Wedding #1: Julie and Sam

I just realized today that I NEVER BLOGGED ABOUT THE WEDDINGS. 

It was such a busy and somewhat stressful summer, and then I took a trip to Seaside, and then I quickly got ready for another homeschool year, and then we took Clay to college 12 hours away in Florida, and then cross country season, and then and then a trip to Utah, and then on and on, and you know I have been such a terrible blogger.

So. Here is a recap of Wedding #1:  Julie and Sam (Remember, Wedding #2:  Olivia and Brian was 7 weeks later.)

Julie's wedding was held a a venue called Blue August in Baldwyn, Mississippi. We rented it for the weekend and had the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, and wedding reception all in the same room! The picture below is from the rehearsal dinner. We used the same arrangements plus more for the wedding reception tables. 

We set up 200 or so chairs for the wedding ceremony, and then we had to flip the space for the reception. How that was done (and the master minds behind it--Lynn and Leanna) is a story for another blog post! 

 rehearsal dinner

Honestly, the wedding day is a blur. Julie and Big Sam began their day (along with Jimmy, Big Sam's father and brother and a couple of other groomsmen) by running a 5K race!  I just tried not to think about it! 

My sweet sisters-in-law, Mary Margaret, Amanda, and Megan hosted a beautiful bridesmaids' breakfast in Mary Margaret's home. The groomsmen enjoyed their breakfast hosted by two of my dear friends, Karen and Sheila.

Following the race and the breakfasts, we all met at Blue August to begin dressing and preparing for pictures. 

 I was overcome for a moment.

 sweet Julie getting ready

 Olivia helping her with her veil

A side note. I can't remember if I shared this or not, but Julie, with lots of help from my mother, Mims, lovingly made her wedding dress and veil. She trimmed both the dress and veil with lace that she painstakingly removed from my wedding dress.

 Sweet Big Sam 

 Sweet Sisters!

Another side note:  Jimmy lovingly spent hours building the wooden arch! And Lynn and Leanna spent at least an hour (or more!) draping the fabric perfectly!

 Julie with her bridesmaids

 Sam with his groomsmen

 the entire wedding party

 Brian and Olivia, Julie and Big Sam

 the children

 precious!

 the bride and groom with Jimmy, me, and my parents, Mims and Pops

 Julie with my grandmother, Momo

 Sam's parents, Dan and Tami

 Paul, Dan, Tami, Julie, Big Sam, and Abe

 All the Peters--Paul and Alayna, Dan and Tami, Julie and Big Sam, Grace and Abe

 Sam with his brothers

 So Sweet!

the big moment! 

The wedding cakes were made by Julie's friend, Elle. They tasted absolutely delicious! I ate leftover wedding cake for breakfast for several day after the wedding. I may or may not have hidden the leftovers from the rest of my family!

 A happy bride and groom on their way to begin their new life together!

The saying on the napkins pretty much sums it all up!

Friday

We are taking a Spring Break beginning now!  I am leaving in just a few minutes to pick up Clay and his college roommate from the airport. We are all so excited for the week that lies ahead--even Jimmy is off work the whole week. I have several things planned for the week including our Family Bible Study tomorrow night (so I will need to clean house tomorrow!), Teen Bible Study next Friday, vet appointments for all five dogs (Clay and Bret will be taking them for me), Jimmy an eye doctor appointment, plus I also have a few deep cleaning/purging/organizing tasks for myself. Plus I am still sewing curtains for our tiny pop-up camper (which I began last March and stopped for many, many months because:  weddings.) I also want to visit our local fabric store to get some fabric samples for Julie's baby nursery! She, Leah, and hopefully Olivia, and I plan to sew some bedding and various decorative items for her nursery. So much fun! I want her to have the fabric and plans chosen before she arrives on July 11 so we can hit the ground running with baby preparations! She will have only 8 weeks until her due date when she gets home to Mississippi.

A running update: Ever since my last blog post I have been consistent in my running and attending CrossFit classes. It's true that a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Once I got into the groove of running 5-6 days a week and attending CrossFit twice a week, it has been easier to keep it up. When I finish my miles tomorrow morning (just 3 left), I will have completed the weekly running plan I made for myself for 4 weeks in a row. I am pleased. I have also managed to stay injury-free in CrossFit. That is mainly because of my wonderful coach, MC, who modifies most every workout to accommodate  my shoulder challenges. I appreciate her so much. And I love my classmates (5 ladies from my local church)! They make exercising fun--well, almost fun....at least they are encouraging and a fun distraction from the grueling workouts!

I hope you are enjoying your March. The month of March always seems like a good time to do spring cleaning, both inside and outside the house.

