The wedding and reception

The big day finally arrived! Naomi and David's wedding, the reason I came at this time of the year rather than later in the summer. Naomi graduated from Martin Luther College earlier this month, and now her wedding day!

I borrowed this from someone else's photos. The man in the blue shirt served as vicar at my church in FL when we first moved to FL, and his brother served as vicar here at FG before I moved to FL. They are long-time friends of the family and have kids who went to MLC with Naomi and David. 

Here is the school gym all dressed out for the wedding. The bleachers are lined with jars with candles in them and some tulle to make them look pretty. Later Naomi's uncles came around and lighted all the candles which was quite a task!  Linda, Tommy, and I were seated at the 2nd table in, along the bleachers.

I sneaked a picture of Ann, one of the kitchen ladies, who so graciously, with others, served the wedding meal. Her words, "It's the least we could do for this family who has done so much for us." Love it! A group of people made most of the food, and the family did as well. By the way, Ann is no longer a member of this congregation but came back in order to serve her friends in this fashion.

The mother of the bride, Julia, and her mom, Jean, waiting for the meal to be served. Julia was radiant, and I can't say I blame her!  I know she is filled with joy over this for her daughter and dear son-in-law. 

Naomi and David are about to drink a toast after her uncle lead the room in prayer. He is a pastor, serving the Lord in CA. 

My blurry plate of food complete with a natural casing hot dog, dinner roll, olives, pickles, noodles with beef tips, and a slice of ham. I ate the hot dog first, of course!

Naomi's aunt Janice is about to start carving away on the wedding cakes. Naomi's nieces and nephews and other younger ones helped to distribute the cake to the guests. All the flowers were donated from people's gardens and presented in embellished jars. I was tempted to take the arrangement from my table when I left to give to Lynn, because she just loves lilacs. But I resisted!

Newsletter day

Yesterday morning Linda picked me up from Mom's house and took me to church with her. She had already stopped for the flower bouquets for the altar before she got me. She still wears a couple of hats at church since she retired. Thursday is hers to record the church envelopes and other similar tasks. I got busy helping the gathered volunteers stuff and fold their church newsletter, like I used to do with Mom when she was able to help out. 

Linda did her thing and I did what I could with the group, enjoying the time catching up with them. One lady, Gwen, I have spent much time with since arriving as she attends many of the same Bible studies I do. Another of the 'folders' are a long time married couple, a retired pastor and his wife, and another lady, Liz, with whose children I attended grade and high school. Linda treated with fresh baked muffins which the pastor really loved, calling Linda the Muffin Lady. She always come through with the baked goods!

When Linda got done, she freed up the computer for me to work on the next newsletter of the day---mine!  I had worked on it at her house on Memorial Day but was waiting for additional content. Thursday was the deadline and wouldn't you know it?, just as I had everything formatted, Pastor sent something to be included. I squeezed it in and at last got it sent off.  I hate that I can't send Gretchen a colored copy of it, but I can do that when I get back. 

One very nice thing happened while I was working...the pending bride came in with her newly minted marriage license in hand. She was so nervous carrying it around and wished to do a hand off to someone in autority.  That would be Lisa, the church secretary, since the presiding pastor was occupied.  I was so excited to see Naomi that I wept with joy. I reminded her the license is good for life, no need to renew.  We talked briefly about her Call to the same school where she student taught and also helped out in the summers.  Her spouse teaches at a Lutheran school outside of Milwaukee.

After Linda and I were done at church with our jobs, we met a friend, Angie, for lunch at Harborside.  Linda treated us and I so enjoyed the good time spent together. Angie is a friend Linda met at the Welnness Center and they became fast friends. I became friends with Angie through Linda, plus she is friends with some of my in-laws.  It was a great time together and I was sorry Angie had to leave to get back to work. Linda took me home, and then had to take me right back to church to get my iPad which I left plugged in. Nuts! Glad I remembered before she drove off so I wouldn't be without it for too long. Can't be without my electronics! What a good start to my day it was being at church and doing church work! 

Time with the boys

                             

Lynn brought the boys up from Sheboygan so we could spend some time together before I leave for 'home'. No sooner is Angelo in the door than does he ask for the box of toys. I played dumb and had him show me where the toys were kept. Several of these toys were once Justin's and it's fun to see them being played with. He is so darn cute, and such a good boy!

Our little tradition has been to dine at Pizza Hut with the boys, which we have done for the past 4 years, whenever I come to Manty. Mom chose not to join us, so Lynn, Noah, the boys, and I went on our own. At the table there are trivia cards which the kids like to read and quiz each other. This is Gabe reading the cards.

Angelo can't read the cards but Manny can. They are waiting patiently for their drinks to be delivered to the table. We will order the Personal Pan Pizzas with Lynn sharing hers with Angelo. She is the best grandma!

Noah came to meet us at Grandma K's house after work and then we went over to Pizza Hut for dinner. Lynn had the boys 'last day of school' stuff in her car so we had to transfer all the belongings to their van. Certainly the boys are glad to have the school year behind them and only summer fun in front of them.

A blessed Memorial Day

Today was marvelous in so many ways. This morning my plans were changed from the original because Lori adjusted her plans to arriving today instead of later in the week.  I was planning to spend the afternoon at Linda's and having dinner with Tommy and her.  Linda said she was like Gumby---flexible so instead she swung by and picked me up after 8:00 to start our day together. I hustled to get myself presentable and did so in less than 10 minutes. It can be done!!

We hit Festival running and even "ran" into some people we knew from church shopping for picnic foods. The parade was cancelled this morning due to bad weather predicted so people were making alternate plans. Just like I did!  Linda's daughter and family are coming tomorrow to celebrate the twins birthday so we picked up some items for that party. I got some more caramel puff corn and some Diet Coke. Oh, and a package of peanut squares.  Yum!

