The Lost Art of Letter Writing

In today's society of e-mail, text and the like, writing letters really has become a lost art. Recently I read a devotional by Dr. David Jeremiah from his book "Discovery" that I really enjoyed and thought I would share it!
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"Paul.... to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints." Romans 1:1, 7

It's no accident that God chose the written form of epistles or letters to convey the teachings of the Christen life to the earliest believers. Paul, Peter, John, Jude and others wrote personal letters to churches and individuals, and this body of correspondence makes up the richest source of our understanding of the Christian way and walk. Paul could have compiled volumes of sermons or books of systematic teachings. But instead the LORD lead him to use the medium of letter writing to leave a lasting legacy for all of Christian history. Letters are personal, readable, informal, enduring, and quotable.

Though our correspondence isn't inspired in the scriptural sense, don't underestimate the power of the written note. It's easy to pat someone on the back and say, "Good job." We need to fequently do that. But there is great value in taking the time to write encouraging words. They are durable and distance-proof.

Rediscover the lost art of letter writing.

Letter writing, in its ideal form, is really nothing else but indirect conversation. C.H. Charles

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May you have a blessed weekend!

Song and Sewing

Thought I would share this lovely song. It was a favorite during my growing up years. I have been enjoying the music of Annie Herring today as I work on sewing some new items for Lilacs in Spring. Hope you are all having a lovely day!

^" And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Blueberries and Raspberries

Last week mom, Hannah and I visited our favorite blueberry farm! I must admit that blueberries are my favorite berry and one of my most favorite foods. Each summer I look forward to the time we spend picking blueberries. The farm we visit is so lovely and there are just fields of blueberries everywhere! The blueberries are generally very large.

                           Mom and Hannah picking blueberries. Also sampling a few as they go. : )

          Here I am picking berries too. I think that the blueberries are especially delicious this year!

                                                                     A beautiful blueberry field.
 

The view across from where we were picking. The weather was simply perfect that day! The sky was so blue and pretty. It was wonderful.

 My blueberries ready to be sorted and frozen. It is truly a blessing to see the bags of blueberries in my freezer. I know this winter it will be a real delight to bake a pie from these berries, like a taste of summer!

The farm we visited also had red raspberries available for picking. We picked a couple quarts for me, and I was able to make a batch of red raspberry jam. I made mine using the inversion method as I do not own a canner yet. I was really pleased that all my jars sealed, since I have found this method a little less reliable than processing the jars in the canner.

 But at the end I made sure I saved out enough berries to bake a pie, plus some extra just to enjoy on their own.

I thought that the blueberries and raspberries made for a great combination. My sister Rachel shared this quick and easy pie crust recipe with me. Over the years I had always made the classic Crisco pie crust recipe, but this recipe is very tasty and easy to make. It does not lend itself well to rolling with a rolling pin, so I do find making a top crust a bit of a challenge, but a crumb topping is great when you are in hurry. Also,  I like to make my crust with sunflower oil so in the long run this crust is healthier than the Crisco recipe.

How have you been enjoying this delightful season of berries? Have you made any jams or pies?

My Wedding Gown

 To design my wedding gown I used three patterns and combined the elements of each design that I liked. I used McCall's 4713 for the skirt. I liked the train and fullness. For the bodice I used Simplicity 9829 but used the sweetheart neckline from Simplicity2174.

In this photo you can see the bustle. I made a European bustle which ties up under the skirt through a series of carefully placed rings. Pinning the bustle was a little tricky. I had only ever pinned a bustle while a gown was being fitted on to the wearer of the gown, in this case I had to pin the bustle while my dress form was wearing the gown. It took a little while for me to adjust the height of the dress form just right. : ) Nonetheless I was pleased with the outcome.

Here is a close up of the sash front which I hand embroidered and beaded with tiny pearls.

And the back of the sash closed with ribbon flowers I made from organdy ribbon and satin ribbon. It was difficult to capture the details since it is white-on-white. : )

Since I was quite young I had always dreamed of sewing my wedding gown. It was a fun experience I will never forget!

Wedding Cake, Flowers and Music

My sister Rachel made my wedding cake. Isn't it incredible? I love roses, especially pink roses, so she designed our cake with that in mind.

         Rachel also baked and decorated an impressive number of cupcakes. They were delicious!

                  She even used gold glitter sprinkles and small pearl sprinkles. So pretty.

                                             A close-up of the beautiful roses and pearls.

                                       Left to right: Rachel, Sarah (me) and Hannah.

Rachel and I made the wedding bouquets the morning of the wedding. The afternoon before I went to the grocery store and purchased a variety of pink and white flowers. Rachel made my bouquet, it had a large white peony in the center, it smelled wonderful!

