Dinner at church or better known as we have no food for you!

Yesterday, we had pot luck dinner at our church and it caused quite the controversy with the congregation. Here's how it went. In order to promote, (a better word would be force), people to sit with someone other than family, there was a twist to the day. When we arrived at church we were given a name tag with 2 colors on it. One was to designate where to eat your lunch, and the second where to eat your dessert. The plan was for people to sit and visit as they lunched with church family, and then when it was dessert time, you were to move to another table, to eat with other church family, all the while generating well being amongst people unfamiliar with one another. Now I'd known about this idea for several weeks and knew if I breathed a word of it, all my peeps would bail. So, I was as silent as the grave. Well, when my firstborn found out about it during the actual church service, I immediately received an irate text from her. Shockingly, (note the sarcasm) she was adamantly opposed to the new way of doing things and so we exchanged a few pleasantries, all using scripture references to make our points, and then, she did it anyway. OK, the part about the scriptures isn't true but we did have a text "discussion" about the fact that it wasn't my fault and therefore she needed to get off my back. But it was said as sweet and sugary as possible. I think my exact words were, "Tough it."

When church was over and we finally made it over to the eating venue, it seemed the ripple affect regarding this new found way of lunching was HUGE. Most of the "young folk" were vehemently opposed to this "Christian speed dating" as one guy called it. I of course thought this comment to be hilarious. After I got the Billie set in her place, I went to stand in the food line, which happens to be one of my all time favorite things to do EVER. This type of standing in line is when you get to watch 100 peeps in front of you pick up stuff and touch stuff that you will eventually eat yourself, all the while NOT spreading germs of any kind. It's AWESOME! I had actually planned ahead and brought my homemade chicken spaghetti with the intent of eating our own food even in the public setting. Well, as the "snail trail" slowly moved along, John and I watched as our beloved chicken spaghetti disappeared before our eyes, and I'm not even kidding, with the last spoonful served up on a plate to the person just in front of me! UGH! At that point it became obvious the two of us were gonna get bupkiss for lunch because yesterday seemed to be one of those rare days when our church people were off their game, or forgot, or just plain didn't give a flip about bringing food to satisfy the masses. So John and I walked away with two sad plates each containing a chicken leg, cold corn and a roll. I promise I'm telling the truth. And as I was walking to my blue table, I looked over and discovered Billie sitting at a table with four empty chairs and decided to sneak a seat with her even though her table was gray. My only concern was the "table police" was walking around checking id's and looking sternly at anyone who happened to be disobeying the rules. Well, Billie somehow legitimately ended up at her gray table with three of her own loving grandchildren who were too busy eating untainted food because they were first in line to even notice that the Billie was sitting there foodless. I quickly assessed the situation and selflessly gave her my pitiful chicken leg and cold corn....I'd already eaten the roll, and then snuck into the kitchen after I spied a mother lode of rolls and filled my pockets with four each. I walked out saying to the kitchen people in garbled dinner roll speak, "Yeah people were asking if there were more rolls and so I offered to take them some." This of course was a lie, told at church. Well, technically it was in the church gym, but nonetheless it was an untruth. I then ran back to the food table and snatched the last chicken leg just before an unsuspecting 3 year old was about to grab it, and then I slithered back to the wrong colored table to eat. I sat quietly choking down my chicken leg, because by now the three year old was crying uncontrollably about the "mean lady" who'd swiped her lunch out from under her. I managed to dodge the mother's bullet stare scouring the room for the food thief as I mentally prepared myself for the "dessert round" of the "it's everybody for themselves" eating at church day. I was determined I wasn't gonna get shafted this time.

Now in order to make this day even more ridiculous was the fact the dessert table had been deemed "off limits" to all people until the allowed dessert eating time. But rumor was spreading quickly there was a banana puddin under the food tarps, and I watched as folks cracked knuckles in preparation for the "sprint to the sweets" part of this weird "dinner on the grounds" day at church. As I nervously sat nearby the confections, I continuously eyed the table between bites of my meager chicken leg as well as the wronged three year old's evil stare, making sure no one got ahead of me. But when the announcement was made that dessert eating was now allowed, a FLURRY of church people leapt to their feet, sucker punching anyone who got in their way in order to be first in line. (Sucker punch may be a bit exaggerated because I really don't think I hurt anyone). So, I got my puddin, a meager amount and a cheescake bite, thereby completing the dessert competition. I even managed to double plate it making sure I got something for the Billie June as well, but people were beginning to suspect me as a "double fisted dessert eater" instead of me just looking out for my saintly mother. (I think I just heard angels sing as I typed that.)

