After taking more than a month off I'm back at it. Most mornings, instead of blogging, I was writing the talk for OCHEC. It took me longer than usual because I had so much to say and I wanted it to come across as good as possible. I fully credit the training I got in the Classical Conversations classes for helping me to fine tune it. I wrote everything in light of how I had been teaching the kids to write their essays. I think that is so great! I'm so glad I didn't say no to doing the talk despite the obvious conflict in schedule - hosting a bridal shower as well on the same day....AND my niece showed up the week of unbeknownst to my daughters - we packed in a full weekend that is for sure. It all went so well and I loved every minute of it. As my husband put it, "It was the best Paula day ever!" For sure....
I get to do the same talk in a couple of weeks and I can't wait. There are also 2 more showers to go to and that'll be easy as I'm not hosting. I just get to sit back and enjoy. Our CC classes are now over, too, so I'm just going to finish off math, some memorizing, some printing, some gardening and the vines, of course. My house is cleaner than it's ever been (and decorated, which I'm leaving up for the whole wedding vibe!), so I don't even have to do that, so I'm happy. I feel I can just sit back and enjoy the whole last month before my daughter gets married.
I had so many people praying for me the last few weeks. I had no idea how I was going to do it all, pay for it all, decorate my old and rundown house, prep for the talk, homeschool my kids....there was a day there when I was certain it would all be a disaster. I quickly sent out a prayer request marco to my family and I had people praying whenever anyone texted - I would say PRAY! Within seconds of sending the polo a genius idea came to me to ask a friend of mind to help. I had just been at her house cleaning as she was listing her place and called on a bunch of us to help. I had no time to go, I don't love cleaning, but I felt it was the right thing to do, so off I went. So when I reached out to her she didn't mind at all as I had literally just been helping her! Love the sisterhood thing! Her house has a similar rustic decor scheme as mine and she also has an uncanny ability to see things I can't see in terms of set up, etc. So she and I moved everything around so the flow would work for the shower. She even moved things I've hated looking at for years like the giant aquarium and gecko cage that have made my house look so junky with all the wires. She said, "Can we move this?" Next thing you know, gone. I was so happy! I'm keeping my place less cluttered for sure. I'm loving it.
I had also reached out to another super amazing decorating friend who makes everything look incredible at all our homeschool graduations. She turns ugly church gyms into amazingly decorated facilities with such simple ideas that transform the whole room. I begged her to help me, but she was away, but she agreed to chat with me on the phone. She helped me think about stations and doing little touches that I loved. Her most helpful advice was when I asked her point blank, "How do I get over my pride? How do I stop worrying about my ugly floors? How do I stop feeling embarrassed about my worn out couches? My unpainted walls?" She said, "Stop right there. You are listening to lies (I knew this, but needed to hear it). If people notice it they'll see it's good that you don't go ahead and renovate until you have the money, that you are frugal and wise." Wow. She helped remind me that I was worrying over nothing of course and I knew it, but was glad for the reminder. She promised to pray.
The week before I was walking around the barn with RM and we were cleaning a few things up when he pointed out some landscape netting that I hadn't known we still had. It was white and unused and was basically just like tulle but FREE and was EXACTLY what I was looking for. I couldn't believe it. I went NUTS with it, ALL over the house. Then, right around that time I got this idea online for setting up "vignettes" of things, like old books, or wine crates, etc., all around the house. That was when I thought I'll use all my wedding paraphernalia! I had my dress, my veil, my bridesmaid dress, my krinolin,....it was perfect! I had a corner for each item and it all looked soooo good! Then I put the netting literally everywhere, with fairy lights also everywhere, added some balloons and it looked amazing! I borrowed chairs, mugs and glasses from another classical conversations friend who had tons because they bought a church and turned it into a house! They have all the old church dishes and chairs - so great! When people walked in they didn't see the unpainted walls and unfinished floors, they just saw a beautifully decorated room that screamed WEDDING! I was so happy with how it all turned out. It was just perfect and it felt like God was with me all day, all week, giving me idea after idea. The food really stressed me out. I wanted to cater it, but found out it was going to be over $1000. But then these ideas kept popping into my head - egg casserole, cinnamon buns, yogurt parfaits, fruit kebobs, meat and cheese platter and that was it! I could make all of that ahead of time, freeze and it would literally be finished the week before. So that's what I did - it worked out so great. I ordered fruit kebobs because that was the same price as making it myself and they turned out so great. I didn't have to make anything the morning of, the girls just had to put it all together and my sister coordinated it all by being here early. It was an AWESOME coordinated effort! I felt the whole day was just blessed by God right down to the words spoken to my daughter by our good friend - so incredible. Extra cash showed up with some hay sales and that helped pay for last minute stuff - cool! Does God care about bridal showers? Maybe not, but He cares about me and He showed up and showed up and showed up.
As I looked around the room that day I was in awe of how we had a new church family. I didn't think that would ever happen again. I had people in the room who I never thought would be in my house, but they were there. God even has my daughter marrying one of the pastors at our church so that has hilariously helped us be involved more than we ever would have on our own. I think that proves God has a sense of humour. I just know we needed a kick start to get more involved and He has helped us in such a unique way! I'M SO GRATEFUL. My niece even got to sing at youth this past week with my daughter - so incredible!!
The weekend ended off perfectly with one final Mother's Day brunch at the golf club where we ate till our faces were full and then hung out for a nice long time on the patio. So great. My son then went off with RM to get his new BMW (well, not new, but new to him and he loves it!). It was a nice low key day. What a weekend to remember. I guess it's good that those kinds of weekends aren't every weekend, though I would secretly love it. However, being only 4 weeks away, every weekend is spoken for, so for now every weekend IS kind of like this. After June 10 life will calm down. Well, who am I kidding, it probably won't.
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