One Sunday Afternoon

Last Sunday after church, the five older kids went with a group of friends (wait, is that assuming too much, Stephen? :-) to see the progress on the church building. We stopped at our house to eat and got to the church sometime after 1:30.

The newly installed back doors were locked, though there was a key in it.

Some raced to the front,

including Eric in his car.

At first the girls took a systematic tour, while the boys ran around and hid.

The platform was built, so of course we went on it and sang.

The tiling in the bathrooms which some of us helped do. It looks really nice.

The stone added on the pillars in the main hall looks really cool.

As we were singing "Red and Black" from Les Miserables, as we often do with Mercy, and then talking about the colors in the church, we improvised our own words: "Blue, the color of the sky, yellow, the color of the sun," etc.

Doors were installed in many places, making it look much more finished.

Some, however, had no glass in them, so of course they walked through them.

Melody did the number limbo, but as she forgot about the piece at the bottom, this picture was taken just before she fell.

No one feels like falling off of the stairs now that they're closed in. 

Upstairs in the big unfinished portion, we signed our names in the dust. There were signatures on it from another time some of them had been there.

The boys thought it was fun to run around and hide from each other.

We met up again in the sanctuary.

The boys surprised us by coming out with brooms singing Chim Chim Cher-ee from Marry Poppins. It was quite amusing, and they actually sounded pretty good. It's fun to sing in the building since it's echoy. (Echoy doesn't seem to be a word, but it ought to be.)

The boys

and the girls

had a singing contest to see which group could sing the loudest.

There wasn't an official winner. When we stopped, the boys were singing Taylor Swift.

We like the following picture. Their faces are funny, looking down at us. (Click on the picture to see it larger.)

Then we went outside to the pond, which had a light layer of ice over it.

When you skimmed a pebble over the surface, it made a really neat whirring sound.

Stephen and Eric using a paint lid for a Frisbee

Parker brought his camera as well, so some of these pictures were taken by him, Abby, or Melody with his camera.

Mercy lost her shoe in the mud.

On our way back, Melody took a picture of the rest of the girls striding across the parking lot.

Then Parker and Stephen decided to get in it.

Which turned out rather cool.

"The doors are locked," we said to Stephen.

"Hope springs eternal in the human heart," he replied.

His hope was unfulfilled, so we returned to the front, with a stop by Eric's car to get a drink and eat his oreos.

I had not noticed the doors hung opening into the sanctuary before. Mercy said you should throw them open like someone I forget from Lord of the Rings. (Aragorn, they tell me.) Instead of bursting through, I jammed my hands on the doors. I didn't realize that they opened the wrong direction. They laughed at me.

Parker suggested we do a group photo. After a bit of broom jumping, we did.

Parker was good. Stephen and Eric...jumped, but couldn't make it over the broom.

   

Parker had his camera take 10 pictures in a row. Notice Stephen's reaction:

Stephen had the awesome idea that we should all stand under a board at the same height to take a picture. Which meant they all had to get down to Deanna and Abby's height.

"Why is nobody standing by me?" Stephen asked.

Then we went upstairs.

Melody took this cool picture, which she says Parker ruined by looking up.

Ryan and Grace came, so they knocked on the window at them.

They smiled and waved at first.

Stephen organized a system whereby we were at all the windows, following them.

For some reason they ignored us after a while.

We wandered around a bit more upstairs.

Finally we decided we should go home; we'd been there for about three hours. Before we left, we went into the office part to say goodbye to Ryan and Grace. Stephen poked his head in a room and said, "Bye!" Following his lead, the others did, and when those at the end of the line peeked in, we were surprised to see...a room containing only a cardboard box.

When Stephen really found them, he said, "Hey! They were smart and locked the door."

Before we left, I snapped a picture through the window, but Grace turned.

It was a fun Sunday afternoon.

Still Smiling

Probably most of you know the thing that has been most on my mind almost since I started the blog. As proof that there are other things that occupy me, which certain people seem to doubt, no mention of it has been made in any post except one other than the one devoted to it, and a few hidden references. For though it may not have made it on to my blog, I believe no post has been made without it being in my mind. Yes, even those that had nothing to do with it. Ashley is half right that everything I do is wedding-related.

But only half-right. Really I haven't had that many wedding things to do, but it is Something to Smile About that has entertained my thoughts. I am, needless to say, still smiling, though I am staying in my skin these days.