When I got back to my gray table, I was supposed to be at a green one, I found a funny guy named Jonathan sitting with us for dessert. Well, Jonathan is ALMOST as funny as me and when I finished drinking my bottle of water, I squeezed it and he said, "Woah, someone's been working out." Which made me almost do a spit take all over him. Then our discussion turned to the fact that when he was given his name tag, he looked at it upside down to see what it said and instead of reading gray, he thought it said Gary, and became concerned that he was gonna be paired at a table with a guy named Gary and have to make small talk for the entire lunch. And with this strange anecdote, my entire bizarro church lunch was complete.

And there you have it. Now in the column of "we've tried one of everything at our church," we can add speed eating, rotating, withholding dessert from people, dinner on the ground extreme idea.....done. Check that box and let's move on.

The lesson learned for me is, the next time we have dinner at church, I'm eatin at Grandy's.

The missing background

So I'm pretty unhappy with blogger at the moment, and if I didn't have years of posts to move, I might try to find a more suitable place to post my stuff. A few days ago, with no warning, I lost my lovely flower background. It just disappeared. Gone. Gone to somewhere. Lost to the ages. And I can't remember where I found it, cause I didn't think I needed to remember! And I've now searched for hours looking for it, but sadly, to no avail. So I changed it to the one that was before this one....try to keep up....but it clashed with the blue of William's outfit, so I had to change it again. So I'll keep griping about losing the other one, as I continue looking for it. It all means something to me, but probably nothing to anyone else. BUT I don't want to complain here anymore, or too loudly, cause if you scroll down, you'll find baby's sleeping.

Shhhhhhhhh....

Oh My Goodness

I've run out of words to describe how fantastically beautiful this baby boy is.


But if this isn't perfection, I don't know what is.

Happy Birthday Little William Douglas Swander

You have no idea how much you are loved.

Or how hard your mother worked to get you here.

Or how proud your Daddy was to show you off.

Or why God chose YOU to join this wild, crazy, loud, loving, wonderful family.

But we're all so thankful that He did!

Twenty two family members were there this night you were born, as well as four on the phone and five through texting. And countless others waiting to hear about your arrival.

You are loved sweet pea.

God bless your steps all the days of your long, happy, healthy life!

Just a thought or two

Spring sprung, and I missed it. During the time of blooming flowers in town, I have nothing but the word of my mouth that it actually happened. It was such a weird spring due to the mild winter and because of that, things bloomed so early, beginning in February, and I was unprepared for the events. I have no tulip or daffodil pictures to speak of. It was a missed opportunity to add to the thousands of flower pictures I already have. But there's always next year.

There are 21 school days left for me. Where the heck did the year go?!

The blog people have changed the method of blogging and I pretty much HATE it. Getting used to the new won't be easy because it makes blogging more difficult.Sometimes new is not always better! This will be my first post under the new format. Here's to hoping it goes right.

I have Easter as well as our Corsicana trip yet to post. I'll get to it soon though. Baby William's entrance into the world may cause a lull in blogging, so just get ready for some down time in the next week. My camera battery's on charge and ready to start snapping away at a moment's notice!

Come on William!

The Texas wedding of Brooke and Ben

Once we arrived in the Kingdom and checked into our hotel, we had a strict timeline to follow. We couldn't be distracted by our lovely surroundings so as not to be late for the chapel.

The view from our rooms.


Billie had time for a short rest.


John stopped swiping rocks from the flower beds long enough to get ready for the wedding. And I'm not even kidding.


Thankfully we made it to the chapel with time to spare, and once we arrived and saw the church, it was obvious a gorgeous wedding was about to happen. And OMG I love a wedding, and this was one of the loveliest I've ever witnessed. The location was breathtaking, as you'll see. Brooke, in her beautiful white frock was gorgeous and the bridesmaids were lovely as well. Unbeknownst to Carrie, she picked the EXACT same color for her wedding attire as the bridesmaid's dresses. But all people in the blue dresses looked fabulous! I just can't say enough about how beautiful it was. I've run out of adjectives trying to tell you, but I think simple elegance was the theme, and if so, then it was spectacularly achieved.

The chapel


Great picture of Melanie and Randy.


We all assembled in plenty of time before the wedding started.


Carrie looked smoking in her blue dress.


John and the wifey.


A boy named Slade. Boy? Make that a man, but I don't know how it happened. Ugh, everyone grew up too fast.


Cute pic of Jeff and the Billie June.