Hannah and Adam's brothers Asa and Noah lead worship during the service. We all sang "As the Deer", one of my favorite songs, and "Here I am to Worship". They also sang a special love song called "If You Could See What I See". They sounded terrific. I wish I could have included a video of them singing, but here is a video I found on Youtube so you can at least hear the song by the original artist.

                     And to close this post Hannah and grandpa dancing. I love this photo. : )

Wedding Preparations

 The two days leading up to our wedding were two of the rainiest days I can remember. For the entire week leading up to the wedding my family and I anxiously watched the weather report, praying that Saturday, the day of the wedding would be beautiful.

I never imagined what damage the rain would bring, as it was unlike anything that had ever happened on our property. You can see the huge mud puddle behind me in the photo above.

 Here is a close up! The day prior to the wedding I would occasionally walk out to the tent and inspect the conditions, wondering how our guests were going to manage walking through all that mud and water. We did rented a huge industrial fan and my uncle attempted to dig a trench to drain the water away from the tent- all to no avail. I was growing rather depressed. What were we going to do with 100 people coming to enjoy a beautiful day?

 We thought maybe straw would do the trick! It did help, but still not quite enough. The morning of the wedding mom and I were ready to say we had made a huge mistake, that planning a wedding in the field next to our house was crazy, and we would relocate to the church in town. But the LORD in His mercy provided an amazing miracle!

The day previous we had had a problem with some of the equipment we rented  (we rented the tent, chairs, tables, generator etc. from the same company), and the owner of the company came out to take care of the problem we had with the generator. At that time we told him about the difficulty we were having with the mud, and he offered to loan us special flooring at no cost! The flooring would have been far too expensive for us to afford, so this was a huge blessing!!

 The catch was we would have to find the means to transport the flooring and lay it down. The flooring was very heavy and rolling it out was quite the undertaking. In the photo above you can see the flooring being rolled out. I was so grateful for all of the hard work family and friends put into making the wedding come together.

Our original plan had been to decorate the tent and tables the two days prior to the wedding, but due to the weather the tent was delivered later that originally planned. We all were decorating for the wedding right up until the time of the wedding! Considering all the delays and problems I thought everything looked beautiful!

In the photo above Beulah, Hannah's dog, is doing her best to help put up the Chinese lanterns. Oh, the limitations of being too short. : )

In this picture you can see that we used the straw part of the way as a trail for our guests to walk on in hopes everyone would not become too muddy. I loved how the straw looked so cozy and rustic. 

The Chinese lanterns and lights. You can also see that sun came out for our ceremony! I was so blessed to see the sun shining for our wedding vows, and time of worship. It had been raining lightly just two hours before.

As I walked down the "aisle" a friend played "Great is Thy Faithfulness" on his violin. I chose "Great is Thy Faithfulness" because it is one of my favorite hymns, and also because God has been so faithful! Faithful to send me the most wonderful husband and friend, as well as provide all that was needed for a beautiful wedding day- even sunshine! : )

"Great is thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:23b

June 8, 2013

On June 8th Adam and I were married at my home where I had spent my entire life. It had always been my dream to be married at home and have an old-fashioned wedding. Growing up I read of Meg March's homemade wedding in "Little Women" and how the morning sun glimmered on Green Gables as Anne and Gilbert made their vows. It seemed like a wonderful and fun idea, and it mostly was. : ) I will explain more later.

As you can see in this photo we rented a large tent for the wedding and reception. I sewed my wedding gown and my flower girl's dress, Hannah sewed her dress as well as Rachel's dress.

We found a pretty pink calico for their dresses as I wanted the wedding to have a fun, old-fashioned, rustic feel, less formal than most weddings.

A photo of both families. Doesn't Adam look handsome?! : )

Mom and I. We had soooo much fun planning this wedding together. Mom was such a blessing to me throughout this exciting season of my life.

Adam and I eating our dinner and laughing a little. Adam toasted our wedding with lemonade and I with peach Snapple, that is my favorite summertime beverage and we offered it to our wedding guests. Notice the crepe wedding bells behind us? When we came back from our honeymoon my sister had hung them front our chimney damper. I was very reluctant to place them in our wedding memory tote and did not do so until this past week!

Adam and I cutting our wedding cake, beautifully made by my sister Rachel! What an amazing labor of love. I will be sharing some additional photos of her artistry in a future blog post.

Our first dance! We danced to Elvis singing "When Fools Rush In". We had originally hoped that our first dance would be a Strauss waltz, but never could manage to learn how to waltz.

I thought the tent looked so lovely at night! I will share more photos in the near future. I think my next post will feature photos of the preparations. We had a rather difficult time preparing for the wedding as we experienced torrential downpours the two days leading up to the wedding. But nonetheless the LORD provided, and blessed us with an absolutely beautiful time.

 "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" Song of Solomon 6:3