him. As soon as he turned the corner at the front, he snatched at one of the ribbons on his little satin pillow and started swinging the pillow around his head, with it flying along at the end of the ribbon. When he got within a yard or two of his caretaker, he tossed the pillow the rest of the way. Fortunately the rings were safely in the possession of the best man.
The flowers at the wedding were a delight. Each table at the reception had a green and white bouquet in a cylinder-shaped vase clad in birch bark and a wide reddish-purple ribbon. I identified hydrangea, statice, carnations, bupluerum, and a single orchid in those bouquets, along with some greenery I didn't know the name of. The big bouquets also contained green and white plant material, along with calla lillies and a celosia (Cramer's Hy-Z?) in the theme color--reddish purple. The person who did the flowers is fairly new to professional floral arranging, and this wedding work is part of the portfolio she is accumulating.
At the wedding I observed a clothing design trend in women's clothing. I'm told that the ballooned and bunched regions of ladies' skirts are called "pickups." (Didn't you have one of those and sell it several years back?--Marcus to Ronald, when Brenda told us this at the reception.) I don't know exactly how it's done, but it looks like the seamstress took a pinch of fabric at rhythmic or random intervals and then stitched the pinch in place about six inches higher up on the skirt than its natural level. When this is done all over the skirt, it creates quite a flouncy bouncy effect.
I noticed another design trend. This one has been around for a long time, but I don't often see so much of it in one place--the phenomenon of the 24-inch dress. That's the approximate distance from just under the armpits to mid-thigh. I much prefer a less precarious view, and think the Amish spectacle has much to recommend it in this department.
*********************
My brother is legally required to stay in the state of Kansas, but he had permission from his PO to make the trip to KC. He tried hard, but he had confusing directions to the airport where he was to pick up Anthony. He did some bumbling around, and was thoroughly chagrined to look up and see a "Welcome to Kansas" sign. Big oops. Crossing that river did it, and he saw the sign after he turned around. It should probably be illegal anyway to call a place Kansas City if it's in Missouri.
********************
I traveled to the wedding with Shane and Dorcas. Joel and Hilda drove in a separate vehicle. Instead of leaving right after the wedding, we went to Carol and Roberto's house for several hours.
The last time I was there, I remember seeing several little plant islands around two small trees in the back yard. Now those trees tower over the top of their tall house, and the two tiny willows have grown into graceful elements of a long rock-edged border planting that spans most of the width of the back yard. Everything is lush and green, and seeing it made me feel very wistful. I struggle each day to keep growing things alive, against some pretty daunting odds--heat, drought, and wind. A city environment in Eastern Kansas presents far fewer growing challenges. I especially drank in the lovely patterns, colors and textures of the many hostas all around the house.
Some of what I saw came from my very own garden, and some came from my mother's garden. An upstairs deck and a patio from the walk-out basement make two private sitting areas outside--now that the trees provide a screen between their house and the neighbors' houses.
Roberto told us how, eight years ago when they moved to KC from a wooded lot in Maryland, he couldn't stand the nearly naked landscape. One young red oak tree in the back yard is all there was, besides a few shrubs around the front door. So he promptly found his way to Home Depot to look for something to plant. Those two little willows is what he found. Since then they've added a small flowering tree to the front yard, and a tulip poplar and another red oak to the back yard.
Carol confesses that, regarding plants, she "likes them all." She and I both know all about the slightly ridiculous feeling of prowling our premises with a trowel in one hand and a plant in the other, scanning the beds for a little vacant space in which to nestle the most recently acquired treasure.
********************
Clare leaves on Tuesday for home in Washington. I had hoped to spend a lot of time working with her inside the house. It hasn't happened. We hope to make one last effort--all of us in the family--tomorrow night.
********************
Mannatech has a wonderful new very attractively-priced product package, with a price reduction of about $100/month compared to the old price. It includes all four of the Optimal Health products. Contact me for more details--miriam@iwashige.com.
It's a whole lot easier and cheaper to stay well than to recover from illness. Health maintenance doesn't get "miracle results" billing, but every avoided illness is a blessing. All by itself, staying well is a good enough reason to be very intentional about good nutrition. Taking food supplements regularly is one of the proactive things I do to try to stay well.
*******************
You will no doubt be glad to know that if a corn earworm ever takes a bite out of you, it will likely die because of it. That is, if you eat genetically modified corn products, and if it's true that ingesting ones that contain the Bacillus thurengiensis (Bt) organism allows the organism to continue to be produced inside of you. Okay, I didn't actually read that this specific outcome is guaranteed, but this article gives plenty of food for thought and reason for concern. I feel disgust that unborn babies can be affected when the mother eats GE food.
