Finally and at last!

THE wedding of the year has come and gone and I have not written or posted anything of this event so long on the making.  Consequently, I have not written any other news as well. However, I know that almost everyone who reads my blog has also seen my photos and comments on ORKUT and/or FACEBOOK. In addition, it was a day so full of sentiments and emotions I have not wanted to write out everything. So I have made an executive decision to write just some comments and add some photos and then move on!

If you want to see some of the official photos of the wedding, you should visit the photographer’s site here. The photos are just gorgeous as was the wedding. No wedding is ever 100% perfect, of course, but Elly’s wedding was wonderful and beautiful. Basically everything went as it should! I have never    seen such a beautiful bride. She really did look like she stepped out of a magazine. It was also a totally new experience for me to have a hairdresser and makeup artist come to my house and “fix me up”. I felt like a movie star, myself. I felt so very honored and surprised that Elly asked me to walk in as her step-mother. I didn’t expect that, and it meant more than you can imagine! Throughout all of her planning, Elly always tried to think of others. I was glad she enjoyed her wedding so much, since she worked so hard to keep so many people happy.

Before, during and after, we were so flooded with emotions. I remembered so many things. I recalled the day we tried on wedding dresses. And the day I arrived with the dress from the US and Elly jumped up and down with joy. But reaching even further back, I remembered so many other events.

When Elly and Bernardo returned from their honeymoon in Bariloche, Argentina, we picked them up at the airport. And there they were… an “old” married couple. It’s hard to believe, that after so long thinking about the wedding, that it has already happened and they are now enjoying being newlyweds.

And so life returns so normal? Well, not exactly, for our family was still here at the house for a few more days and we enjoyed their company. As soon as they left, I had to get totally back to business finishing writing the VBS. I worked literally day and night for about 8 or 9 days and finally was able to turn in the whole shootin’ match by the first week of May. What a relief to be out from under that pressure. I am starting to feel like a real person again.

Back to the real world again, I have been investing in my workouts at the gym. Today I had an evaluation and I am doing well! I am now doing a whole new “routine” on new machines and all, so I figure I’ll be sore again for a while! I have had to buy all new workout clothes (makes me real sad) as my old ones were falling off of me. I have conceded to Brazilian fashion and am wearing skin tight pants (that’s all I can find) and somewhat less tight tops, although it’s hard to find anything to really fit my large size 14 frame, here in Brazil where skinny reigns(for example Elly bought a size 4 wedding dress and had to take it in dramatically for it to be small enough). 

Sunday past, was Mother’s Day and as you know not always the easiest day of the year for me. I did okay this year. First of all, I had the wonderful memory of being allowed to participate in Elly’s wedding. In the second place, Sissy bought me beautiful tulips that meant SO much more than you can imagine. In the third place, we had great worship services at church. In the morning, the children’s recorder choir played for us. That was so sweet.  In the evening, the new group in our church, “Friendly Hands”, performed for us. This group has learned Brazilian sign language to begin a ministry with the auditory challenged. We have already seen fruit, as one person in the group has been baptized. 

Now you are slightly caught up with me and having done that, now I am free to write more often, with shorter entries. I hope I am disciplined enough to do so.