Cafe En Romania!!!

It was a blast.

It was exhausting.

It was a success.

It was a strain.

It was, in short, the thing God used to pull us through the last $700 dollars of fund-raising to victory in making money for Romania!! 

Josie came down to spend Thursday-Sunday with us and be an extra pair of eyes and hands...she was awesome and helpful and so darling.

The rest of you came and spent money and made over $200 at the coffee night!

Others came to the yard-sale the following morning and bought more coffee and spent more money and made another $600+ dollars.

In short, God provided enough and a bit past enough to finish sending Sarah and I and six others to Romania in under two weeks!!! I cannot believe it is coming up so soon. It seems unreal because I have dreamed of this time for the past two years. Two of our team members went early and just got back last Tuesday and came home with such stories as to make me more excited than ever!! 

We rearranged all the furniture, too down all preexisting decorations, and redecorated the house with coffee-shop flair. It look phenomenal when we were finished! 

There was also The Pioneer Woman's Coffee-Cake, which was heaven-come-down.

Thanks to everyone for coming and helping push us through this last hump! It was a really cool fun night even without the fact that we were raising money for Romania. :) Wish many of you who didn't come could have, because it was amazing! :D We will be writing another post about all of our decorations and the fact that they were accomplished without spending a red cent, but for now enjoy this update and again, thanks a million! <3

{{all the kingdom lights shined just for me and you...}}

Matthew and I are graduating later on today....looking back on all 12 grades we've gone through together, this song came to mind, so without further ado, "HAIL THE CONQUERING GRADUATES!!!"! ;)

 

I said remember this moment, in the back of my mind

The time we stood with our shaking hands

The crowds in the stands went wild

We were the Kings and the Queens

And they read off our names

The night you danced like you knew our lives

Would never be the same

You held your head like a hero
On a history book page
It was the end of a decade
But the start of an age

                                 

Long live the walls we crashed through

All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you

I was screaming long live all the magic we made

And bring on all the pretenders

One day, we will be remembered

I said remember this feeling

I passed the pictures around

Of all the years that we stood there

On the side-lines wishing for right now

We are the Kings and the Queens

You traded your baseball cap for a crown

When they gave us our trophies

And we held them up for our town

And the cynics were outraged

Screaming "this is absurd"

Cause for a moment a band of thieves

In ripped up jeans got to rule the world

Long live the walls we crashed through

All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you

I was screaming long live all the magic we made

And bring on all the pretenders

I'm not afraid

Long live all the mountains we moved

I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

I was screaming long live that look on your face

And bring on all the pretenders

One day, we will be remembered

Hold on to spinning around

Confetti falls to the ground

May these memories break our fall

Will you take a moment, promise me this

That you'll stand by me forever

But if God forbid fate should step in

And force us into a goodbye

If you have children some day

When they point to the pictures

Please tell them my name

Tell them how the crowds went wild

Tell them how I hope they shine

Long live the walls we crashed through

I had the time of my life, with you

Long, long live the walls we crashed through

All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you

I was screaming long live all the magic we made

And bring on all the pretenders

I'm not afraid

Singing, long live all the mountains we moved

I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

And long, long live that look on your face

And bring on all the pretenders

One day, we will be remembered

class of 2012.

A Spring to Remember :)

On the "Guess Who" family photo post, our winners were Carrie, Shi of Narnia, Maddie, and Kelsey! Congratulations--large families don't intimidate you.

(That, or you happen to know us really well....*eyes Shi, Maddie, and Kelsey sternly* ;)

Ahhhhh...it's been a great spring. :) I think back on last spring and see my vision crowded by hundreds of pounds of peas and a kindred measure of weeds. It was a good spring, but so busy with garden work that we had no time for anything else.
This year it's been one long, crazy, beautiful whirl of gaiety. Let me count the events...

Mid-April found me (Rachel) going off to the North Carolina mountains to the Maidens of Virtue retreat.

(Kudos to those who spot me in the mass. :)

We had a weekend or two of life's busyness and then the Wedding Marathon started. Daniel, Sarah, and I were down in NC with the Taylors/Hendersons 3 weekends in a row! :) The first weekend was a bridal shower for Anna Henderson-soon-to-be-Taylor. It was gobs of fun.

The Bride pinning the hat on her cowboy. :)

The second weekend was the music rehearsal, plus a movie-night for the girls! :) I was introduced to The Importance of Being Earnest and fell hopelessly in love with the dry wit of the story. :D (a review is forth-coming) I am now forever quoting it:

"Chins are worn very high at present!"

The third weekend was the wedding! The day began with all of us being unconscionably squished in the back seat. Honestly, the picture doesn't do it justice, beyond showing you how unbecoming the position of being squished is to me. I ended up on the front row of the back row, if that is possible. :P

BJ, Matthew, Me, and Abigail

It was a beautiful day with lots of pictures, cake, flowers, and photo-booths. The proper sort of wedding day.

When it was all over we were rather solomon-cross. Having to settle down to regular life after weeks on the lam. We were home last weekend and will be home this weekend, but the Wilson's Annual Memorial Day Picnic is this Monday! Don't tell anyone, but I think I'll make a pie to enter in the contest.  ;) *rushes off singing "Billy-Boy"*

"Can she bake a cherry pie Billy-boy, Billy-boy, can she bake a cherry pie charming Billy?"