One of the reasons we need to take unprecedented measures to stay healthy is that our health faces unprecedented challenges. Eating genetically modified food is apparently one of them.
***********************
One of the pleasures of being with my extended family is listening to the pitched verbal battles that sometimes surface. Add to the mix formidably focused minds, extensive exposure to varied viewpoints, years of practice in making a case in an academic environment, and there's lots of good clean fun in store for the whole family. Caleb and Sterling, father and son, the philosophy professor and the third-year physical science/international studies-major college student, held forth last night on Obama's Mideast peace proposal and on the best way to alleviate poverty in developing countries--not in full agreement, mind you, but cordial about it. Oxfam and James Sire and his friend Veejay, and MCC and some treaty of 1973 that involved Israel--oh my, citations galore, interesting and informative, and all good for listening pleasure.
I've noticed again recently how much our view of Biblical history and eschatology colors our view of everything involving Israel, including our foreign policy. I'm not convinced that "Don't mess with Israel" covers all the bases as some seem to think is the case--as if the machinations of any political entity could be beyond reproach--and therefore worthy of unquestioning enablement and accommodation.
*************************
My Uncle Fred is still in the hospital, and slowly improving.
*************************
I had another "Hall of Shame" moment when I realized toward the end of Sunday School class this morning that I had forgotten to arrange for transportation for Lisa, who has not been allowed to drive for the past number of months. She had a medical condition that created concern, but is now cleared to drive again, as soon as the proper documents can be filed with the state motor vehicle department.
I hurried to look for her right after class was dismissed, and soon found her. I heartily apologized (Forgetfulness necessitates developing this discipline.), and asked how she had gotten there. I knew that there was a possibility that she was cleared to drive by now, and hoped maybe she had been able to drive to church. Not so, because of the documentation needed. She had called a taxi.
Lisa was very gracious about it all, and acted like it was no big deal, but she was happy to accept a ride home, and I was very happy to provide it.
I learned a bit more about her background. She has had a career in nursing, and has spent a number of years as a charge nurse in several different penal institutions. A fall at work started her on a path toward increasing disability because of problems with her knees and back, and she has not been able to work since 2003--when a 48-mile commute to her job proved to be more than she could handle.
She spoke highly of Warden Hannigan at Hutchinson Correctional Facility, but noted that the aging structure of the prison presented some challenges. In most of the prison, there's no air conditioning--not a bright prospect on days like today.
********************
I gathered yesterday that my brother Ronald does quite a lot of preaching in various communities where he's invited to speak for a series of meetings. Their family frequently travels together to these places.
*******************
Linda Luane is leaving soon for VS in Aroda, VA. After a year of volunteering, she will begin nurse's training there. Today we had a dedication prayer for her in church. It's a joy to see her being able to undertake this new venture. I'm sure she will be a valued staffer at Mountain View and a competent healthcare professional.
******************
Aaron and Andrea Mast became members at Center today. "I never thought I would live in Kansas and like it," Aaron said in his testimony. There was a titter of laughter when he said this. It was a good thing for all our visitors to hear--at once acknowledging the challenges of a move in young adulthood, perhaps an allusion to the sometimes harsh natural environment here, but an affirmation too that we live together in a good place. This brother and sister pair came from different home churches. Andrea was a member in Arkansas in their family's first home community, and Aaron was a member of the El Salvador church where their parental family lived for a number of years before they came here.
We're all glad that Willard and Sharon and their family moved here.
***********************
Quotes for the Day:
Shane: It's always a good sign when the wedding party doesn't sit down during the ceremony. (He's thinking about the duration of the ceremony. I'm thinking it probably also has something to do with the wedding gown's inappropriateness for being sat on.)
**********************
Commenting on the ring ceremony--
Shane: Wow, I hardly feel married anymore. (Since a ring ceremony wasn't part of Shane and Dorcas' wedding service.)
Many of us in the Miller family were invited to Darrell and Karen's wedding, but missed it because of a schedule conflict.
*********************
Most of our extended Kansas family traveled on Saturday to the Kansas City area for the wedding of my niece, Andrea. She is my sister Carol's daughter.
My brother Anthony flew in from Virginia for the occasion, and my brother Caleb and his son, Sterling, drove to KC from Pennsylvania. Lois, Dorcas and Clara were the only ones from my parental family who were missing. Lois is still traveling in South Africa with her family, and Dorcas lives in North Carolina, and Clara in Ohio.
Andrea has a newly-earned degree in elementary education. She applied for a job opening in the district in which she did her student teaching. She was one of 400 applicants, and one of 30 who were interviewed, but she was not hired. These statistics tell a fairly grim story of the desperation for available education jobs. Her new husband, Brandon, has a stable job and several years of experience as a firefighter, so looking for a job in the same geographic area where Brandon already lives seems like a priority.
