When she was growing up Mandie was surrounded by wedding dresses and loved all the glass beads that I sewed on lace on the bodices, so it was a forgone conclusion that her dress should be covered with twinkles! But the thought of hours of sewing on beads, along with knitting for the expected grandchild and writing sermons, was just too much. So we took the easier option, although more expensive, of buying beaded lace with duchess silk satin underneath. The dress stays in place with an inbuilt corset! And of course it had to have matching buttons down the back. A matching bag was made, lace motifs were put on her shoes and a band to cover her tatoo!
Her brother drove her to the registry office and managed to calm her down when to tears flowed from the excitement of the day. She and Dave have been together for nine years although they have been officially engaged for just six months.
Her friend from schooldays made the cake with icing motifs made to match the lace of the dress.
Like most brides and grooms they were surrounded by their friends and families, but for Mandie it was made extra special as her 'real' Mum was there as well!
After the civil ceremony we went into the park where I was able to give a Blessing.
Then to the pub where we had an upper room with a large balcony so that we could enjoy the celebrations, meeting new members of the family and the sunshine.
The photos are thanks to my brother became the official photographer for the day and gave me a DVD with 414 photos as I left the celebrations!
The happy couple are now enjoying a couple of days by the seaside thanks to her bonus for being with the bank for ten years!
Congratulations Mr and Mrs Stagg may you have many happy years together. God Bless you both.
There is a series on the tele about our first nine months of life spent in the womb and the impact it has on our later life. This is something that I have been aware of for many years especially when there is discussion over nature v. nurture - what about the nine months in between?
I know that I am one of those fortunate people to have been born after the second world war - born any earlier and I would not have lived so long - most probably dying as a child. Thank you to those who found penicillin!
The most recent programme looks at how low birthweight can lead to diabetes and heart disease, rather than being obese! Such a relief when even the diabetic association talks about diets for type 2 diabetics!
I was not a premature baby - quite the opposite! I was due on 11th January but my birthday is 4th March! Only one nurse believed my Mum that she was very overdue, saying that I had been wasting away in the womb - I was 5lb something at birth; my Grandpop describing me as a skinned rabbit!
And yes, I was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic in my early 40's, have high cholesterol and now my blood pressure is playing up, while I am not obese and my weight has been pretty stable for the last few decades.
I put my diabetes down to stress, but now it seems it is just one of those things!
Since I was old enough to tidy my bedroom I have had an aversion to housework. For the first twenty five years of married life, there was always some major work being carried out on the house so that lack of housework was never noticed except when mother-in-law came to stay and having been in the house for no longer than ten minutes asked if she may have a duster - but I didn't have any clean dusters!
I have delivered Mandie's wedding dress, my outfit is complete, yesterday's service is behind me and I have three spare days with nothing that I have to do - a rarity!
So this morning, I have loaded the washing machine five times - a big thank you to whoever invented automatic washing machines, cleaned down the worktops and the kettle and then washed and polished the car! This afternoon it is feet up with knitting of a blanket for the expected grandboy. I may not like housework, but the place looks good. I wonder what tomorrow holds and if there will be another blue moon!
It's a while since I've been here, it is not that nothing has happened more a case of too much happening!
I've been putting the finishing touches to Mandie's wedding dress to be delivered this week, finishing my own outfit, knitting baby clothes for the eldest son's expected, decorating the bathroom as well as taking Sunday services, a funeral service and a service of prayer for healing this afternoon. I do love variety!
While we were on holiday - wow it is over a month ago - I read 'The Horse Boy' ready for our next meeting of the book club. It followed the travels of an autistic boy with his parents to Mongolia in search of healing. The shamans dressed up and made quite a drama often eating and drinking weird concoctions with the parents as well as the boy!
This was in great contrast to the sessions I had with my friend Gretchen who has the gift of healing with gentle touch; sometimes this was done in silence whist at other times we chatted, putting the world to rights with laughter!
