wedding pics

Here are pics from Lindy's wedding Friday night. I am home now and still trying to recover and catch up on my sleep... :) It was a good and crazy week.

This was right before he saw her for the first time. She already started crying.
The groomsmen...and yes, they did hold the bats in the wedding!!


My cute little brother and sister
The fam

They're married!

We made it! I have millions of pictures on my camera and I will post a couple in the next few days. :) This is my little sister Lindy and her husband as of last night Nate. We all came home and crashed and they are off to Palm Springs today.

the haps at the homestead

I had more pictures to share but blogger's having trouble with uploading so it will have to wait. For now I will just have to TELL you about the moving, shopping, cleaning, purchasing, houseguests, sewing, reminiscing, picking up, dropping off, making do and stressing out (hey--that last one is just everybody but me). :)

The wedding is tomorrow and I think we're ready! Some fun things from the week... (couldn't upload the pic of Lindy and Nate in their new apartment, or the sign my mom put on one of the bathroom doors since last weekend "CLOSED - for Tuesday guests", or this house that I have grown up in that will no longer be ours next time I'm here!! For a future post...)

Travis' new truck...
Mariners game with Mom...

"This blows" -Travis


Rehearsal dinner...

The boys got baseball bats for their groomsman gifts. I fear that they are actually going to hold them in the wedding...for real.

Dad and Lindy

Lindy's "last hurrah"

What is the point of a bachelorette party anyway? I guess if you follow Jesus it's not quite like it was intended. We are all fine with that...we get tired at 10 pm every night anyway. :) Though for some reason I'm still up right now posting on here.

(Practicing her best wedding smile) :)

Finish a Triathlon - CHECK!

Rise and shine! Sunrise…



Picking up our first passenger at 5:20 am – bright eyed and bushy tailed



Noah and Janell sporting their fan club attire! “We have to put on our uniforms!” they announced, and took off their jackets at the same time. :)



Setting up the transition area…






All smiles before the start!



My end of the transition area. There were 700-800 competitors total, so it was a pretty big area.



Down to the beach to the start line!



Why am I doing this again???






I’m the one in the pink cap



And they’re off! I was the 5th wave, out of 7. The swim was about eight times longer than I thought it should be!! The farthest I have swam in open water and it was a little tough for me. But I made it in 26 minutes, about what I was expecting (and that is exactly TWICE as long as the winner’s swim time! Sheesh.)






Out of the wet rash guard, into my shirt with my number on it...quick! I was not so quick with this transition...5 minutes :) (The next was less than 2)



You must WALK your bike in the transition area...






Popping a warm, gelatinous energy block...and off to run!



The running was harder than I expected...mostly because it was nearly 90 degrees by this time and there was very little shade. I was still under a 10 min. mile but a lot slower than I think I would have been otherwise. But I finished the whole thing at 2 hours and 3 minutes, 12 minutes faster than my goal!!



In an exciting turn of events, the camera died literally 10 seconds before I crossed the finish line. I was about a hundred yards away, they could see me! I won't share my initial reaction; instead, here's a picture of this random person finishing instead!!! argh...



We did manage to take some with the camera phone, after the fact :) I think I finished in 291st place--woo hoo! :)






Thanks again to my fans... ;)

yay 495!

That's my number for my triathlon tomorrow (along with my hot pink swim cap for wave #5)! I went to the expo and material pick up today. At one of the clinics a lady spoke who has finished 16 Iron Man races. Is that insanity? Can she have children??? Anyway. I got some official "open water goggles" which takes away a lot of my worry for the swim (mine are kind of leaky lately) and it was cool to hang with a lot of the women who will be competing. They are big on having fun and finishing rather than being professional and beating people. A lot of cancer survivors and many relay teams racing in support of that. I think it will be a fun day. It broke 100 degrees up there today; our race starts at 6:45am (in the 5th wave I'll probably start between 7:10-7:20). It will already be well past 70 at that time. After months of wishing it was even an hour later, now I'm glad it's so early. Stay tuned!

on account of the wickedness of these nations...

The earthquake this last weekend in Indonesia and all the other events in that part of the world lately have continued my thinking on the topic of God’s judgment … after the tsunamis in December 2004, a professor pointed out that the majority of people who died were children, and he made the suggestion that perhaps this was God’s mercy, saving them from a life in Islam, Hinduism, or another pagan religion. Some recent discussions in a theology class coupled with these events have inspired much contemplation and many discussions.

Is it possible that all of these events (earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.) have happened in predominantly Muslim countries as a result of the sinfulness of that religion and the power it holds over the countries and cultures? God’s judgment on sinful nations is evident throughout the Old Testament. God waits for man to turn to him in his longsuffering grace, until the possibility of him turning back is exhausted (Genesis 15:16 – “the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure”) and it is time to deal with him (Deut 9:4 – “it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you”). Before the flood God saw the wickedness and rebellion of the people on earth and exercised his judgment with that flood (Gen 6); he poured out his wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah because of their corruption and sin (Gen 18-19).

Is it possible that the sin of these nations and these religions has begun to “reach its full measure”?

Of course the United States is guilty of tremendous sin, corruption, and rebellion as well; yet a friend brought up New Orleans and hurricane Katrina, and the palpable immorality and evil of that city. Perhaps we should be expectant of more such “judgment,” and be praying more for our country, cities, and leaders, and for God’s mercy??