And because I didn't want to get in trouble with the official wedding photographer, I didn't take any photos of the actual wedding. But picture it as lovely as you can imagine. Then it was time to step outside on this perfectly gorgeous day and take many photos of Brooke and Ben and all the beautiful people in the wedding. But once again, since I didn't want to get in the photographer's way, I stood nearby and snapped my pics. Scroll down and you'll see. And I really don't know how I can commentate with new words. It's all gonna be....love, beautiful, adorable....etc, etc, etc....

I love this of Brooke with her 3 nieces. That's Ella, Maddie and Ava.


Adore this and LOVE the sucker....and the little girl.


So cute. I love Ava's head resting on Brooke's lap.


Next one she was waving at a fan who caught her eye.


Can't really take a bad photo at this place. Love this.


The sucker seemed to be the key to a happy 2 year old.


Brooke's bouquet was perfectly beautiful.


Ava was admiring it here.


Love this as well.


Ava had an issue during this family shot.


New brothers and sisters are made by a wedding. Weddings are great like that.


A sassy cat.


Sweet sissies.


Trying to be patient about the many photos being taken.


Then Ava decided to off road it. Children care not how dressed up they are when the time comes to explore.


Beautiful Carmen.


With 2 of her adorable nieces.


A family shot, even though Ava's thinking about drifting off again.


But they corralled her for one more.


Then Ava had a shoe malfunction, but Dad quickly came to the rescue.


This motley crew being herded by the photographer.


Great pic of Brooke and Grandma.


That's one pretty newly married couple with the Gmaw.


Slade after losing the tie.


Love it.


See? I told you. Exact same color. Such a cute pic. More auntie pics with nieces. But this time the nieces are all grown up. Sigh...


Oh my goodness, she's edible here.


Slade with the Gmaw. Love it.


Signs like these were along the road from the chapel to the reception. Soooo cute!


And then there was a "photo booth." Yowsa! I'm looking FANTASTIC here! Becky and Keith look OK too.


Mom and daughters.


Then Slade jumped in and tomfoolery ensued.


Great picture of Uncle Slade with Ella.


Precious picture of Maddie with her skittles in front of a setting sun.


Love this of the girls watching Brooke and Ben's first dance.


But then Ava began to feel the rhythm overtake her.


And she had to get her boogie on.


So sweet.


Ella worked up a sweat dancing!


Great picture of Slade and Mom.


So cute!


Duuuudddeeee.....


So, all I wanted was a picture of Brooke with her aunties. No problem. Right? Wrong! Slade took 3 pictures with my camera, that were OK and Randy had Melanie's camera snapping away all the while saying, "How do I do this? I don't know how. I can't see. How do I focus? Did it work that time? Is there a picture somewhere?" OMG!!! I counted 11 taken by Randy. Most all of them were blurry and ridiculous! I finally chose this one as one of the least terrible. And that's the story of the picture.


Twenty seven married years, 27........


Popping a squat.


Bro and sissy. So cute!


Carmen and Ella were overcome with the giggles.


Love this.


And they walked out to the glow of sparklers.


Love this too.


And this.


More sparkling.


It was as beautiful a wedding as there ever was. I think a wonderful time was had by all. The next day, Melanie, Randy, Grandma, John and I parted ways with Carrie, Becky and Keith as we headed to Louisiana and the three of them back to Dallas. On our way out of the kingdom, we passed over the Brazos River. John had to be restrained, otherwise he would have leapt out of the car and into the water.


Proof positive we were headed home. Naps were required.


The wedding weekend of Brooke and Ben made for a lovely memory. I hope for them the happiest of marriages, with no troubles or worries or disagreements or disappointments or discouragements. Only happiness and wonderful blessings along the way.

But you know, the strangest thing happens in my heart as I watch these people I love the most become grown up and do grown up things. So many emotions mixed together come to the surface. Joy and happiness mixed with the bittersweet which always brings me back to, how did it go so fast? And even though I've never wanted any of you to be frozen in time as children, it still tugs at my heart as you take on adulthood. The older I get, I'm reminded of Gran and Grandma and Mollie and Nina talking about these same things to us. I remember thinking how silly they were to think that growing up happens too fast. Of course it was because I wanted my driver's license and to graduate from high school and college and marriage and babies.... And when it was me wanting all those things, growing up was just that.....growing up. Now, their words ring in my ears every day. But even with the bittersweet, I wouldn't have it any other way.

God bless Brooke and Ben and their family through all the years to come.

I can't wait to see what happens for you next!

Love,
Me