Emily & Murray's Wedding

My sweet friend Emily got married on July 2nd!  It was such a special time for me to be with her beforehand as she prepared for this day and on the day as she started this new part of her life with Murray.  After many years of talking about this day and praying for who God would bring into her life, it was hard to hold back the tears as I watched her walk down the aisle so radiant and beautiful on her wedding day.  Congratulations & many blessings to Emily & Murray!

Now for the fun part...sharing the pictures!  Although I've included quite a few, I cannot tell you how much time I have spent sorting through all the shots to determine the best ones to share.  What a task for someone who cannot even delete blurry shots that I've taken!  Here goes with a nice "sampling" from Emily's events...  

Some highlights... 

The Rehearsal & Dinner

Kristen, Emily, & Nikki

A beautiful bride-to-be and 2 friends who look great after just recently having babies! It was so great to see friends (like Kristen & Nikki!) from college who I haven't seen much since those days.   

The big day...getting our hair done...

Loved the flower!



Getting ready...

Reminiscent of old college days doing each other's hair :)

All eyes were fixed on Emily as she finally put on her dress. It was so perfect for her!

A stunning bride!

All ready to go...

Reception at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel...

All the UVA girls with Murray & Emily

Joseph & Kristen with their sweet little guy, Maddox

Delicious cake!
I can now understand how it was actually possible for Emily to not have Ukrop's wedding cake because this one was so good. I splurged and gave up on my gluten-free diet to enjoy this tasty cake!

My old roomie, Nikki, & her husband, Sebastian, with their 3rd little one (Analeigh)

The new Mr. & Mrs Rodes!

Light

Psalm 27:1 - "The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?"

Psalm 119:105 - "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Matthew 5:14 - "You are the light of the world."

John 8:12 - "...I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life."

There's just something about being on the water.  God's beautiful creation loudly declares His glory (Psalm 19:1) when I'm spending time on the river.  This beautiful sunset on a random Friday evening was no exception.  It was an encouraging reminder that no matter how dark the path is that we are walking, the Lord's light can dispel it all.

Duck Tales - Take 2

Much to our surprise, a neighbor had recently discovered Daisy (Mama Duck...pictured above) sitting on a(nother!) nest in a new spot in the wooded area of my parents' backyard.  As of Thursday a week ago, we now have 5 more baby ducks.  I must admit that having them running around is quite fun & entertaining.  It's also nice to have round 2 since the other 4 babies from the spring do not come around all that much.  These ducklings are adorable little fluff balls.  It's amazing how quickly we get attached. 

I was upstairs in the house late last Sunday evening and could hear loud quacking outside.  This is very unusual for that time of night so I suspected that something may be wrong.  I ran out in my pjs :) to check on them and was disturbed to find Daisy out of the pen and the babies well on their way.  Not feeling brave enough to tackle this on my own, I ran in to get Mom, of course.  When we got back outside, Daisy and 4 babies were already running in the yard and 1 was stuck in the fencing by its neck.  Ahhh!  Mom & I freaked out.  (This is of concern because the babies would quickly get eaten by other animals/snakes/turtles, etc if they weren't protected until they're a bit bigger.)  For those who do not know this side of my Mom, she's not exactly an animal person.  But you never would have known it by how she rescued those wild ducks.  She untangled the baby and picked up (!) the rest to put them in the pen all while trying to avoid the very distraught Daisy duck.  I think we were laughing and screaming at the same time.  I'm sure it was a sight!

With this second hatching of the summer, I'm sorry to say that my duck ramblings are not quite over... :)   

The Kind of Class I Like to Take...

I remember feeling the greatest sense of relief as I finished my last exam at the University of Virginia back in May of 2002 (almost 10 years ago...yikes!).  I thought to myself, "If I never have to take another exam for the rest of my life, I would be absolutely, positively fine with that."  I figured that this perspective could change as the memories of the pain from those classes/exams faded over time, but I really have had no desire to go back to school in any form or fashion.  I finally bit the bullet and recently signed up for a class. 

Ok...let me be completely honest, this Basic Camera Skills class that I recently enrolled in doesn't really count as a bona fide "class", but it still was a big step for me nonetheless.

So...I started this week at a local arts center that offers adult art classes.  I am super excited to finally learn (I hope!) some of the basic functions of my camera.  With all the photos I have been taking recently, I have been growing increasingly frustrated with my lack of knowledge of all that my camera can do. 

I left the first class feeling good about the instructor and the 7 other students with whom I will be spending the next 6 weeks.  Our argentinian instructor was already making fun of me by the end of the night because of the number of photos I take so I think it will be an entertaining experience. :)

924

What does this picture below mean?

...that 2 of my dear friends just got married and I was honored to be in both of their weddings!  The past few weeks have been an absolute (FUN!) whirlwind. Emily's wedding was 2 weeks ago, Cheryl's was last weekend, I squeezed in a boat trip in between, and then I just returned today from a full week of watching 3 kids in Leesburg (for a family that I nannied for right out of college almost 9 years ago). The title of this post indicates the number of photos I have taken in the last 18 days.  Whoa!  I will hopefully begin to dig in and sort through the gobs soon so that I can post about all of the exciting things that have been going on recently.