We felt a little like an "Amish in the City" spectacle in KC. Someone had told Andrea earlier, "I can hardly wait to see your Amish relatives." So there we were, on parade for all the wedding guests to inspect. If they were trying to put us together into individual families, they must have had a real challenge. Five of us were there without a spouse. Some of us are visibly non-white. Redheads, blondes, brunettes, and Asian-black and Hispanic-black haired family members all sat mixed together in grand confusion.
I think the Amish were hardly the only source of entertainment, however. One of the flower girls was quite unenamored with her job. She started up the aisle as directed, but instead of going all the way to the front, she veered into the seating area as soon as she reached the bench where her mother was beaming from her place. She stayed there.
The very young little ring bearer apparently remembered his oft-repeated "Don't run" instructions during rehearsal, but a few other protocol details eluded him. As soon as he turned the corner at the front, he snatched at one of the ribbons on his little satin pillow and started swinging the pillow around his head, with it flying along at the end of the ribbon. When he got within a yard or two of his caretaker, he tossed the pillow the rest of the way. Fortunately the rings were safely in the possession of the best man.
The flowers at the wedding were a delight. Each table at the reception had a green and white bouquet in a cylinder-shaped vase clad in birch bark and a wide reddish-purple ribbon. I identified hydrangea, statice, carnations, bupluerum, and a single orchid in those bouquets, along with some greenery I didn't know the name of. The big bouquets also contained green and white plant material, along with calla lillies and a celosia (Cramer's Hy-Z?) in the theme color--reddish purple. The person who did the flowers is fairly new to professional floral arranging, and this wedding work is part of the portfolio she is accumulating.
At the wedding I observed a clothing design trend in women's clothing. I'm told that the ballooned and bunched regions of ladies' skirts are called "pickups." (Didn't you have one of those and sell it several years back?--Marcus to Ronald, when Brenda told us this at the reception.) I don't know exactly how it's done, but it looks like the seamstress took a pinch of fabric at rhythmic or random intervals and then stitched the pinch in place about six inches higher up on the skirt than its natural level. When this is done all over the skirt, it creates quite a flouncy bouncy effect.
I noticed another design trend. This one has been around for a long time, but I don't often see so much of it in one place--the phenomenon of the 24-inch dress. That's the approximate distance from just under the armpits to mid-thigh. I much prefer a less precarious view, and think the Amish spectacle has much to recommend it in this department.
*********************
My brother is legally required to stay in the state of Kansas, but he had permission from his PO to make the trip to KC. He tried hard, but he had confusing directions to the airport where he was to pick up Anthony. He did some bumbling around, and was thoroughly chagrined to look up and see a "Welcome to Kansas" sign. Big oops. Crossing that river did it, and he saw the sign after he turned around. It should probably be illegal anyway to call a place Kansas City if it's in Missouri.
********************
I traveled to the wedding with Shane and Dorcas. Joel and Hilda drove in a separate vehicle. Instead of leaving right after the wedding, we went to Carol and Roberto's house for several hours.
The last time I was there, I remember seeing several little plant islands around two small trees in the back yard. Now those trees tower over the top of their tall house, and the two tiny willows have grown into graceful elements of a long rock-edged border planting that spans most of the width of the back yard. Everything is lush and green, and seeing it made me feel very wistful. I struggle each day to keep growing things alive, against some pretty daunting odds--heat, drought, and wind. A city environment in Eastern Kansas presents far fewer growing challenges. I especially drank in the lovely patterns, colors and textures of the many hostas all around the house.
Some of what I saw came from my very own garden, and some came from my mother's garden. An upstairs deck and a patio from the walk-out basement make two private sitting areas outside--now that the trees provide a screen between their house and the neighbors' houses.
Roberto told us how, eight years ago when they moved to KC from a wooded lot in Maryland, he couldn't stand the nearly naked landscape. One young red oak tree in the back yard is all there was, besides a few shrubs around the front door. So he promptly found his way to Home Depot to look for something to plant. Those two little willows is what he found. Since then they've added a small flowering tree to the front yard, and a tulip poplar and another red oak to the back yard.
Carol confesses that, regarding plants, she "likes them all." She and I both know all about the slightly ridiculous feeling of prowling our premises with a trowel in one hand and a plant in the other, scanning the beds for a little vacant space in which to nestle the most recently acquired treasure.
********************
Clare leaves on Tuesday for home in Washington. I had hoped to spend a lot of time working with her inside the house. It hasn't happened. We hope to make one last effort--all of us in the family--tomorrow night.
********************
Mannatech has a wonderful new very attractively-priced product package, with a price reduction of about $100/month compared to the old price. It includes all four of the Optimal Health products. Contact me for more details--miriam@iwashige.com.
