In which...

...we find ourselves in Wisconsin again. You see this is how it works. When one has very good friends (even though those friends are 10 1/2 hours from your current place of residence) then you -or at least I do- get quite excited every time you get a chance to go see them which in some cases it happens oftener then others. Such has been the case this past year.  With 2 of our friends getting married we found that we really couldn't not go because this is like a once in a lifetime event and how terrible to miss it!! I am fully aware that we were just up there in august & that to some it might seem like we are addicted to traveling but such is not the case. However, my siblings & I think it would be quite excellent if  we could keep up this 'seeing each other every 2 months' like we have in the very recent past..... I feel that by now some of you are starting to drop your heads in wonderment if I will ever stop writing in such boring detail about the things you really didn't come to read about..... 

 So Micah, Rhoda & I left around 1 or 1:30 and after 10 or 15 or 20 minutes decided we were still close enough to home that it was worth turning around for some important things we had forgotten.... 

we stopped along the way and picked up our sister and continued our travel the next day.  We stayed at our friends place and were at rehearsal and all which made it seem kinda like a family wedding... I don't know why. It just did.  

 

They decide where to stand....

...and practice the grand entering of the bride...

...and the giving away of the bride.... 

And afterwards we went bowling and after bowling we went to Perkins because some people were hungry and Perkins has amazing French Silk pie & a bottomless pot of coffee which sounded like a good idea...

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And then there was the wedding day. We got up and ate breakfast & drank coffee & then there was hair and fun things like that to get ready for the wedding...

         

 And than there are a few pictures of the dress for those of you who are interested....

Mary with her mom and sisters... all ready for the wedding.

and a few random pictures from the morning...

Us kids thought we should take a picture since we were all dressed up anyway and John & Lydia decided to be in the picture as well.... love them! :)

 

 I didn't have any pictures of just Chris & Mary so I 'borrowed' a couple from the photographers facebook page. I hope they don't mind - I don't think they will 'cause it's just a little free advertisement. :)

Godly friends are one of the best things ever I am quite certain. Don't underestimate them & the impact they have on your lives. That's all.

And then we played volley ball till midnight. That turned out to be fun and entertaining. :)

 After volley ball we went home to eat whatever we could find which turned out to be leftover chili for some and nearly a half bag of celery with ranch for another -healthy I tell you...and then we decided to have a little contest. There was a jar of quarters and whoever got the closest guess on the amount of money in the jar would be rewarded with $5... thus we proceed to count the quarters & I began to feel a little mentally declined due to the short hours of sleep on which I was living....

 

Sunday we went on a short walk during the time when it stopped raining and we took pictures ;)

Then it was Monday morning and Kathryn, Dorcas, Rhoda & I got up and made breakfast for everybody. It was fun even though all I did was wash dishes...  :) 

Later in the day we went on a walk.... 

I am in love with the fall colors up there! I know they weren't at their peak but they were nice and bright in contrast to the brown-ish colors we have down here.... I'm not complaining though. We do have an occasional bright colored maple tree stuck in among the oaks every now and then & that makes me happy! :)

 There's also things that I don't have pictures of .... the coffee pot consumed an entire large can of coffee grounds over the weekend and we even fed one of the dear brothers a cup of hot water to stretch our limited resources!  here's how you do it: Take a mug that is black on the inside and pour coffee in it so it has the smell you would expect. Next, pour the coffee out and insert hot water and serve it to the person of choice. In my situation the person to which I served the hot water was intently watching Andy Griffith and drank the ENTIRE cup without noticing! YAY!!!!  I guess that's what happens when you don't pay attention to what your doing. :)

The end.

The winner is.........................

...drum roll please...

Andrea!!

Congratulations Andrea! An Autumn Harvest candle will be coming your way very soon! 

I hope you enjoy it to the fullest! :)

To all you others: I apologize. I wanted you all to win but since only one name fits at the top of the list.... maybe you can try again next time!

