Thankful Thursday: A Week of Wedding Work

I’m thankful for having my one of my favorite roles in the wedding of some of my favorite people.

I’m my future-sister-in-law’s “personal attendant”–aka, last-minute-detail person. And I absolutely love it. My week has been filled with the detail stuff I adore (and it doesn’t hurt that I’m doing it for the girl I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside in the faith for the past eight or so years–and the brother I’ve liked for almost as long :-P)

Today I’m thankful for…

….Sunday’s terrific dance party arranged to help my brothers learn some dance skills before the big day

…that my brothers humored me with lots of mildly embarrassing photos of themselves with the bride-to-be–

–the groom-to-be–

–and even with their father.

…for being able to visit with Joanna while I altered the flower girl’s dress and she sewed a label on the quilt we made together for the couple. (The photo shows the finished alteration–I removed a zipper and added the laced backing so the bodice would fit the flower girl who’d outgrown it.)

…for another week of stimulating book discussion with the group I joined on a whim last week.

…for a collection of great photos and video to use in preparing a slide show to embarrass the happy couple at the rehearsal dinner. (Thanks to everyone who donated pictures either directly, or vicariously through Facebook–special thanks to MARY!)

…for an interlude from wedding work to attempt to finish Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: Four Views (I ended up finishing only about two-thirds before my brain fried and I had to return it and get my shopping done–but the process was mentally stimulating.)

…for an early-morning Walmart run (2 am) and the fellow who let me go in front of him in line. (Must assemble that “every-eventuality” pre-wedding kit.)

…for an easy awakening at 7:30 despite the prior night’s late night of miracle-reading and Walmart-running

…for a clean house that I somehow managed to conjure despite the busyness of the week (Ah, I love how a clean house puts my mind at ease.)

…for a productive discussion in our ladies fellowship discussing Joshua Harris’s Dug Down Deep. (As a result, I think my mom has now joined my dad in thinking that I’ve turned Calvinist.)

…for an effective, if not quite efficient, church set up and decorating day.

…for a lesson on how girls should hit guys…and how they should not. (This impromptu session was quite informative. Anyone who knows my brother Tim should ask for a run-down. The basic premise is that girls should be VERY cautious when hitting guys because guys can’t hit back. And they can’t exactly politely ask a girl to stop hitting them just because it, well, hurts. So hit rarely–and when you do, hit at the fleshy part of the shoulder where the risk of “hurt” is low.)

…for plans for more wedding mania in the next two days (Today: set up and decorate reception hall, attend rehearsal, attend rehearsal dinner, present couple with quilt, unveil embarrassing slide show, pool party at hotel. Tomorrow: purchase and arrange extra flowers, “cater” lunch to attendants and the like, dress Debbie, family and bridal party photos, hand off car decorating supplies, wedding, reception, clean up after reception. Saturday: clean up church.)

And in the end? I’ll be officially related to one of my favorite families in the world! I can’t say how much I have been blessed by friendship with the Brunks over the years–discipling Debbie and then Joanna through high school, praying on Sunday afternoons at their house, theological discussions with HJ and Kris over dinner, discussing A Tale of Two Cities with John, quilting and reading with Joanna, ribbing Debbie endlessly about my brother. God has been good to us in bringing the Brunks into our family.