Let's Talk About Running Again

I have a love/hate relationship with running. Although I have run fairly consistently for 11 years now, it continues to be a struggle most days. Up until about three years ago I continually trained for six marathons and numerous half-marathons. I ran my last marathon in December of 2014, and I have not even considered running another one since! I have still run one or two half-marathons a year since that time, but I have almost lost my interest in that too.

I ran two half-marathons recently--one in December and one in January. The December one was ok. My training was poor. I ran only 1-3 days a week, but for the last four weeks prior to the race I did a  10-12 mile run weekly. On race day I finished with a respectable time, (however pretty slow for me), but I was sore for days. I vowed then that I would train better for my January half-marathon.

But I didn't.
It was Christmas holidays and all my people were here for almost two weeks and of course I did not want to run. My plan for the Mississippi Blues Half Marathon on January 27 was to run/walk and somehow finish before Jimmy finished the marathon. Note to self: running a half-marathon without proper training is not the smartest idea.
I walked/ran in about 1/2 mile intervals. It was cold, and it rained the entire time. I listened to podcasts and just took my time. I set a PR for my slowest half-marathon ever!

So here I am. I have not been motivated to run for so long now. I even stopped going to CrossFit for all of December and January. I began CrossFit again at the beginning of February, and I am slowly getting my groove back. I also printed out a training plan for the Coke 10K on May 5. I actually completed all my miles for week one (which ended today). Progress. 

For me, exercise is like most other tasks. Once I get started and in a routine, I am fine. It's just taking the first step, literally. I am ALWAYS glad once I am through exercising. I like how I feel when I run in the mornings or go to Crossfit (well, except for being sore sometimes after Crossfit---but I am so weak and am basically starting over and my Coach is modifying everything for me---so I am not really even that sore yet!) My clothes fit better when I run on a regular basis. 

So I am challenging myself, again, to follow a training plan for an upcoming race. This time I am going to do it. 

Do you need to challenge yourself? Do you have a fitness goal? Do you want to join me in making exercising five days a week a top priority? Walk, run, aerobics, CrossFit, yoga, pilates.....whatever form of exercise you are motivated to do. Please join me. Let's be successful together. 

Cooking Around the World: South Sudan

Way back on January 29, I cooked and served a South Sudanese meal. It was not as yummy as the Egyptian meal, but again, my family were good sports and ate what I had prepared. I downloaded an album from a South Sudanese musician, and we listened to it while cooking and eating.  (I can't remember the artist's name.....and I have already deleted the album from my Apple music.)

I cooked South Sudanese Tomato Salad, Sudanese Kirsa, and Peanut Stew With Beef and Spinach Combo. I used recipes I found on Global Table Adventure.

 the tomato salad

I really liked this, but I love tomatoes. Leah and Sam are not fans of tomatoes, so I am not sure if they even tried a bite.

 the beef, peanut, and spinach stew

This was interesting! Not my favorite (the peanut butter taste was a little strange to me.)

the kirsa

This flatbread was the best part of the meal!

I have not cooked from another country since this day. The first week of February we were in Florida for a week visiting Clay and attending some of the Florida College Lectures. We also went to Disneyworld for one day while we were down there!

This week I have been cooking normal American food because I had to make my grocery list during the 12 hour road trip home last Saturday, and I just did not have the energy nor brain cells to research and plan an international meal. I scheduled my grocery pick up from Walmart that very night when we arrived home.

I bought my groceries today for next week, and I have planned a Mexican meal. Yum! One of Clay's good friends in college has grandparents who live in Mexico. His mother cooks authentic Mexican food (he told me all about it), and he helped me plan my Mexican menu. I bought two products that are new to me.  I cannot wait to cook and eat this meal!

So Many Things to Share

I don't even know where to begin!

I have a whole blog post written in my head about the value of friendship.....I'll get to typing that later.

Our passports came in a couple of weeks ago! Jimmy, Clay, Leah, Sam, and I are going to Romania to visit Julie and Big Sam later this spring. I am so excited, and we are all counting down the days. I am a little nervous about flying over the ocean and traveling internationally, but I'm sure all will be fine! I just found out yesterday that the first flight of our trip (from Atlanta to somewhere in Canada) has been cancelled. The nice lady from Turkish Airlines (where we booked our flights) assured me that another flight was available that left about 30 minutes earlier. Of course I have to now call Air Canada to book the new flight, and when I called them yesterday I got a recording saying that due to the weather conditions their phones were swamped (basically that's what it said) and if it's not an emergency to please call back another day. So I put that on my list for tomorrow.

And now for the MOST EXCITING NEWS OF ALL!

I am going to be a grandmother!

This is an ultrasound picture of Baby Peters.

Julie and Big Sam are having a baby!! He/she is due September 6, and to say that we are all thrilled is an understatement!