*Note: For those of you who are wondering how she won 'cause you didn't see her comment.... a few of my friends entered on facebook 'cause blogger wasn't cooperating. Which is why you didn't see her entry.

In which I was surprised!

 So ever since my sister moved to Iowa, my other sister & I thought it would be most appreciated & out right lovely if Dorcas & some of our cousins would come see us & as time went on I was beginning to suspect that there were indeed plans & we weren't supposed to know about them which meant that they were very possibly trying to plan a surprise. I tend not to be a person that gets surprised very easily 'cause I'm always rather suspicious or as in another case once when someone was trying to surprise me, logic just told me that they would be coming- I counted the number of people that were coming & the number of seats in the vehicle & I knew there was a cousin who would find it very convenient to come along. -And she did! But that is not the story this time. 

 

The last weekend in September my sister(Rhoda) & I were working and she asked me if I would scream if I were ever surprised. "I don't know." I said. "I guess we'll have to wait and see when the time comes."  She thought that was no fun at all 'cause she knew she most definitely would scream! :)  the weekend went on & I didn't expect any one would be coming because of the days I was scheduled to work the following week but what'd you know? Sunday night we were all in the basement & the dogs started barking loudly outside & then I heard people walking upstairs & I still didn't expect anything and then they started coming down the stairs & my Dad went to look.... & obviously I was having a moment of brain-freeze 'cause when he said, "Oh. It's just you". I still didn't catch on. and then they came running & I realized who was actually here in my house & I screamed! Loudly! Which is what they were hoping for. :) (I even surprised myself here & my sister discovered indeed how I react to surprises! ;))  I discovered that mom had even arranged with my boss for me to work different days which was so happy! :) We had marvelous fun and made good use of the short time that was left until Tuesday afternoon when they were to leave.

 There are no pictures of us when we saw them which is kinda sad...

Allison/Alice & I- there are so many memories I have with this girl & her sister as well as the rest of their family.... about some things I say: what happens on the bus stays on the bus! ;) ;) haha!!:)

 Since we didn't know they were coming there was no plan of what to do so we got up in the morning & drank coffee/tea and had good conversation about dealing with pain from the past, breaking chains of bitterness & on like that until somewhere in the 11th hour...Dad came in and saw us all sitting there in our PJ's drinking coffee and thought it looked like we were getting a good start on our day! :)  We were. It was beneficial to us all. :)

We then went to town to see what we would do....

...that ended up being our favorite little cafe in Warsaw because it had been quite awhile since we were there & Chels & Allison had never been there & we were sure they were missing out! :)

 They thought it was very enchanting. Which it is.. and one of the favorite things about it is that it's all healthy! They make all their own desserts/bread/etc... and they use NO sugar. They use natural sweeteners & still the food is amazing! :)

We sat out on the awesome porch & had more good conversation. It was beautiful!

Amazing Cream Cheese Pie with Strawberries. I don't think I've even gone there with out getting this! :)

Sisters are awesome! Just sayin'... I missed all my other sisters that weren't with us.

 

  Mom made fresh doughnuts while we were gone. They were amazing! They always are.

I am normally of the belief that eating pictures are awkward. I'm not saying that this one isn't but when there are fresh doughnuts how one keep from taking a picture? ;)

Chels has a thing for Moms doughnuts. I'm not blaming her 'cause we all do. :)

 Watching 'My Fair Lady' & I decidedly say that I liked it. ;)

And we ate more doughnuts. :)

There were french pedicures to be done ...

and a fun game of dutch blitz to be played...

I have come to the conclusion once again that there is no price tag for family & friends who love the Lord.

 I am blessed.

I have also come to the conclusion that being surprised is very exciting! :)

To see more pictures & another side of the story read Chelsy's blog.

And in case you haven't yet. There's still time to enter the giveaway!

You can enter through Thursday (the 10th) & I will announce the winner on Friday.