I wish I'd written that.

Check out the posting at Dead Reckoning written by a man who grew up in Runnemede about the time I did. What he said, what I wish I had said about October. Enjoy.

Christmas is coming

I know it is. And it's coming fast.

Answers in Genesis is getting their Christmas Village ready.
The stores are putting up their Christmas decorations.
I am beginning to panic because there are only 11 weeks left until Christmas.

What brings all this angst about the upcoming holidays about?

I posted something on Runnemede Remembered Recipes (click on link) which will explain why I am thinking about Christmas, and yes, it does have to do with Runnemede which is why I'm posting the link on RR.

Mt. Calvary has some special events planned for the season, and I wish I could head back East and enjoy the fellowship. Alas, I have my family here, and we will have something all together during the season -- other than church activities.

So, read RRR and let me know if you have any ideas on my conundrum posted at the bottom of the BLOG.

TTFN

Another celebration

Just got word that Mt. Calvary is having another celebration Sunday in honor of their 100th year. Wish I could be there.

I pray the service will be a blessing to all who attend. Pastor Cook is delivering the message on Sunday. He was pastor after my father. I enjoyed listening to his sermons on the several occasions I had to return to the church on our visits back home.

ttfn

Another year

Well, Alan and I are celebrating another year together -- we will have been married (tomorrow August 27, 2010) for 44 years.

It was a lovely, almost fall-like day. It was one of the happiest days of my life, and one I had dreamed about for several years. We were engaged for only a year -- the longest year of my life in some respects, but the shortest in others.

I remember when I told my mom the date we had set. We had been engaged for several months and hadn't decided on a date. We knew we wanted to get married while Alan's parents were on furlough from a missionary stint in Kenya, and that end-date hadn't been set yet, but we knew they would be returning to Kenya in early fall. We also knew we wanted to be married before he started his junior year at Rutgers because we needed to line up student housing. So mom should have known that we'd be getting married some time in late summer of 1966.

Well, I came home from a date with Alan, and he had told me he had gotten us student housing and we would get married two weeks before school started and would start paying rent on our housing in early August, getting married in late August, 1966. Mom got this news in late March 1966 and told me it would be impossible to get a wedding ready in six months. I told her it wouldn't.

I'm very organized, and I had a list of things to do before I got married, and mom didn't even have to do anything but give me names for invites. By the time the next week was out I had purchased my wedding gown and veil and shoes. I had decided on my bridesmaids. Arranged for a date at the bridal shop in Runnemede to purchase bridesmaids gowns, purchased my invitations, arranged for a cake and caterer, and thought I was all set.

Then mom dropped the bomb. She said I hadn't asked to use the church. Excuse me? Dad was the preacher. I knew the date was open and no one else was getting married (in the church family) that date. She said I still had to formally ask to use the church. I felt so silly doing that. So, I wrote a note to the deacons and trustees requesting the use of the church for that date. I knew mom was putting me on, because I knew that when people wanted to get married, they only had to ask my father to use the church and they got married. But mom was adamant that I was to ask permission from the "powers that be". Dad had already given his permission and written the date on his calendar.

I waited on tender hooks for several weeks, asking the head of the trustees each Sunday if I they had decided I could use the church. Believe me, by the time I finally got permission, I was about to find another church in which to have the wedding. They were all pulling my leg, and it wasn't a leg I wanted pulled. I wasn't amused by the joke they were all pulling on me.

Other than that little bauble, the wedding went off without a hitch. And we lived happily ever after. Yeah, right. However, I have to say, that I remember the good times more than the bad times, and while Alan and I "fight," it's really our way of communicating, a way our children can't understand.

Do we still love each other? You bet we do. And it seems that we are getting nearer to our "first love" feelings the older we get. I guess it's because we know that today might be our last day together on this earth. Ouch! Did I really say that?

Well, we are getting older and older and older and more frail as the days progress. Time is flying by and can you believe it's almost Christmas again? So, we make sure we greet each other in the a.m. with an "I love you" and end each day with an "I love you," praying that we'll both see each other in the morning.

We won't do anything to "celebrate" our anniversary. We've tried for the past few years to do something special but something always comes up and interferes, so this year we're just going to REMEMBER the day. Look at our album. And relax.

ttfn

Home-going

My dear friend Dawn lost her battle with cancer and is now safe in the arms of Jesus. I shall miss her, but I know I shall see her again when I, too, meet my Lord some day.

I wish I could go back to Runnemede for her funeral, but I cannot because of other family obligations.

Dawn taught children -- she told me once she was not a school teacher, she was a children teacher, and I had to agree. She taught the little ones (K-3) and retired a few years ago.

The last time I saw her on May 22, she looked beautiful and didn't let on that she was suffering at all. She did admit to being tired, but then with all the chemo and radiation she'd had in the previous days and weeks, that was expected.

Contributions can be made to Mt. Calvary Union Church for the stained glass fund.

ttfn

Prayer for Dawn

A dear friend, one of my bridesmaids, Dawn Anderson, is in 24-hour hospice care. I am praying that God will be merciful to her and keep her from pain as she ends this life and goes into the arms of our Lord and her saviour.

Dawn and I had time to talk when I went home in May and she made it through the Sunday events and seemed to be okay. She wasn't, but she let me think she was. I'm glad I had that time with her, even though it was just a little bit.

Please pray for her and her family. Her sister is with her.

ttfn

Recipe update

Check out Runnemede Remembered Recipes today for an update.