It's been a marvelous spring (and the summer bodes to be this busy!) full of "ups and down, Mr. Clennam, ups and downs." ;) There have been high moments and low moments, beautiful days and stormy days, pure, bubbling happiness and cross-patch-draw-the-latch moods. But over all I think it's been a Spring worth remembering. :)

"The Ballet of The Faun" You've got to see this! :P

Question: What do Rachel and Sarah do with a broken pinata, and a camera?
Answer: Well, you will soon see.
Now I have two disclaimers:
1. Daniel needs to come home. Our humor is becoming cheaper than ever. Not so witty. More....like this video! ;) I'm teasing- we are having good times, and we all thought this was pretty funny! :)
2. The singing- I, Rachel, am the star of this film. I did the dancing, and the singing too. You must understand that I was half-choking with laughter and I forgot the tune to some of the last song, so it sounds naturally...funny! So don't take this as a sample of my singing voice PLEASE! :D Sarah did the filming, so she has all the credit for the second half of the title. The stage, by-the-by,was Daisy's milking stand. The lovely green curtain was my blouse. :)

Now sit back, and enjoy this video entitled: "The Ballet of The Faun: Viewed from eye-level with the stage" ;)

Well, there you have our brief masterpiece. Pretty entertaining for a spur-of-the-moment show, don't you agree? :) -Rachel

Bits and Pieces

Have you ever felt that your life is so full of wonderful things that you can't decide which to do first?!?!?! I am feeling that way right now!
I wanted to do a blog post to give ya'll an update
I want to start "The Maiden's Bequest" by George McDonald (courtesy of Marybelle)
I want to watch episode two of "North and South" (Gaskell, not Civil War)
I want to watch episode two of "Cranford"
I want to put away the remainder of my presents from all my very generous friends
I want to write a letter
I need to put my room back in order
So what first? Well, obviously the blog post! :P

Sarah and I had a GREAT time at our combined birthday party!!! (Sarah's b-day is Aug. 6) Thanks to all you people that came, including Abigail, Morgan, Katie, Maddie, Oliver, Elliott, Shi of Narnia, Always Narnian, King's Daughter and sisters, Alaina, and all the others! :) It was great fun! Thanks for putting up with intense reels and Harpers' Ferry in 105 degree weather! (I actually got kinda faint and had to sit out a dance :/ ) And I apologize for all those hard Pictionary clues I made up! :P
(Is "man in a kilt" that hard to guess? ;) It was really fun! :) In case ya'll are wondering why our blog has been kind of slow, it is because we are cutting back to 20 minutes of computer time a day (each) and so it's usually email or blogs, but it is actually nice to have a true limit! :) Nothing like structure! :) Talk to you guys later! I'm off to start my new book! (A Scottish novel with an intriguing title! Bliss! :) -Rachel

6-word descriptions, valentines, and various musings of Rachel (which should be enough for most of ya'll to come see what I've come up with!)

Hey guys! Okay! I will post the 6-word descriptions of two people, and later, when she's around, Sarah will do the other two. Right-O!

Abigail: spunky, dancing, dramatic, giggles, considerate, enouraging

Joanna: my-girl, stylish, SINGING!!!, hugs, smiles, homemaker

There seems to have been a fifth person, but he already described himself. It is none of our business to refute one's own opinion of oneself, but I shall only say, all six things were redundant, and so did not fit the quota of 6 words describing the person.

Okay! So today we got just enough snow to make it nice and silvery-filigree on the trees! I wrote a poem about it, but I'm not sure if anyone cares to read my poems on here. If you do, leave a comment, and I'll tell you about it. Let's see.....

We were supposed to go to an ice-skating party, but bad weather cancelled it. (Boo-hoo-sob-sob. I've never been ice-skating before!!!) But that is alright, because at least we didn't have to be the ones cancelling it. The hostess did herself! I made three valentines today. I can't show pictures of them here, because they are for some of the gals that read this blog and so that....would be no fun at all! :) I will only say that I watercolored them and used hand-crocheted lace I had never found out what to do with after I made it, and had a load of fun! At the top, in case you were wondering, is the picture I watercolored for Alaina's 18th birthday. (The hostess of the aforementioned ice-skating party.) I am in love with the 1800's fashions and life, only I wish that there wasn't the whole industrial-revolution, feminist movement thing! Tell me how you like it! I can see several flaws in the painting, but over all, I think it turned out nicely. We leave for NY on Friday! Yay! The Laundry-fairy has paid for Sarah, Daniel, Matthew and myself to fly up their for 8 days! It is now a yearly tradition. This'll be my 3 time. We feel so rich going through the airports.... ahhhhhhhhhh......*sighs happily*. The first time I was the teensiest bit scared, mostly that I'd be sick. But then when we got to the lay-over in Baltimore, I was wanting to go walk around the airport. They have the best Mexican resteraunt there! Has anyone ever noticed that airport food is pricey? 3 of us shared a latte or something from Starbucks, and it was like 9 dollars!!! Oh! Mama had a brilliant idea the other day! If we start saving our money now, then when Sarah turns 18 (2 and a bit years) then she'll take us two to Prince Edward Island in Canada! I am wild with delight! I know I must get there someday, somehow. If not then, perhaps on my honeymoon? Or if not then maybe for my 50th wedding anniversery? And if not then..... this sounds like that segment on UP when they keep breaking that money jar doesn't it? And I'm sure it's really boring to read!

Oh! At Matthew's surprise party last night we did skits, and I played a part I'll never live down.

WAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!!!!!!

Okay! Talk to you all later! -Rachel

p.s. Matthew may post videos of it so stay tuned!

Later:

Alright! This is Sarah and I'm doing Kelsey and Matthew's 6 words thingy.

Matthew: good-friend, athletic, fun, sincere, responsible, my-cousin :)

Kelsey: friendly, funny, giggles, creative, tall, energetic

Okay, there you go! I hope I did them well. I don't know Kelsey very well but I did my best!:)

-Sarah