A Weekendful O' Fun!

On Friday, I picked up my cousin and life-long dear friend Tammy, at the local airport. Thus began a delightful weekend, the kind with an old cherished friend when you feel like you've never been apart. She is family.

 We toodled around Oriental and went to The Bean. She did some fun shopping. The weather's been lovely. Adam planned menus, and he's been cooking up a storm: Mexican dinner, cream biscuits, Alfredo, focaccia bread ... and more to come.

Twenty-nine years ago, around this time of year, Tammy came to Jackson, Mississippi to take my bridal portraits. It rained. We abandoned our plans to shoot in Mynelle Gardens, instead using my parents' living room.

No such weather impediments bothered us on Saturday, about two hours before sunset. She did a lovely job photographing Anna in her dress, in a pasture cloaked in buttercups and clover.

 I took photos of her taking photos :)  Of course, since Gramm can't see Anna's dress yet, I must be careful what pictures I share here ... sorry.

(OOPS -- I had to remove a photo of Anna and Tammy doing the photo shoot, even though it was from  V  E  R  Y    F  A  R    A  W  A  Y   , because Anna said you could zoom in and still see the dress. Sigh. Sorry.)

As she did 29 years ago, Tammy lovingly made a flower arrangement for Anna to use, since she obviously doesn't have her wedding flowers yet. Aren't they gorgeous?

 I knew just where my arrangement was still, in my closet. So Anna and I snapped a photo of us with our two Bridal Shoot Arrangements by Tammy.

Anna did her hair.

She hardly needs to do anything to it.

Anna's hair generally does itself.

 Since big farm dogs and wedding dresses don't mix, Adam and the puppies watched from the safety of the garden gate, poor things. They got bored.

 The chickens watched too.

(Maybe I should write a children's story about a Chicken Wedding? I can just see Punkin in a long veil trailing behind her, and the other hens eating all the rice that's supposed to be thrown ....)

Yesterday we went to church. Quite a few people were gone for various reasons, but we had some visitors, and it was a lovely service and fellowship. It was one of those worship services that somehow spiritually congeals, by the Holy Spirit's gentle work, and the sermon (about how Moses and Israel's leaders ascended the mountain, saw God, and then sat down and ate and drank -- they had probably the first "communion" with God), the music (which I chose without knowing about the sermon, but which God coordinated Himself: "Come ye thirsty, come and welcome, God's free bounty glorify"), and then the communion we took afterward ... they all came together to bring me nearly to tears. In such moments I become nearly desperate to be on the New Earth, having started my eternity with Jesus and with all of you on a perfect, peaceful planet. I become emotionally grateful for what Jesus endured for me -- a cruel, brutal death -- so I could look forward in eager anticipation to such a life. Would I ever have sacrificed in such a way for someone I didn't know? Ah, but He did know me, and loved me. There's the miracle.

Today Tammy, Anna, and I go to the beach! We'll eat lunch at the Royal James Cafe, look through the Maritime Museum in Beaufort, and then lay on the beach like slugs until we return for Adam's yummy Indian dinner this evening.  I'll post about all that later!