One day shy of two weeks after the engagement, a little over a week past that post, my excitement had ebbed down to a fierce smile, no more shaking. I was babysitting the Dominguezes again. Once more, I heard the dog. I continued with what I was doing, wondering absently if anyone was there. However, when I thought I heard Lillie murmur, "Grace,"  my interest was piqued. Why would Grace be here? I wondered. I hurried around the corner-and sure enough, there was Grace outside the door.

As before, we said nothing at first, just sort of laughed and grinned as we hugged. She said, "We could make this a habit!"

Then she asked if I'd gotten her email that day, which said she "had something to bring by to" me. I hadn't. She had called home and Melody told her where I was, so, being in the area, she stopped by.

"We decided," she said, "that you can either clean up after the wedding, or be a bridesmaid." I think I actually thought she was asking me to clean up after the wedding. Knowing where they thought of having the reception, I thought about what I would do there-and then I shook myself. Grace would not take time to come here to ask me to clean up after the wedding! If she wanted me to clean up, she would just ask me at church. Wait...was she...she had asked me to be a bridesmaid!

I tried to think of a good reply, but I couldn't think of anything to say except yes. Since that was unthinkable, I said, "I guess I'll clean up...I'm not sure I want to be associated with this."

"I think it's a little late for that," she said.

Like taking pictures at the engagement, this was something that had crossed my mind-and this, multiple times. But I didn't expect her to, so I consciously didn't think about it. I believe I had myself completely convinced that there were too many people she could have and that she wouldn't ask me.

You may have noticed the parallels between that Thursday and the Saturday after the engagement. It was strange and amusing how similar it was. "Next time you want to come see me, tell me so I can ask the Dominguezes if I can babysit," I've told her.

Grace told me, "I really wanted you to take pictures so I was like, 'How badly do I want Jeannette to be a bridesmaid?'" We thought I could do both-taking pictures down the aisle would provide a unique perspective. ;-)

At last she said, "So, you never actually answered. Do you want to be a bridesmaid?" I said nothing, but smiled and nodded.

"I just wanted to see if you could smile any bigger," she said.

I could-for I was just getting to be able to control my excitement, but now I was shaking again.

Being in the wedding has been a wonderful excuse for me talk about it. My interests in all things wedding were there already, but I feel more excused to talk about "the wedding I'm in" than "my friend's wedding" to people who don't know Grace, and they are more interested when I say I'm being a bridesmaid than if I talk about the wedding of my friend whom they don't know, believe it or not. Plus, it gives me something to talk about-I'd feel like talking about it if I weren't in it, but I might not have much to say.

Dad has long given over the title of family photographer to me. Sometimes, on my birthday, or on Christmas, someone else will use a camera, Melody often, but usually if there's a photo taken, it's my doing, which means aside from occasions or self-portraits, there are rarely any pictures of me. If there are, someone outside of our family took them and I don't have them. I realized I have no picture of me in my dress. I had opportunities, but whenever I was wearing it, I forgot to take a picture. I'm not used to there being a reason to have my picture taken-normally I'd rather not.

My dress is beautiful-everyone who sees it comments on the cool color, which is one of my favorite things about it; it's a striking blue that looks like something I would have chosen myself, and a full, A-line style, which I also like. When it was taken to be hemmed, I missed it hanging in our room (though I did not put it on every day while I had it-in fact, I only randomly put it on once). At first when they talked about wearing it again, I thought that the dress will be so "Ryan and Grace's wedding" to me that I won't want to wear it anywhere else. Now, I think I'll be so attached to it I'll wear it around for fun sometimes if nothing else.

Being a bridesmaid is an experience for someone who's never been in a bridal store before, never had a formal dress or gone dress shopping, can count the number of times she's been in a mall on her hands, maybe on one, never had anything like a manicure or something done professionally, even a haircut, and the only wedding she was involved much in was when she was under the age of three. It's a fun, memorable experience.

Which is why, instead of thinking, Seven weeks till the wedding! as I did before, I'm thinking, In three weeks, the wedding will be over. While it's very exciting for Ryan and Grace, for me, after that, there will be nothing left to smile about.

Just kidding, Grace. Unless you decide you like it in Alaska and move there, I'll still be smiling. ;-)