We went to Indiana to visit our dear friends there and so I could play for Rachel's wedding. Rachel called me months ago asking if I would consider coming all the way out to play for her wedding, because she just couldn't picture it any other way. (My students all think I'm the only piano player in the world, apparently). Rachel's always held a special place in my heart, she started taking voice lessons from me when she was 14, and in high school became my go-to girl for emergency special music fill-ins. She worked hard to develop her talent, and by the time she left for college, she was preparing for a career in commercial music (she later changed to a much more practical major in the medical field). Over the years, we developed a great friendship.
She & Jon are both Marion HS grads and have been dating for 5 years. They both graduated from Purdue in December and had promised all the parents that they would wait to marry until after they graduated. So 3 weeks after graduation, they finally tied the knot!
We left New Year's day, and it looked like this in Sioux Falls:
The roads were clear and it was sunny, but cold. I had talked to Melissa K the day before and she was talking about how it was muddy and 40 degrees out, so Matt thought he should take his road bike along and try to squeeze a ride in. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
We had a gorgeous sunrise and as the sun rose, the ice crystals blowing around in the air made for the most vivid sundogs we'd ever seen!
It wasn't long, however, before we caught up with the blowing ice crystals and it turned into a ground blizzard. We observed an estimated 60-100 cars in the ditch, and briefly toured the ditch ourselves before ending our 15 hours on the road.
We are always hosted by Brent & Kathy- here's what they look like when I'm not wearing my glasses:
They are like a mom & dad to us out there, and are so hospitable. They welcomed us in at 11:30 pm with hugs, then pretty much told us to make ourselves at home and went to bed.
Wednesday morning, Rachel came over to B & K's and we worked on some music for her wedding, caught up and looked at some pictures. She seemed so relaxed (the pressure increased as the week went on). That afternoon, we went to Dave & Teresa's and Maia & Megan hit it off immediately. D & T have their house up for sale in Marion (a common thing), but have not even had anyone look at it yet... One of the bonus features of the Brown house is that they have a toddler swing mounted in the ceiling of the living room. The kids love it...
Wednesday night, we went to Adam & Ronda's (I didn't start taking pictures until the wedding on Saturday), and the Derbys and Phinneys came over. Wonderful to see how God is working in their lives. A & R have had the most traumatic year, they had to demolish their home because of faulty construction, but the community totally supported and helped them, and one year to the day after the first fundraising letter was sent out to family & friends, they moved into their new house. They've also had some significant health issues effecting Ronda's brother and their oldest son, Elijah. But God's been faithful, and they see miracles happen every day.
Thursday morning, we started out bright and early at Keith & Christy's and saw Keith's "Man Garage" and heard all about his latest toy obsession, his debut on the stage as an actor, his purchase of a VW bus to match his Bug, and his cartoon series that is airing in Australia. He's not just another "spiky-haired, middle-aged guy" folks! What a spaz. That Christy, she's a saint! Their beautiful China-doll daughter, Grace (4) and Maia got along well, though we didn't have time to stay for long.
At lunchtime, we went to Kokomo and met our friends the Kesslers at Chuck E. Cheese... It was very... active! After we spent all our tokens (Xander & Josh spent most of theirs shooting dinosaurs together in the Jurassic Park jeep game), we went back to the Kessler home and Jeanette brought her kids and they played together for the rest of the afternoon.
Xander, Josh & Micah had a GREAT time playing together. Here they are at the wedding reception. Fast friends!
Allie...
& Leah played together, Maia played by herself, and Andrew... well, Andrew didn't burn the house down, so it was a good day!
Thursay evening, we went to Dan & Leanne's for dinner with Eric & Susan and Danny & LJ. Xander had a lot of fun playing video games with the older boys, and Maia slept through the whole thing.
Friday, we chilled out for a while. Did some laundry, and went to Kyle & Adela's for lunch (our first non-tomato-based meal of the week, after pizza, spaghetti, pizza & manicotti). It was a brief visit, but got to catch up on Adela's new job and Xander played some X-box there.
Friday night was the wedding rehearsal and dinner. Finally got to connect with Pastor Tim & Karen.
Their oldest, Cori's getting married in July, so marrying Rachel off is good practice for Tim, since the girls were so close.
Saturday, we snuck in a visit with the Lehrians before the wedding, here they are in a couple of installments:
Tim & Ian
and a blurry Renee & Collin (it was dark and my camera isn't very fancy)
We walked into their house, and Collin took one look at Xander, said, "Oh, I remember you," and they played like they'd never separated! Didn't even ask to play the Wii
Saturday was the wedding, and I have to say, it was probably one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to. It was of course, a winter wedding, and there were white lights, tulle, bare tree branches, pillars & pearls everywhere. The candles (there were many) were a deep wine-red color to match the bridesmaids' dresses. Rachel's dress was a collaborative effort, made by her mother, grandmother, mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law. They also made all the bridesmaids' dresses. When I found out what things were going to look like, and heard the samples of music that Rachel wanted for the bridal march and the solos and all, I knew exactly what kind of music to play to create the right wintery mood. It was fun to play, and hard not to cry, as the maid of honor (also the groom's sister and Rachel's brother, Zack's girlfriend) was killed tragically 3 months ago in a car accident. Also, Rachel sang "When God Made You" to Jon, and she choked up a little (she's always been solid as a rock).
Here's the remaining pictures from the wedding reception:
Jon & Rachel's first dance:
The cake:
Cutting the cake:
The ice sculpture:
John & Tammy, the mother & father of the bride:
Maia, pretty as a princess:
Of course, we were able to catch up with most anyone we might have missed in the previous days, like
Jeff & Cris (one of her rare, non-crying moments):
and Tim & Bev:
Shannon & Lucas...
and Eric, Zack & Zane:
Craig & Charlotte:
Steve & Connie with their whole brood of kids:
These kids were just, well, kids when we were here, but they're mostly in college now...
Here's Matt, Jason, Erin & Christal, and behind them is favorite camper, Hether:
... and Jacob, Caitlin & Beverly (Bubbly):
The Smiths:
...and the moment I went nuts with the camera, the father/daughter dance.
Rachel & her dad, John:
Matt & Maia:
Steve & his twin girls, Rachel & Jasmine:
Scott & Leah:
Greg & Sarah:
and Jeff & Caitlin:
Sunday morning, we went to Hanfield, both services, and sang a special music. I only cried a little. We got to visit our old Sunday school class, and the kids sang for both services. Both of our kids went to kids' church upstairs first service, then sat with us for 2nd service. Maia wanted to go up on stage and sing again 2nd service with the preschool class, but then threw a fit when she didn't get to stand in the front row. That was funny! Little diva.
After church, we went to one of our favorite restaurants with Bryan & Melissa and caught up with them. Sunday evening, Tim Tedder came and hung out with us for a while at Brent & Kathy's.
Monday, Kyle Bixler came over and had coffee with us before we hit the road about 11:00. The weather was weird, a strong, warm South wind, that brought temps up to the upper 60's and melted off all the snow.
We went as far as Des Moines, then stayed with former Hanfieldites, John & Becky, who have a lovely new home and fixed us a delicious late supper. We stayed there until noon on Tuesday, then it was only 4 hours back to Sioux Falls in windy but clear weather. Matt's poor bike rode up on top of the car the whole time, and never got to feel Indiana roads.
What a great trip! We are so rich in friends!
1 comment:
Thank you for such a long, newsy post! It was fun to see such great updates of people. I'm sorry we didn't get to see you (so close, yet so far...that's been the story of our move!)
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