The Wedding Was Beautiful

Friday, July 22 was wedding day for John Cook as he took Erin Hay to be his wife. The wedding was simple and beautiful, making it simply beautiful.  John and Erin agreed on the wedding text in advance. I just have to share it with you as it was such a great text for newlyweds and for oldie-weds too.


2 Peter 1: 5-8
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge. and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affections with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (ESV)

I thought the wedding would be a breeze for me.  After all the mother-of-the-groom is a very minor character.     My greatest responsibility was in planning the rehearsal dinner.  We made it a no-brainer by ordering a sampling of pizza from three different pizza restaurants in Paris, Kentucky. No, the worst thirty seconds for me where spent right before I was escorted to my seat by Dallas.  I took a moment to give John a hug and to wish him well.  That was when the realization hit me - he is no longer my little boy, but rather he is Erin's man. How embarrassing to have tears streaming down my face as Dallas seated me.  But that was the end of the "water works" as I watched our family receive a tremendous blessing in adding Erin to our clan.  Realizations and additions, simply beautiful.

Quickie Update as We Run to the Wedding

Friday, July 22, John will be marrying Erin Hay in Paris, Kentucky.  Here it is Wednesday and we are dashing about to get packed and leave the house in order as we head to the rehearsal tomorrow.

With the business, we have received about 5 shipments of materials from three sources.  Richard is starting to move beyond the sample garments to some serious construction.  As he completes a new alb we are listing the original sample in his shop on Etsy, an online shopping mall.  We have one listed so far but hope to have more the week after the wedding.  We hope this will give us a little feel for the market, but at the least it helps us jointly work though the process of online sales.

I, Renee, have been selling on eBay for about 2 years so I have a little idea about working with writing a listing, shipping costs and managing Paypal. Richard had not given my eBaying much attention since I did it while he was away from home at work.  Now the slower pace of Etsy is proving a good teaching medium for his current learning style.  Here is his link if you want to take a look at his Etsy profile.  His shop items are on the right-hand side of the profile page, and you can click it for a closer look:

http://www.etsy.com/people/ManoftheClothLLC

Meanwhile, back at the wedding, all the siblings are going to make it for John.  I have to confess to being a little excited about getting all our offspring together.  I hope we remember to get a picture.  In times past we just get so wrapped up in visiting that we forget the camera.  I'll let you know later how it comes out.

Toodles,
Renee

...and Another Thing...

From One Thing to another Thing, John was also in Seussical the Musical as Thing Two. He was assisting in the technical side of the performance also. 

Over April 9 – 10, we – Richard and I – were honored to accompany John to Berea, Kentucky to visit his alma mater, Berea College. While John was off doing his thing we had the joy of visiting with Dallas who is in his second year studying at Berea. 

So what was John doing?  He was making a quantum leap into his future.  On Saturday evening he asked Erin Hay to marry him.  She agreed and now sports the engagement ring of proof.  Erin will be graduating on May 8 at the top of her class.  They hope to achieve a summer wedding but more information on that to follow.  Meanwhile, John ducked closer to the happily-ever-after side when he was affirmed this week that he is now a full-time counselor at South East Missouri Behavioral Health. He had wavered about proposing while he was in only a part-time job situation.  He is rejoicing that the Lord honored his step of faith. 

Future Things?

Sarah has added her share of excitement to our lives again – this time in the form of twins.  About a year ago Sarah and Neal began the application process to qualify as adoptive parents.  Last month they received fifteen-month-old identical twin boys to foster with the anticipation of adoption.  Having been placed into the public foster system only nine months before, the boys were still in the legal process of termination of parental rights. This past Wednesday the courts gave the nod to proceed with the legal transfer of parenting rights to Neal and Sarah. They anticipate the process may take up to six months, but in the meanwhile the boys are thriving in Sarah and Neal’s home.  We hope to make the journey to Florida to see them in May.