Ann's Blog: December 2006

The Wedding is Almost Here!!

Two more days 'til the big wedding!!!! It isn't, of course, much bigger than any of the other 3 from our daughters, but it is the fourth. There are two more sleeps for the bride and groom before they take the final and beginning steps of marriage! Then, what they have been waiting for, they get to go off together! Yippee! We will all celebrate and following the wedding tradition, I will probably cry a little more than for the other three weddings.

Crying at weddings........
for the first daughter-wedding, I cheered! T. had wanted to marry G. for such a long time. They had both wanted to but waited for the right timing......
for the second wedding, I thought I'd be fine but as our lovely daughters came out into view one after another, I cried successively more for each appearance. ....
for the third wedding? I can't remember when I started crying but this daughter was the youngest. She was the grown baby and looked lovely...beautiful. I seem to recall, as in the previous wedding, I cried as each beautiful daughter came down the aisle.

So .... my prediction is I will cry the most because the bride is my first born, oldest daughter and I've longed for her to find her soulmate and at last she has and they are marrying.

Or will I cheer because this wedding is the fourth???
Or will I not cry because I and G. are escorting our bride down the aisle together??
Or will I cry even when I'm walking down the aisle with the family!!??!!

This story will be continued...but post your guess if you wish.

Cry? or no cry???

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you who are reading this. I have been delighted this Christmas. I received an email from two relatives in northern New Zealand. These are maternal cousins I have never met but I have been interested in getting in contact with. Lovely :)
(I also get regular emails from another distant cousin from my dad's side of the family! equally delightful!)
It has been delightful to spend Christmas Eve with two families joining together.....our family and N's (who is engaged to our M.) family. We shared presents and presence, laughter and toasts.

With the wedding being less than one week away, I have managed to arrange some quiet time for myself!!! Right now everyone is out and I am all by myself writing this blog. I feel like it's a secret because noone is here. Shhshshshshsh.

I(we) have been busy with my choirs at school practising and performing, with school coming to an end for the holidays just 3 days ago, with visiting and caring for my dear 95 year old aunt, with preparation for Christmas and a wedding, with leading worship in the morning service and the evening Christmas Eve service....with Christmas eve here at our house and wanting to relish time with my dear family......

One of the most poignent stocking stuffers was from my daughter T. who included a note that she paid for two people to have Christmas supper in lieu of an additional stocking stuffer.

Well, Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a delightful Christmas .... and if you have time alone relish it. If you are too alone, seek out friends or family to spend time with. If you are with family, look for the treasure...treasure it.

If you have a friend who is near death and you wonder if you should pray for a miracle, pray! We can only ask, it is God who does the miracle. There is no problem in asking...in fact it's good because it connects you with Him. But there is one thing I have discovered this season, the greatest miracle at the end of your life is the transformation from dying here and being translated into heaven and meeting with God face to face!!!! This is the greatest miracle. We can ask for healing....for a little longer here...(or a lot longer) but in the end death does come. And with death comes the greatest miracle, new life...a transformation...a translation....or is it a releasing...or ultimate healing.....? or maybe it is all of the above. One thing I do know is that it is the greatest miracle.

Christmas and all the activities

Christmas is fast approaching. The season is definitely here with Christmas turkeys on sale.....Christmas concerts being performed at school......shopping becoming more hectic....silent/quiet Longest Night retreats/meditations in the santuary of the church....

Christmas cards!

Wind storms. (I haven't ridden my bike since the first wind storm and then snow storms!!! I miss it.)

Christmas Cards from new friends ......... like our new friend, S., who lives in Bristol, England but who is visiting her brother and family in Africa. She sent us a Christmas card from there. She reads my blog, she said...even from Africa.

Well, if you notice, I have a map on my blog site. You can click on it and discover where in the world people are that access my blog.

Now, when I see the red dot on Africa, it probably is my dear friend, S.

The dot on southern Australia is most likely my distant cousins, G. and M.!

The dot on Japan could be our dear Japanese "daughter" who was Homestay student.

Other dots are where friends, aquaitances and/or relatives live...and almost relatives. Others are people I don't know! This is another mystery!!!!

Welcome to all readers...you who are dear friends, you who are dear relatives...you who are acquaintances...and other unknown readers. It's all a mystery. Lovely!!!

A blog, I've discovered, can be a gift.....connecting people to people all over the world.
My prayers are for you... Love, joy and peace and a growing knowledge of the Mystery of Him "who is closer than a brother" ..... to all who read this blog.

A bike ride and a rainbow.

"Now, on my route home lovingly described in my last blog entry, I was unaware of a fantastic rainbow that I was riding close to or through (even) if you look from the perspective of our home!! Of course, this picture is still captured on a little plastic piece of memory card in the above noted camera. But as soon as I release it, I'll post it." (nov. 30 blog entry)

Tah dah!