Life Gets in the Way

It has been 3 weeks since I have posted on this blog.  That is because on the day of my last post, my 89 year old mother in law fell and broke her ankle.  That sort of threw a kink in the wedding planning.  My husband is one of two children, but his brother lives in Texas and his mother lives here in NJ, so most of the care of her falls to us.  She has been slowly failing in memory and physical ability.  Two years ago we moved her to a more elder friendly apartment, but one that is completely independent.  Interestingly enough, the day she injured herself, I had made appointments with 3 assisted living facilities and that was BEFORE I knew she was hurt.

Well, took her to the ER, they confirmed a break and this being Friday night (she always seems to hurt herself on a Friday), and we took her back to her apartment.  Our house has all kinds of stairs in it, so it would not have been safe for her.  Well, we all did the best we could over the weekend, then she got casted on Monday.  Then she really couldn't get around, so between paid caregivers and Scott and I, someone was with her at all times until Wednesday. Then, with the help of a kind orthopedic surgeon, we did manage to get her admitted to Marlton Rehabilitation Hospital for short term rehab.  Alleluia and Amen right?  Saturday morning @ 3 am, we get a call that she was sent to the acute care hospital with low oxgen levels and high blood pressure.  She was in congestive heart failure and also had bronchitis.  Then, a few days later, her heart rate went down into the 30's (not good for those of you who don't know) and she got a pacemaker that same day.  The next day, she celebrated her 89th birthday in the hospital.  The staff was so kind, they got her a cake and sang happy birthday to her when we got there!  The next day she was sent back to Marlton Rehab where she continues to work on her strength (she didn't really have any BEFORE she broke the ankle).  She will have the cast for at least another month and she will probably be transferred to The Fountains @ Cedar Parke for subacute rehab in the next couple of weeks.  After the rehab, hopefully, she will just move into an apartment in the community there, which means my husband and I will be cleaning out her current apartment and moving her again.  Hence the title of this portion of the blog!

Some wedding planning has gone on through all of this.  We hired a photographer, SueB Photography.   Sue is the sister of a friend from church, and this past summer she photographed her nephew's wedding, in which Kelsey was in.  She is very gifted, you should check out her website.  Also, since Kelsey and Matt cannot make any of the scheduled food tastings at Luciens, I made reservations for Scott, Emily (sister of the bride and Maid of Honor) and myself to go to the November 7th tasting.  We will then pick some of our favorites and then from that paired down list, Luciens will do a private tasting for the bridal couple when they are in on Christmas break.

And today, the bride is home from Nebraska and currently sleeping in her own bed!  Our goal for the next few days?  Find a wedding dress.  We will also be visiting a florist and a DJ before she heads back to Nebraska on Tuesday.  So stay tuned, lots of good things to come.....

A very timely story

Today you won't be hearing much from me, as I am going to redirect you to the wonderful author of "All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten", Robert Fulghum.  He wrote a wonderful, true story about a MOTB, otherwise known as, the Mother of the Bride.  Well, since I now find myself in that category, I thought I would share.

Before I go, I must also say that I read this particular story about 17 years ago, at the library, while Kelsey was in story hour, sigh...(now don't go and ask me exactly how I remember that little detail, as I could not tell you what I did last week, but the mind is a funny thing).

I also have a challenge to throw out there.  For those of you who are following and know me personally (or perhaps even those of you who don't), I am going to ask you to help keep me from becoming UNHINGED.  I just might have a tendency to do that, perhaps that is why I have always remembered this story.

Enjoy Pastor Fulghum's story        

http://www.wattpad.com/38383-motb-by-robert-fulghum

What have we done so far?

Okay, Kelsey became engaged to Matt on August 11 of this year.  Scott, Emily and I were all in Nebraska for the happy event.  Matt also arranged for his parents, his 6 siblings and 4 foster children to meet us for dinner.  What a wonderful way to start a new family, by getting the families of origin together for a meal.  Matt made a lot of points with everyone that night!

Well, Matt's family is from McCook, Nebraska and Kelsey's family is from Voorhees, NJ, so the first decision this young couple had to make was where was this wedding to be held. Aside from the two above locations, they also were considering Lincoln, Nebraska, which is where they currently attend the University of Nebraska, and also where they are hoping to settle once they are married.  To the bride's parents' great delight, they chose the traditional route of the bride's hometown and church for their wedding.  Nine months is not very far away, considering many East Coast weddings are planned far in advance, so we had to get busy on a venue for the reception.

Kelsey began to look furiously on the Internet for affordable places that would be open in the beginning of June.  I may say here as an aside, wedding planning has greatly changed since my own wedding almost 28 years ago.  If we were in the same situation then as the kids are now, living so far away from where the wedding is to be held, my mother would have had to plan the majority of it herself, with phone calls to the pay phone @ the college!  But now, even though Scott and I have to do the actual visiting, it is being directed by Kelsey and Matt from their research on the web.  It really is amazing, but I digress....

So off Scott, Emily and I go to visit locations.  We visited 2 wineries, very nice, but not a good fit for one reason or another.  Then we went to Lucien's Manor in Berlin.  The engineering minded groom picked that location from the web based on the fact that it takes exactly 11 minutes to get there from the church.  Have I mentioned that I like that young man?  We saw a beautiful ballroom, looked at the gardens, went over prices and they fed us hors e doevres and desserts.  They had Emily @ the food!  She was very impressed.  She is to be the Maid of Honor, so her opinion went a long way.  So Lucien's it is!

Berlin United Methodist Preschool

 Funny thing though.  After the final decision had been made (took a bit of talking through, did I talk about the fact that it is a little challenging planning a wedding and involving everyone living in 2 different places?) it was time to  place the deposit.  Now, we have lived in our current home for almost 19 years, Kelsey was 2 when we moved here.  On my way to Lucien's to settle things up, I was backing out of the driveway and had the strangest sense of deja vu, and I recalled the memory of pulling out of the driveway with little Kelsey strapped in the backseat, going to preschool.  Where does the time go?  To my young mommy friends that might be reading along with me, let me tell you, the Bible is correct in saying that this life is a breath.  I am telling you, it seems like I just had preschoolers in my house.  Enjoy every stage thoroughly, they go by quick.

Lucians Venetian Ballroom

Our Church

How did I get here?

Truly, I am not exactly sure how I got here.  Well, I do know the facts.  I married Scott on October 20, 1984.  Seven years later, I gave birth to Kelsey, after much treatment for endometriosis.  Seven years after that, we adopted Emily from Vietnam.  Most of those memories are fairly clear, but somehow, Kelsey is 21 and a senior at the University of Nebraska.  Emily is 14 and a freshman in high school.  That is the fuzzy part, how can they be that old?  I mean that should mean that I had a teenage pregnancy or something (of course that is WAY not true).  But it seems that way.  Where did the time go.  I have all the pictures and luckily I am still able to remember most of it, but it just does not seem as though that much time has passed (did I mention that I look in the mirror much less frequently now and avoid looking at current photographs?)  But it has.

And we come to the main reason for the blog.  Kelsey became engaged on August 11 and will be married at Hope on June 1, 2013.  And because I am afraid I will miss something if I am not paying attention, I am going to write about our wedding process and various other things along the way.  And so here we go.  If anyone out there has any wise advice for me, I sure would appreciate it.  This is my first time as mother of the bride you know...