In our service today, there were times when we prayed out loud mentioning those who had asked for our prayers, and then with soft music playing, folk would come forward for prayer for themselves or those to whom they were close while others prayed silently.
Next week I go to croydon to deliver Mandie's dress. It was only a few weeks ago that I drove around Reeves Corner, surprised that the furniture shop was still there; an independent store is rare these days - I remembered it from my childhood - a beautiful building, very old and in stark contrast to the concrete skyscrapers in Croydon. Prayers were said for all those involved in the aftermath of the riots.
For many years I have lived on the edge of towns or villages and it has suited me well. I remember, many, many years ago doing an 'Introduction to Counselling' course with about twenty others and one of our exercises was to stand in a hall where we felt comfortable. My friend stood at the front facing the rest of us - well, she was the minister! while I stood towards the back, at the edge, near a door - for a quick escape!
And now we are living in the middle of an estate; we tried to buy a house on the edge, but it was this house, bang in the middle that we eventually bought, and in church I'm the one out the front facing everyone else!
This week has been quite hectic with a 'Village Women' meeting, a 'Coffee Morning' lunch and a 'Book Club' get together and at those gatherings, I'm still very happy to be sitting at the edge, listening to the conversations. It is the first time that I have attended so many social events and I considered it to be part of my role as minister to go and hopefully break down some of the barriers to church going. When the 'Coffee Morning' goes out to lunch in the local pub or hotel, I am asked to say grace and always give thanks for the fact that someone else is going to do the washing up! Hopefully folk will realise that church too, is relevant to their lives, and far from being dull and dreary is quite good fun with lots of laughs.
We had our annual church meeting last Saturday morning; our only church meeting in the year. It was like that when I became the minister and I see no reason to change it. The meeting started with coffee and home-made biscuits and lasted just over the hour! such a change from churches I have been part of in the past where the monthly meeting would go on far past my bedtime!
Questions were asked about the donation to the local 'Churches Together' in our local town which is six miles away - we really feel out of it and don't seem to have much in common with the larger in-town churches.
Meanwhile, we are part of a Rural Churches Group and hold joint services and celebrations and swap pulpits throughout the year.
Each Tuesday evening one very small (numerically) chapel is hosting the Baptist Union six week course for small churches. We start with tea and coffee with home-made cakes! and so far (just two weeks in) it has been an excellent opportunity to recognise the benefits of being a small church as well as trying to see the needs of the locality.
Small churches in a town can be very different to those in rural areas. The little chapel last night is in farm land where the local population has shrunk to about 10% of what it was a hundred years ago - farming then was labour intensive.
There may not be the people around locally who have needs which the chapel can try to fulfill but holding the course stimulates those from the other chapels who may be able to help folk in their villages.
I believe that God brings together certain people at certain times to do certain jobs. And we have to be open ready for change and upheaval - not easy but I also believe that God gives us everything we need to carry out his work.
I was recently treated to a new bike with much lower gears to enable me to cycle up hills instead of getting off. A cycle rack was purchased and off we went on holiday with bikes.
We had planned a few days in the Lakes so that we could visit our friend who has the gift of healing by gentle touch. In March, my session with her brought a wonderful stillness to my body so I was hoping that several sessions would make a lasting improvement.
On our first morning, we got on our bikes but I managed to throw myself off after only 20 minutes and landed on my knee - so in my three sessions with Gretchen she concentrated on my knee and other bits of my body that had been shaken.
We went to North Wales for the second half of our holidays and had booked into a farm. Unfortunately, the web-site made no mention of the fact that they also ran boarding kennels and we were greeted by barking dogs and we like a quiet life! And as they also had dogs in the house we were also greeted by the smell of dogs as we entered and I started wheezing. We made a hasty exit and then started to look for other accommodation and ended up in a seaside hotel.
We had never had a seaside holiday before having always headed for the hills, but we enjoyed the coastal walk, a cycle ride, fish and chips on the beach, eating ice creams and 'people watching' from the rocks.
The weather was sunny which had not been forecast and we enjoyed our unexpected holiday.
