8:13 p.m. Today's project was to prepare and host the bridal shower for our Heidi. Included in the planning was the drive to our friends' house to drop Steve off for the day, so he could enjoy his friend Bob's company while we ladies celebrated with my girl!
My younger, married daughter Heather and I had a pretty good plan going: I fried up the prepared chicken fajitas from Vons, mixed cotija cheese, lime and cilantro into the beans and left them warming in the oven. She made the guacamole and the punch, a delicious mix of pomegranate-lime juice and Squirt. My daughter-in-law Marisela provided the homemade rice. I had made the tortilla chips earlier in the week. Heather also brought blueberry-chevre (goat) cheese and the most delicious dainty crackers to savor it with.
Bless her heart, Heather also made her sister a batch of jelly thumbprint cookies which I stashed away for Heidi to enjoy later in privacy! Heather made Snickerdoodles and peanut butter chip cookies, which I stuffed with two kinds of ice cream last night, wrapped in nonstick Reynolds aluminum foil and froze for dessert.
I must have been agitated mentally because I did not sleep well last night. Like the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:15, who "rises while it is yet night," I got up at 3:37 a.m. to rearrange some items downstairs! Right now, I'm not sure what the urgency was, actually. But I do remember taking two aspirin and finally getting a couple of hours of sleep before hopping back up at 6 a.m.!
Steve had a very good morning, staying on task with his devotion time, breakfast, and his morning chores. We even had time to pick up a lemon and some cold-brewed tea bags before going to Bob's house at 8:45. Lipton has come up with an amazing invention. You place a very large teabag in the pitcher and fill with a quart of cool water, let "brew" for three minutes, discard the bag and chill. Sun tea isn't even that easy!
Heather popped in after 10:00, due to a very late night of ministry to her high school girls' group Friday, but the three of us whizzed into action for our 11:30 deadline. Even the bride herself put up decorations while I set out the cheese plates I'd prearranged, and cooked the fajita mix.
The punch and guacamole were made, the fajitas were in the crockpot,and the kitchen cleaned up by 11:20 when I ran upstairs to put my dress and heels on. When our first guests, Heather's mother-in-law and sister-in-law, arrived, we were all smiles and so glad this long-planned event was beginning. As the house filled with family, fun and laughter, great games that Heather guided us through, and loads of yummy food, we were so gratified that we did not "eat the bread of idleness" (Proverbs 31:27b) this day!
As the party wrapped up, and we showed the DVD of Pavel's proposal to Heidi in their shared Sunday School classroom, there was not a dry eye in the house! We all remembered the purpose of our gathering: not only to celebrate the upcoming marriage of the happy couple, but to celebrate God's plan for marriage, Jesus' words in Mark 10:8 (quoting Genesis 1:27 and 2:24),
From the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.
I marvel in God's goodness, because in less than one month, we will be greeting Mr. and Mrs. Pavel Ilie!
No comments:
Post a Comment