When we got back to her house she helped me get hooked up to her laptop so I could work on the church newsletter. What a blessing!!  While she got her stuff together for tomorrow's party, I worked and talked!  I'm good that way, as is she. I can't wait to try her recipe for making twice baked potatoes for Justin and me when I get back home. Those potatoes will be part of their celebration feast for Madison and Cassidy. 

Linda and I had a great afternoon watching the documentary "Honor Flight", fitting for Memorial Day. We cried almost all the way through it.  It was a perfect "Kim and Linda" day!  We enjoyed cheese and sausage crackers for our afternoon repast, with a peanut square for dessert. Good treats!  Linda took me back to Mom's to wait for Lori to get there. 

Lori and Dustin arrived about 4:30 and plans were made to have dinner at The Charcoal Grill.  We had to wait for Jill to get home from work as the ice cream parlor was quite busy.  It turned out to be a lovely day anyway so business was brisk. Mom even got talked into joining Lynn, Jill, Danny, Dustin, Lori and me for dinner. Our meals were great and the time together special, in my opinion.  Now it's time for bed!  Good night all!

A trip to Howards Grove

My nephews were in a school play, a musical at St. Paul's, Howards Grove Thursday night. Oh, what a good show it was and how fun for me to see them in a school production for once. Twice the Christmas plans to see them in their service were dashed---once by weather and once because they were sick. They did a good job in this production,as did their classmates and director/teacher.

In the center in the blue plaid shirt is Manny, who had a speaking role. Their grandma, Lynn, was quite helpful in getting the two boy's outfits together. Gabe played President Jackson but I didn't get a nice picture of him in his role. 

Mom and Jill sat in the chairs while Lynn, Noah, and I sat on the bleachers. Angelo enjoyed the play and being 'busy' with things. He is such a cutie pie!

These two can hardly contain themselves after the play! I didn't get a chance to read the bios on the wall of the gym but Lynn said they wrote something flattering to her and thanked God for their blessings. So nice! 

 On the ride home, we witnessed this lovely sunset which begged to be captured. In fact, Lynn, in her car ahead of us, called to make sure we saw it and took a picture of it. Mom, with us, could not believe Lynn would use her phone while driving. No matter how old we are.....

My forgetful sister

While Lori is here in Manitowoc, she is sleeping in Mom's bed. Mom does her best sleeping in the chair anyway, she claims. Besides, Mom is up with the birds and if Lori was sleeping in the living room, well, that wouldn't work very well. We earlier risers are quiet so that Lori can sleep, as she stays up late and reads. 

When she got up Lori wanted to have an early lunch before she headed for home. First she had to pack her stuff up and we loaded it in the car, remembering her giant kite for Nolan. We went over to Perkin's to have our lunch, Lori treating Mom and me. I took part of mine to-go and as we were checking out, I saw that they had cheese soup as their special. The nice young lady got me some to-go which will go nicely with my leftovers. 

Lori dropped Mom and me off at her apartment and began her long ride home. She had to get there in time to meet a limousine which was taking her Bunco team to their site this evening. One of their friends has a connection which is how they got the limo service for their end-of-year gathering. I know she would really hate to miss that.  

Later in the afternoon, Mom went into her bedroom for something and discovered that Lori left a pair of earrings behind on the dresser. I could mail them to her, but before I could say the words, Mom exclaimed, "Oh, no, she left her computers!"  That girl somehow packed up her suitcase but left a laptop and Kindle behind, and their power cords. Mom instructed me to NOT call Lori, fearing she would drive off the road trying to find her phone, so I sent David a text message to tell him. He couldn't believe it but did not tell me what to do with the machines. Lori had mentioned the possibility of making a return visit so that is what we will go on. Last summer when she left here she accidentally took Mom's set of keys with her, always something! 

Happy feet and tummy

What a great day we had today!  This a.m. we ladies went to Sassy's to have our feet attended to, Mom's treat. Lori drove Mom and me over to the salon, meeting Lynn there. When we pulled up to let Mom out, one of the ladies came running out to scoot her along with her walker into the salon, as though time was short. It was not but nevertheless....The urgency was rather comical. Unfortunately Jill was not able to join us as it's a work day for her. 

After we were all finished, polished and dried, we reconvened at Culver's for some lunch. That was nice for the four of us. Mom usually goes here for lunch with Linda when the two of them go to the beauty shop each month. I like their single Butter Burger. From there we went to the ice cream parlor to have a treat with Jill. She made me a lovely cherry sundae, the special of the day. Oh, my, such a wonderfully refreshing treat!

This evening Jill, Lynn, and I went to Bible study at church, a study about creation and Genesis, lead by a teacher from the area Lutheran High School. Man, this is so interesting. Tonight the discussion was about dinosaurs and the Flood. That was the quickest hour of the week, and the attendance for this session was good. Tommy and Linda were there, too. It compares Creation with the theory of evolution with scientists backing up the Bible. Quite interesting!

Lori wanted to eat out for dinner but since we had this Bible study tonight, we waited to eat until after the class was done. Lynn opted out, didn't want to go and eat at this hour, while Jill, Lori, Linda and I went to Harborside to have dinner. Linda had eaten dinner already but came along to hang out with us. We had delicious food, of course, and due to the hour (after 7:30), we had good service as well. Lori and I are accustomed to eating at this hour where most of our family is not. Lori was gracious enough to take Linda home after we were done eating as Tom had gone along home. He was not invited, that lucky guy. I greatly appreciated the time spent with my sisters and my friend today, no matter the hour.