It's a whole lot easier and cheaper to stay well than to recover from illness. Health maintenance doesn't get "miracle results" billing, but every avoided illness is a blessing. All by itself, staying well is a good enough reason to be very intentional about good nutrition. Taking food supplements regularly is one of the proactive things I do to try to stay well.
*******************
You will no doubt be glad to know that if a corn earworm ever takes a bite out of you, it will likely die because of it. That is, if you eat genetically modified corn products, and if it's true that ingesting ones that contain the Bacillus thurengiensis (Bt) organism allows the organism to continue to be produced inside of you. Okay, I didn't actually read that this specific outcome is guaranteed, but this article gives plenty of food for thought and reason for concern. I feel disgust that unborn babies can be affected when the mother eats GE food.
One of the reasons we need to take unprecedented measures to stay healthy is that our health faces unprecedented challenges. Eating genetically modified food is apparently one of them.
***********************
One of the pleasures of being with my extended family is listening to the pitched verbal battles that sometimes surface. Add to the mix formidably focused minds, extensive exposure to varied viewpoints, years of practice in making a case in an academic environment, and there's lots of good clean fun in store for the whole family. Caleb and Sterling, father and son, the philosophy professor and the third-year physical science/international studies-major college student, held forth last night on Obama's Mideast peace proposal and on the best way to alleviate poverty in developing countries--not in full agreement, mind you, but cordial about it. Oxfam and James Sire and his friend Veejay, and MCC and some treaty of 1973 that involved Israel--oh my, citations galore, interesting and informative, and all good for listening pleasure.
I've noticed again recently how much our view of Biblical history and eschatology colors our view of everything involving Israel, including our foreign policy. I'm not convinced that "Don't mess with Israel" covers all the bases as some seem to think is the case--as if the machinations of any political entity could be beyond reproach--and therefore worthy of unquestioning enablement and accommodation.
*************************
My Uncle Fred is still in the hospital, and slowly improving.
*************************
I had another "Hall of Shame" moment when I realized toward the end of Sunday School class this morning that I had forgotten to arrange for transportation for Lisa, who has not been allowed to drive for the past number of months. She had a medical condition that created concern, but is now cleared to drive again, as soon as the proper documents can be filed with the state motor vehicle department.
I hurried to look for her right after class was dismissed, and soon found her. I heartily apologized (Forgetfulness necessitates developing this discipline.), and asked how she had gotten there. I knew that there was a possibility that she was cleared to drive by now, and hoped maybe she had been able to drive to church. Not so, because of the documentation needed. She had called a taxi.
Lisa was very gracious about it all, and acted like it was no big deal, but she was happy to accept a ride home, and I was very happy to provide it.
I learned a bit more about her background. She has had a career in nursing, and has spent a number of years as a charge nurse in several different penal institutions. A fall at work started her on a path toward increasing disability because of problems with her knees and back, and she has not been able to work since 2003--when a 48-mile commute to her job proved to be more than she could handle.
She spoke highly of Warden Hannigan at Hutchinson Correctional Facility, but noted that the aging structure of the prison presented some challenges. In most of the prison, there's no air conditioning--not a bright prospect on days like today.
********************
I gathered yesterday that my brother Ronald does quite a lot of preaching in various communities where he's invited to speak for a series of meetings. Their family frequently travels together to these places.
*******************
Linda Luane is leaving soon for VS in Aroda, VA. After a year of volunteering, she will begin nurse's training there. Today we had a dedication prayer for her in church. It's a joy to see her being able to undertake this new venture. I'm sure she will be a valued staffer at Mountain View and a competent healthcare professional.
******************
Aaron and Andrea Mast became members at Center today. "I never thought I would live in Kansas and like it," Aaron said in his testimony. There was a titter of laughter when he said this. It was a good thing for all our visitors to hear--at once acknowledging the challenges of a move in young adulthood, perhaps an allusion to the sometimes harsh natural environment here, but an affirmation too that we live together in a good place. This brother and sister pair came from different home churches. Andrea was a member in Arkansas in their family's first home community, and Aaron was a member of the El Salvador church where their parental family lived for a number of years before they came here.
We're all glad that Willard and Sharon and their family moved here.
***********************
Quotes for the Day:
Shane: It's always a good sign when the wedding party doesn't sit down during the ceremony. (He's thinking about the duration of the ceremony. I'm thinking it probably also has something to do with the wedding gown's inappropriateness for being sat on.)
**********************
Commenting on the ring ceremony--
Shane: Wow, I hardly feel married anymore. (Since a ring ceremony wasn't part of Shane and Dorcas' wedding service.)
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