And they lived happily ever after...

 

We were so honored to be included in the celebrations for this special day.  The glue that holds SITAG together must be that our colleagues become our adopted family members, and we've gotten to celebrate weddings with two different SITAG families just this year.  Here is our bursting-full-of-joy day summed up in pictures...

 

Two linguists who also have servant hearts

When you see your beautiful sister begin to come down the aisle...

The "baby-whisperers"

And iced coffee bar at the reception?  Oh, yeah!

 

SITAG family, past and present

Getting Ready...

 

Our job this weekend was to help out with wedding prep as much as we possibly could.

 

 

We love this sweet crew like they were our own flesh and blood.

 

 

What a joy to watch the generations mingle and play together.

 

Then we got serious about the work.  After all, the wedding was in less than twenty-four hours and we had lots of food to wash and chop and prepare!



 

Once again, all ages and stages worked together to help the celebration run smoothly.

 

Some people worked in the kitchen,

 

 

and some worked on other projects

 

 

(like spray painting frames,

 

 

cleaning the glass,

 

 

and putting pictures inside).

 

 

Amidst the long lists of things to do,

 

 

a sweet spirit of God's gift of family pervaded the whole house.

Then again, the house had twelve kids ages twelve and under...

 

which lent a spirit of joy

 

 

and a little bit of chaos to the atmosphere!



Remember the Alamo

 

We're in San Antonio for a wedding this weekend, and since we had a free morning, the Alamo fascinated us for several hours.

 

 

What an amazing piece of history.  I know my husband would have been on the front line, defending all of us inside if we had been living then. 

 

 

And yes, I lost it for a few minutes on Aaron's shoulder when I allowed myself to think about what a brave man he is and how well he takes care of our family.

 

 

Katherine brought a smile to my face, though, when we perused the gift shop and found the "coonskin" caps!

Happy birthday, Nahna!

 

Last night, we got to celebrate with Aaron's mom.  It's still such a treat to be close to family and be able to celebrate special days together!  I hope I never get used to the joy of family and friends living nearby.



Because Aaron's mom strives to be gluten-free, we (okay, you all know it was really Sarah who made the birthday cake) tried a new recipe, "Deep, Dark Flourless Chocolate Cake", from one of our favorite cookbooks, the "Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook".  I'm so glad Nahna is gluten-free because this cake is fabulous and will be on our table again.

 

 

The weather cooperated beautifully for the 13th of August.  A little touch of fall was in the air with a nice breeze and lower humidity. The weather (high of 90 and low of 66!) was a lovely gift for a lovely lady, and we enjoyed eating supper outside.

 

 

 Olivia trounced us all soundly in a birthday game of golf.  I don't think she realized she was supposed to let the birthday girl win.