Visiting My Parents and Sisters--and Near Miss of Head-on Collision

On the way to the wedding, we spent the night at my sister Joella's home in Missouri,

and were able to visit with my parents who live near them.

Craig, Joella's husband was busy finishing the siding on this section of the front of the house, and Jonathan lent a hand on this top piece. 

Craig is always busy improving every place that they live in.

 And of course, his girls are adept at making delightful bouquets of wildflowers.
In fact, the family has planted quite a bit of garden with flowers to cut and sell at a roadside stand that they hope to set up this summer.
I LOVE that idea!

Hannah had learned to knit (from her sister Rose kindly teaching her)
and she gave Grandma Morley one of her knitted dishcloths!
Of course, Grandma was delighted, as she always is with anything homemade that her grandchildren do on their own.

At the wedding, we took turns holding Gabriel's youngest boy.

And then on the way home from the wedding, we stopped at my sister Kezia's home in Illinois on Memorial Day.

So we got to see her newest little baby, her fourth, Josiah.

Joella's family had come up for a couple days for piano lessons and the holiday,
and so we three families enjoyed the afternoon together.
Danny and Joella's Ethan found some baby birds.

We ladies minded the little ones and made meals in Kezia's spacious kitchen.

After the little girls had succeeded in making a royal mess with paints in the basement,
and were duly expected to clean it up with the help of older girls,
I got them busy husking corn we'd bought to contribute to Memorial Day.
They thought that was fabulous--and succeeded in making another royal mess with husks and silks!

After that, we loaded the girls up and Kezia and I took them down the road to the Jackman farm
where Sam had been riding in the tractor during the afternoon with Grandpa Jackman, planting the fields, and the younger boys had been fishing most of the afternoon with Jonathan and Grandma Jackman at their pond.

They were so excited to have caught 50 or 60 fish in just a couple hours!

They had such a ball!!
And dear Grandma Jackman, who finds it hard to get around, had an equally good time going with them and enjoying the fun!

That evening we left after supper to try to get through St. Louis before we stopped for the night. On our way on those Illinois two-lane roads, Jonathan decided to take a short break and let Sam drive for half an hour till we reached the interstate. The roads were narrow and there was no shoulder and by now it was dark. I said that I may as well drive myself, since I would be sitting in the co-pilot seat nervous the whole time. So Jonathan said okay, and I started driving. About 10 minutes down the road, I saw the lights of a semi coming at us.

Now me, I have a policy that on two-lane roads when a semi is coming at me, I slow down and move over as close to the side of the road as I can get without going off the edge. So that is precisely what I did. I only had a short time to slow down, and the road was very  narrow. That brightly lighted semi just came barreling along at high speed.  I slowed down and inched over, and just as the semi came up to us, I saw that its wheels were over the line into our lane!!  I did not have any time at all to react. It was providential that I had this personal policy in place ahead of time,  because I believe that if I hadn't slowed down and moved clear over, we may easily have had a head on collision. Jonathan was in the seat behind, and he saw what I saw--the semi over the line! I believe we missed each other by inches, if not by hairs.

 

 I was soooo thankful that I was driving and not Sam or Jonathan either one as they don't tend to be as cautious as I am. And Sam isn't experienced with this motor home, although he has driven several hours on this trip and has driven trucks and trailers and now even fire trucks! I just praise God for His hand over us and His special providences that protect us.

Jed's Wedding Candids--And a Song to Pass On to the Next Generation

At Jed and Rosalie's rehearsal dinner, the theme was "M & M's," based on a Morley marrying a Meadows.

At Jed's request, homemade waffles were served with all sorts of toppings, as pictured above, including two jugs of West Virginia maple syrup which the Meadows had boiled down themselves and contributed.

Girl cousins (including --LtoR-- Natasha, our Crystal, and Candace) helped Anita with the job of making the waffles.

Crystal checking to see if a waffle is done.

I beat up egg whites for the waffles.

Here was a delightful dish of berry sauce to go with the enormous piles of waffles.

Debbie Willinson (on left)  had made the wedding cake.
I believe it was her third wedding to make cakes for.
She had done the cake for an Amish wedding recently.

To my amazement, when talking with Debbie's mother and father, I found out that her mother, Becky, was one of my fellow students at Penn View when I was there as a girl 31 years ago.
And her father, Joel, had been part of a little group that came to Ukraine while I was teaching as a single girl, and I had the group for evening dinner.

So it was a delight to see Becky Willinson (below left) with her husband and family of one son and five sweet daughters from Maryland.

