FFF ~ remembering
Here I am, albeit a little late, for the 155th edition of Friday's Favourite Five!
It's been a whirlwind of celebrations lately! So many wonderful memories - beginning with a few more sweet touches at the wedding.
1. At the beginning of the wedding ceremony, Dorothy and Rob had their rings in a little yellow gauze bag. They gave the rings to the congregation so that each person could hold them and say a prayer or blessing over the rings and then pass them on to the next person. I was first to hold them and counted it such a gift to pray over the symbols of their love.
The rings almost made it the whole way round before the ring part of the ceremony. Wasn't that a lovely touch? So many prayers, blessings and happy thoughts spoken over this young couple!
2. Another memorable moment ~ Dorothy really wanted the church bells to ring when she and Robbie walked down the aisle, but, of course, they were married in our yard and the church is across the road.
How could we co-ordinate the bells and the ceremony?? We had to figure out a plan. Our next door neighbour Baxter, (who was there at every turn to help for this event) stationed himself up in the bell tower of the church with a cell phone. Another dear friend, Barb, (who hosted a shower for Dorothy and helped in every way to get me through the rehearsal dinner and the dessert buffet) had her cell phone ready. As soon as Rob and Dorothy signed the marriage registry, and Roger introduced the newlyweds, Barb called Baxter in the bell tower. It was perfect timing ~ as Robbie and Dorothy started to walk down the aisle, the bells began to chime!
You can hear the bells on the wedding video. It was such fun! Everyone was wondering how we synchronized the bells with the ceremony.
3. It was wonderful to spend time with Dorothy's family over the wedding festivities. Good food, great conversation, music and laughter deepened the family ties that we now share. After the rehearsal dinner, we all gathered in the living room where Sarah and I had such a good time playing music with Dorothy's younger sisters Mira and Rene - gifted violinists.
Mira and Rene playing at the weddingSarah played her cello and I joined in on my harp. Making music - my favourite way to spend an evening!
You remember that we just re-decorated our living room prior to the wedding. I hung a collage of my photographs over the new sofa but I hadn't found anything to place over our piano. I wanted to wait until I found just the right thing rather than just fill the space. Well . . . I was so glad I did! Dorothy's mom, Julia, is a talented Island artist. She painted a lovely watercolour as a wedding thank you from Dorothy, Robbie, Dorothy's dad, Doug, and her. It's so beautiful! The space above our piano was just waiting for it :)
My camera doesn't do it justice, but if you look closely, you can see a little nest with a bird's egg nestled inside - Julia knows about my blog, A Sparrow's Home, and added that special tribute.
I was speechless when she gave it to us. Such a beautiful and thoughtful gift that we'll cherish always!
4. Another great memory - celebrating our oldest son's 31st birthday! It's been a long time since Andrew and Hyekoo were home over his birthday.
Andrew's comical look comes from the incongruity of Robbie opening presents (wedding) on his birthday!! The rest of the sibs had to jump in to grab the spotlight share the moment :)
Oh, it did this mama's heart good to have all her chicks home!
5. My final favourite fits in perfectly as # 5 - today is my son, John, and daughter in love, Kathleen's, 5th wedding anniversary!!
It doesn't seem like 5 years ago since I blogged about that lovely day!
Oh. my.goodness! I haven't covered half of the celebratory moments we've enjoyed over the last few weeks! Such a rich time. Thank you so much for joining with me as I remember!
And don't forget to drop over to Susanne's for more fff fun.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
with love,
