Another Wedding!!

Second wedding of the year has come and gone. Previous posts have mentioned the craziness of marrying off two daughters in the course of 6 weeks!!! Here are a few photos of our oldest daughter and her new husband!!










Blessings and Congratulations to them as they begin their new life together!

Eric & Jo's Wedding Day

Miss Jo Jo

Mom and Jo

Dad & Jo









The setting at the Benbow Inn was gorgeous; such a magical place! The sun came out just long enough for us to take some stunning pictures.

All of our children. We are all 6 ft or taller except for the wedding couple!




To all of our family and friends, we wish that you all could've been here to celebrate with us. The couple wanted a very small, intimate affair with just immediate family and then have a big reception later this summer, around July. We will send out announcements soon with a save the date.

Days of Craze

The days are full and moving fast. A handful of events, a couple of weddings, a dash of statistics, mixed with kids, chores, and laundry, all tossed with a political campaign are the ingredients of my daily recipe. Needless to say, it feels like I need a bigger kitchen!!
Even as the days stream by at breakneck speed, I am filled with joy and peace. The blessings bestowed on me by a loving God are immeasurable. Over the years I have nurtured and loved the ones God has entrusted to me and now they are individually taking flight, leaving the nest and spreading their wings out into the world.
My girls are getting married in a few short days and months. The youngest will be married this coming Sunday, the oldest in a few weeks. I have found that as I reflect upon my life with these two young ladies, my heart moves from a deep ache to pure joy at any given moment. My girls have been my constant companions for the past 20+ years, encouraging me, supporting me, loving me and now they are both moving on in the same season of my life. Can I cling just a little longer to that tender connection that binds our hearts together? I find it hard to let go if I allow myself to ponder that question for very long, but I know I must. There is this clenching deep down in my heart, squeezing tight as if it were a sponge, spilling over tears from my eyes with out a moments notice. Driving down the road, in the middle of a conversation, at the glimpse of an old photograph on the wall, any of these will bring the emotional wave to the surface as the salty tears begin to flow. How I will miss them!
But the joy comes in knowing that they are both marrying fine young men who love them and cherish them and will stand by them and care for them just as I have for the past 2 decades. The joy comes in knowing that Gus and I have raised them to love and cherish their new husbands and to be strong and faithful wives. The joy comes in seeing their hearts light up with love when they look into the face of the man they have chosen to become their husband. This is what I reflect upon when the tears try to overwhelm my heart. Knowing that God has provided each of them with a companion that will faithfully walk along side of them through life's challenges is enough to set my heart back on track.
Now for the next two!! These are the final two of the clan to be wed. Hopefully it will be a while yet!!

One never knows how a story will go...

A few years ago, a posted a story about a little dog named Hero. Just for a little refresher, you can link over to this post and this or this for the details. Upon hearing how handsome "Hero's" new owner was, daughter Reebs decided to follow up on the adoption, just to be sure the dog went to a good home and to say her goodbyes. She emailed the young man who gladly agreed to meet with her. She called me later to tell me that they spent 3 full hours together talking about more than just the dog! One meeting led to another and now the two shall become one..... Reebs and Cam have become engaged and will soon be married.



They are so happy and so are we. Cam is a great guy and will be a wonderful husband for my beautiful darling girl.
So here is Rex's (aka Hero) "new" family. He and Tilly get to romp and play together frequently which makes Tilly very happy!!



Here's Rex hanging out with us while we play board games. He's a cool little dude and I for one am glad that he jumped into our truck looking for a new home that day.

More Wedding Pix

My mom & Nate


Awaiting his beautiful bride

"I do"


S4 reading Colossians 3:12-17


Mr. & Mrs. Nick & Evelyn Downey

Boo & Beau

Mom & Son

The Babies

The photo shoot

Off they go.

Cutting the Apron strings

Now came the time to commemorate leaving his family and cleaving to his wife. At the rehearsal dinner I brought along one of my favorite aprons, one that I had worn many times while raising Son#2 from boyhood to manhood. Stained and tattered, I removed it from my waist and asked him to grab hold of the other end of the ties. I ceremoniously removed a pair of scissors from my pocket and snipped off the tie that he was holding and let the apron fall suddenly from his grasp. I told him that the apron strings were now cut and that I was no longer responsible for his care. I handed the apron to his soon to be wife and told her that now she could take over as my work is finished!



E looks like she's not too sure what to do with it but I'm confident that in time, she will develop all the skills she needs to make her man happy!
Later that evening, S2 came up to me to show me that he had put the apron string back together by tying it in a nice little knot! Very funny, I laughed, but that didn't change a thing! Although he and I will always be tied together like that apron string, the new Mrs. D will be the one wearing the apron now.

A Wedding shower for Evelyn

The wedding is quickly approaching with only 50 some odd days left. We have had two showers for Evelyn; a "Garden" shower a couple of weeks ago where we were to bring gifts for the out of doors and a "Time of day" shower this past weekend where we were to bring gifts corresponding to a certain time of the day. I was to bring a gift for 9 a.m. My daughter had 10 a.m. We had a great time! (no pun intended)

The bride-to-be was surrounded by gifts shimmering with silver bows and glittering ribbons draped in organza & tulle fabrics & creative wrappings.


As she delicately unwrapped each gift, her perpetual smile left little doubt that she was truly blessed. What a treasure to see her friends pour blessings over her as she sets out in a direction in her life. There is a bitter sweet send off as they anticipate her transformation from singleness to betrothal as a wife and someday a mother.

Nick came along to enjoy some of the delicacies on the food table. They are both so excited to be joined together in marriage. Keep praying for them. You know there can be a glitch somewhere in the plans no matter how organized we think we are! July 26th will be here soon!

The Waiting Process

We girls traveled down to Englewood this weekend so that we could get some ideas for setting up the wedding. We couldn't have picked a nicer day! Evelyn wanted to know if she and Nick could just get married right then! It was so beautiful. A perfect day.Her mother and I both told her no, she was going to have to wait ....
yes, wait. That is the hard part. We all agreed. So much to do, yet so much wanting it to be finished!! Velma gave us the grand tour, giving us a bit of a history lesson about the town of Englewood as we strolled along the paths lined with Redwoods and Firs. Velma has lived here all of her married life. Her story alone could fill a few blog pages. The gardens were bursting with every color you could imagine. The meadows were covered in English daisies. The iris' were unfolding their colorful petals of velvet.





All of this planning and decision making was making the bride to be weary. "I simply want to get married," she said more than once.





She just couldn't help but to indulge herself amongst the ocean of daisies.










JoJo has a good eye for beauty as can be seen in this photo of the apple blossom.








This is one of the many areas we are considering for the wedding.
















After all that planning and note taking and logistics, Evelyn just figured it was time to enjoy the journey, hop on the garden swing and kick up her heels a little! Even though our little girls grow up and get married, they are still just that, our little girls.