They will be coming home to Mississippi in July for her to wait and deliver the baby here in Tupelo. My doctor has graciously agreed to take her as a patient. 

I am SO EXCITED!

Cooking Around the World: Egypt

Tonight I cooked a meal from Egypt. I used recipes from The Global Table Adventure. Sasha, the author of the blog, mentioned that you would need every pot in your kitchen to prepare these dishes. She was not kidding! I used five of my stove burners. I needed six, but one of mine does not work. I also used my oven and my microwave.

 preparing the meal

First of all, this meal took a long time to prepare! And I made only three dishes: Fava Bean Mash, Kushari with Spicy Egyptian Tomato Sauce and Umm Ali (a dessert). You can click on the link on each recipe title for the recipes with pretty photographs. 

Here is my report.

Fava Bean Mash:

I could not find fava beans at my Kroger. The store manager didn't even know what they were! I googled fava bean substitutes right there in the grocery store and bought 1 can of lima beans and 1 can of butter beans since both were listed as acceptable substitutes. 

Here is the fava bean dish before it began simmering. 

 While the bean mixture was simmering, I cooked in three separate pots the lentils, macaroni, and angel hair pasta for the the kushari. I cooked the rice in my rice cooker.

I used only 1/2 the amount of cayenne pepper called for in the original recipe. That was spicy enough for us. Both the fava bean mash and the kushari were good. Jimmy, Leah, and Sam were all good sports and ate everything!

the kushari 

Here is my little bowl of fava bean mash with the toppings (lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, and chopped boiled egg). We did not care for the soft pita bread. When we eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, I plan to spread some melted butter on the pita triangles and bake them in the oven until they are crispy. Pita chips would be good with this bean dip too.

My bowls of fava bean mash and kashari with the tomato sauce.

The dessert was delicious! It called for only 1/8 cup of sugar, so it was not sweet at all. I don't care for raisins....I think chocolate chips would have been better!

Umm Ali

Before we ate, I explained to my family what each dish was and read a little bit about it from the recipe's website. We listened to Egyptian music (found on Apple music by Leah) while we ate and also while we washed the one million dishes that we used preparing and serving the food! During the meal Leah read us a few facts she found online about Egypt. The food was not too strange, and I think everyone enjoyed the meal.

One country down, over 190 to go!

Her Children Rise Up and Call Her Blessed

Granmomma--on the far left--looking so pretty at Olivia and Brian's wedding.

During the night last night, Jimmy's sweet mother passed away.

She was a lovely lady who always had a smile and kind word for everyone. In recent years she was plagued with a chronic illness that left her unable to care for those around her like she so longed to do. She spent her life caring for and serving her late husband, her three children, her ten grandchildren, and one great-grandson. She loved the Lord, and I am rejoicing that she is now free of all her earthly pain and suffering. 

I cannot think of eloquent words to do Jan's memory justice. I loved her. Maybe I can compose something better later. But for now I just keep thinking of these verses.

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward--arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on one apparel--rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God"

1 Peter 3:6

"Her children rise up and call her blessed;"

Proverbs 31:28

So Today We Celebrated Leah's Birthday

Leah turned 14 today. And how can that be? Sam will be 12 in a couple of weeks, and just like that, all of my children are almost grown!  We began our celebration last night with supper at Ichiban.

Today, we enjoyed a fun day with our family of four. I cooked Leah's breakfast request (sausage muffins). I used my one of my oldest cookbooks, the silver Bell's Best. Then she opened her gifts and enjoyed a laid-back morning while I prepared food for her party later in the day. I used my old, tattered and torn yellow Bell's Best for the recipe for the layered chocolate dessert Leah requested. Do any of you readers from Mississippi have either of these cookbooks? It was such a funny coincidence that I saw on Facebook this morning that one of my local friends posted a picture of her well-worn yellow Bell's Best. My copy was given to me as a wedding present from Vicki and Stephanie Huff. They signed the inside!

 my two Bell's Best cookbooks

I have the yellow one taped together.

The top recipe is the one I use---my notes show how I double the recipe for us.

 The birthday girl

 All smiles today!

This is her birthday table.

We ate at Thai Garden for lunch, and then we saw The Greatest Showman at the deserted theater. We were the only four people in the theater! True, there was snow and ice today, and most people just stayed at home, but we had a birthday to celebrate!

Tonight Leah has four friends over for supper and games. They are loud--shrieking and laughing, and having the best time. I am loving hearing their joy.

The day Leah was born fourteen years ago was a cold day too. But Leah has been a ray of sunshine ever since she joined our family.  She was an easy, happy baby, and she has always been a delight!

Happy Birthday, sweet Leah!