First Sleep-over

On Friday, we decided to try letting MG have a friend spend the night. She has been asking to have a sleep-over with our neighbor for a few weeks, and I figured the distance between our houses would allow an easy bail-out if her friend missed her mom and wanted to go home. I'm not sure what sleep-over really meant in MG's mind, but she knew it was something she wanted to participate in. Honestly, she has really begun showing some maturity (for a kindergartner), so I figured that it was okay to start the fun of sleep-overs. We went to get pizza with "the college students," and then came home in time for the girls to have a few minutes to play and then go to bed. Everything was great until I said goodnight and turned off the light. Our friend was almost immediately asleep, and my daughter (who was sleeping in her own bed at her own house!) began to sob uncontrollably. She kept saying that she wasn't "old enough to have a sleep-over." I was torn with how to handle the situation. Was I supposed to wake up her emotionally stable friend to take her home because MG couldn't handle a sleep-over at her own house? It was definitely an unexpected twist. So, MG went to our room to cry and fall asleep and was then transferred into her own bed when we were ready to sleep. There were no problems until I was awakened at 6am by MG's sweet (but bawling) face in my face with her chorus of "I'm just not old enough for sleep-overs, Mommy." If I had been more awake, I think I could've laughed for a long time, but at the time, laughter was not what came out of my mouth. I truly do cherish these precious times of life with MG, but maybe we'll wait a little while to try our next sleep-over.
A few pictures of the happy time before bedtime---

More wedding pictures

I'm still working on getting pictures of the bride and the groom, but I couldn't resist posting these pictures of our new friend, Jack, and MG. They look like quite the couple.





And one of the three sisters--

Sara is married!

We just had a fantastic weekend in the mountains celebrating Sara's wedding. Although it was a little surreal watching my littlest sister get married, Chuck and Sara's marriage was so clearly right and orchestrated by God. Sara looked beautiful wearing the same dress that my mom, my sister, and I wore. The service was very worshipful, led by Sara's pastor, a dear friend of ours, and the reception was lovely and as Sara stated, "exactly what she would have dreamed of wanting" for her wedding. MG was a wonderful flower girl and made a new friend in her ring-bearer cohort. The two spent the entire weekend together, most of the time at a very high gear, laughing and in their own little world. Sara and Chuck are now off to Maui--not a bad way to start their life together!

I have a couple pictures from the beginning of the weekend with more to come soon.

At the bridesmaids' luncheon--Sara's luncheon was held at the house where we grew up vacationing every summer. We have many pictures on this same hammock of the three sisters. It was such a special place to gather!
The bridal party--

On a more somber note, one of Sara's best friends who has been sick for a little over a year, died last Friday evening. She was very much on our minds this weekend as she was one of Sara's bridesmaids, even though she was not present. Please pray for her family as they mourn her death and celebrate a beautiful life lived.