My brother Elon, who officiated the wedding, prefaced his wedding message by saying how he had tried putting the two names Morley and Meadows together, first combining the beginnings or endings into "Mordows," and declining that one,
and then trying "Medley," which worked perfectly,
as it bespoke the joining together of two or more songs into one whole,
just as in the uniting of two lives in marriage,
two become one.

I thought that was such a sweet preface to his message.
Elon then went on to share admonitions with first groom then bride, from the Bible,
and alliterated the points with the letter L.

Elon admonished Jed to 

I. Learn about his bride. ("Dwelling with her according to knowledge.") 

II. Lead his bride.

III. Love his bride
 [Below Jed's mother Anita shares a special moment with the leaving son.]

(And I thought about another point: Leave father and mother and cleave to his wife. :)

Then Elon admonished the bride to
I. Listen to her husband.

And 2. Be Loyal to him.

 On the way home from the wedding, I read out loud to the family a few chapters from this little book called The Home Has a Heart, by Thyra Bjorn, daughter of a Swedish minister's wife and loved author of Papa's Wife.

This book contains charming stories of family and Swedish life in America, with recipes and wisdom gleaned from these close and loving families.

One of the things that stood out to me, was the author's advice for a family to pass on a special song from one generation to the next, as her family had done. 

And that meant so much to me after the extended Morley clan had done exactly that at the end of the reception meal.

 Our five families had gathered around one corner of the reception room and sung together in harmony the song our family used to sing so many times,

 "Bless This House, O Lord, we pray,

Make it safe by night and day..."

And then we concluded with the blessing my extended family had also sung at my sister Kezia's wedding, "The Lord Bless You and Keep You."

I have always dearly loved that blessing song, which finishes with the spine-tingling seven-fold

Amen, and breathes into a hush at the very end.

Music is a part of our faith and family that we not only can keep for ourselves but pass on to the next generation.
Sometimes there may be disagreements about various issues in life,
but music is something that binds us together.
Together from different states and stations in life we stood and sang prayer blessings for the bride and groom. 

Words of faith and assurance

and prayer from our heart as we embark on every new venture and in every new relationship.

And so the groomsmen (with help from others) decorated the get-away car--

and then barricaded the exit drive!
(You can just barely see, on the left, a couple of the young people barricading the drive.)

 The groom knew another way around a loop and took off in a roar of gravel,

 but the young folks took off the opposite way to barricade him again!
Father Elon galloped along to see what was going on
and Aunt Anna raced behind him to take pictures, of course).
And so there they are--with the car successfully delayed!

 David Morley (Fain's youngest son and one of the groomsmen) had to finish the last mischievous connection,

and finally the car and groom and bride were off for their honeymoon!

  And the young folk gathered to walk back up the hill.
I loved this scene of all these wonderful young people, so happy and energetic, cousins and friends both.

Then the cleanup began.

I helped unpin the table skirts, and helped pack away the gifts, including this creative John Deere quilt sewed by Jed's mother, Anita.

I have to say how thankful I was for a lovely wedding, with a modest but beautiful bride,
and lots of love to go around everywhere.
I really admired the Meadows family, and how they worked together so nicely with all that needed to be done. My children noticed how the older children helped so kindly with the little ones.
(The Meadows have 11 children!)
It was obvious that Mr. and Mrs. Meadows loved and cared for each other, and I was amazed at Mrs. Meadows' energy despite having had 11 children, the last of which is still a toddler.
Elon's family has known the Meadows for about 15 years, and spent time together in Mongolia.
Yes, I still have a few more pictures coming later.

Wedding Photos of Bridal Party and Family

Here is the bridal party.

The groomsmen (and boys) are brothers of the groom except our Sam and cousin David, and the maids are all sisters of bride or groom, as well.

Jed's brother Ezra probably would have been groomsman except that he was elected to be the official photographer.

Rosalie Meadows' extended family with the bride and groom.

Jed's family--my brother Elon with wife Anita, Amaris, Ezra, Jed and Pearl and now daughter-in-law Rosalie.

Bride and maids

Such a pretty arch--

to shade the kiss!

I loved this unique touch of John Deere to the outdoor wedding.

Iva's family
Five of us Morleys were there with our families: Elon, Fain, Gabriel, Iva and I.

Tossing the bouquet

It fell out of the hands of Krissy, who tried to catch it, so Elon sighed in great relief,

"Good! There won't be anymore weddings for a while!"  :)

Loved how Carrie and Krissy were wearing matching skirts--without prearranging it!

And I do have a bunch more pictures of the rehearsal dinner, reception and other cute candids uploaded, just need a bit of time to add thoughts that Elon shared during the wedding. 

So keep checking for the next batch of photos.