Before anything else, I want to thank everyone who joined in the celebration of Ricky and Amber’s wedding: Don and Cheryl, who went above and beyond in providing a beautiful site for the occasion…even at the expense of having 100 people track mud through their house and barn; Ken and Kelli, who worked hard at whatever needed to be done…even running all over town at the last minute looking for clear umbrellas; Joe and Leanne, for all of the hard work and expense in throwing a beautiful wedding for our kiddos; Karley, for being available for whatever needed to be done; Jeremy, who did a beautiful job of “tying the knot”; and for everyone else, who drove hundreds of miles to show your love and support…some who weren’t even able to attend after doing so due to health problems. But most of all, I want to thank God for bringing these two together. It has been a joy to watch them grow together in their love for one another and their devotion to Him.
Now, a quick summary of the couple of weeks leading up to the wedding….
Dennis and I had grandparent duty for eight days and had big plans for our special time with our three youngest. Things started out good, with daily trips to the park, lots of reading and playing, and the littles “helping” Grandad trim the tree in our front yard. Then strep reared its ugly head and everyone ended up sick, except for Dennis. We ended up mostly hanging out at the house and doing what we had to in order to get by. Stephen and Mandy made it home Tuesday, and then we all hit the road first thing Wednesday morning to drive to Ruidoso. The Hays family cooked up some yummy enchiladas for supper that evening and had all of us over. We visited, sat around the fire pit, and watched some nice mule deer bucks hanging out in the yard.
When we got to our hotel room that night, Dennis had chills and a fever, so we spent a couple of hours in the ER getting him checked out. He didn’t have strep or the flu, but the doctor gave him some steroids and antibiotics and told him to avoid contact with others unless he was wearing a mask. So he stayed in the hotel all day Thursday, while the rest of us rehearsed and then went out for the rehearsal dinner. Charles and Belinda had arrived early, but Charles had also ended up in the ER with a UTI and spent the weekend in bed. Sheila and Nam also arrived on Thursday, having broken up their trip with a stop in Lubbock Wednesday night. (Nam was loving his first out of state road trip!)
We headed out to the cabin around noon on Friday to set out the pecan pies that I’d brought. Then the photographer was ready to take some pictures of the groom’s family and attendants. Dennis was feeling some better, but he mostly sat outside on the porch and avoided crowds. During this time, we found out about Diane’s fall, which left her with a broken arm and bumps and bruises…and kept her from making it the final few miles to be able to attend. It broke my heart to hear the bad news!
Finally, it was time for the ceremony to begin. Due to the fact that it had been raining almost continuously for 2 days, the wedding ended up being held in the barn, rather than outside where the kids had hoped it would be. It was still a beautiful setting! The parents and grandparents were ushered in, then the wedding party made their entrance. Then it was time for the 3 littles! Then came the moment that we’d all been waiting for! Joe escorted his beautiful daughter down the aisle, and I doubt that there was a dry eye in the place. Amber and Ricky were both fighting back tears, which had me boo-hooing. Jeremy led them through their vows, and then did something I’d never seen before. He had them face the audience and told them that they would never be alone, because each face that they saw before them would always be there for them. It was beautiful! Then he pronounced them man and wife, and the sun broke through the clouds and the rain stopped. So they were able to get the gorgeous outside pictures that they had hoped for before the drizzle started up again. We all enjoyed the finger foods that Amber’s family and friends had provided, then the happy couple cut the delicious cake that the bride had baked and decorated herself. A final group picture was taken, then we all wished the couple well as they took off on their honeymoon. By this time, Dennis and I were both totally exhausted and headed back to our hotel room. We grabbed a quick supper with Sheila and Nam and then had an early bedtime!
After checking out of our hotel the next morning, we dropped by Stephen and Mandy’s cabin to wish Shepherd a happy 5th birthday, and tell them good-bye. Since we would be going the same direction as Sheila and Nam for a few hours, Nam rode with us for a while. It was nice to spend some extra time with him. We had all been missing one another, since it had been close to a month since we’d seen one another. We finally parted ways and made it the rest of the way home. I managed to get a couple of loads of laundry started before crashing for the night. We were both totally wiped out!
We picked up Dad this morning to go to church, and he was really struggling. We left immediately after the assembly to take him back home, then grabbed some lunch and crashed again. We are both still coughing (and I’m still wheezing), but mostly we are just tired and worn out from the past two weeks. Other than taking Dad to a doctor’s appointment Tuesday morning, we don’t have any other outside commitments for the week. So we plan to try to rest up and recuperate!
I hope we didn’t share any of our germs with anyone else at the wedding!
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