June Reading

A little more time for books this month--hooray.

1) Standing Alone in Mecca by Asra Nomani, an Pakistani-American journalist, whose thinking seems incoherent at times, as she tries to understand the inconsistencies of Islam and give her life to it all the while keeping her autonomy. The book could have used a good editor to cut out about half of it. Recommended by my friend, John, who may use it in a course.

2) Daisy Chain by Mary DeMuth. An inspirational novel. May be better than some, but quite overwritten. Ho-hum. Read about it on the internet.

3) In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Danijal Mueenuddin. An inter-related set of short stories set in Pakistan. Excellent though sad.

4) Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith. The latest in the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Never thick plots, but wonderfully gently observations about human nature. I'll read the next one when it comes out.

I wish I could have finished N.T. Wright's Justification, but I still have the Romans section to go. Because he is trying to show how the old perspective folk are misjudging his new perspective when they say he denies the soteriological aspects of justification, he writes incredibly long sentences trying to hold soteriology and eccesiology together. Before I begin a sentence, I have to take a deep breath, and I'm rather a fan of complex, convoluted sentences. I love the book though.

Ah, Michigan

Tonight's supper consisted of salmon that our neighbor had caught in Lake Michigan, covered in herbs from my garden and baked; some small new potatoes; fresh Michigan asparagus; and strawberries. Alas, it is still too early for local strawberries, but even these from CA were better than usual. It won't be long until they are available, and my fisherman neighbor has promised more salmon. Let me just say that supper was delicious. We shared it with my dad. Ah, Michigan.

The Reception

The day before all the cousins and friends, especially Nikki from Chapel Hill, decorated the church hall with the s-s-h theme in mind. The white tablecloths were provided by the church. We put a square of Amy Butler fabric on each of the six tables and a larger one on the cupcake table. I had planted herbs in tin buckets and they, plus votive candles and paper airplanes decorated the tables. Gay pennants made of similar fabric hung from the food table and the cupcake table and over each were paper lanterns. We made a bulletin board of pictures from the couple's parents and grandparents' weddings, which was quite a hit. Kelly had constructed a cupcake tower after learning that the cupcake shop's was rickety. They loved it so much, they bought it and asked for another one with the result that they made money by buying the delicious cupcakes! Flying above the tower is a model replica of Gracie Bird announcing "Just Married." The cutest cake topper I've ever seen! Kelly and Ellen also created a crossword puzzle for folk to do about them, and Kelly designed a kids' activity book as well. Ellen asked folk to fill out a card with their name and advice or recipe or joke or whatever that she will eventually turn into a guestbook/scrapbook. Kelly's mom's friends made much of the reception food though the hall decoration crew and I also covered strawberries in chocolate. Ummmm. Church friends manned the kitchen. Ellen was going to give her bouquet to the oldest married couple, neighbors of Kelly's parents, but he was not feeling well and she greeted folk and then went home to him, so that did not happen. She isn't fond of the throwing the bouquet tradition. Cutting the cupcakes--that was about the extent of "tradition" as this fun, relaxed reception. As one of the pictures will show, E's three previous roommates, Mindy from IVCF/Cleveland (#1), Elizabeth from Sarajevo/IFES (#2), and Nikki from Chapel Hill/IVCF Focus (#3) handed her off to # 4 Kelly/Waco!!

Pictures for Sacred, Simple and Homemade

"Sacred, Simple and Homemade"

"Sacred, Simple and Homemade" was Ellen's watchword through the whole wedding preparation process. The ceremony was the traditional Episcopal service; the flowers were picked (by their grower) the morning before at a local Christian commune nestled in a gorgeous valley near Waco and arranged by Ellen's cousin Sheri and her friends Nikki and Maggie. Ellen chose hymn tunes for the music, including "my" song for her, "Jesus I Am Resting, Resting" while the families were being seated. They asked Ellen's pastor/priest from Cleveland, now serving a church on the Mexican border, to "preach Jesus" with a theme of community and he did so, but he also began with references to the new Star Trek movie and to Princess Bride. Jesus was there for those with ears to hear but everyone enjoyed the sermon. The chalice for Kelly and Ellen's Eucharist is an heirloom from my mother's family and has been used by each of her married grandchildren.

Ellen's dress was made by an Etsy (crafting website) seamstress from a jauchard cotton and mine was tailored by a Bhutanese refugee who takes ESL classes at our church. Jenny and Karen's saucy yet demure sundresses, 50s style, were also made by an Etsy seamstress from flowered Amy Butler material. I'm sorry I don't have good pictures of them--will have to wait for the professional ones. In fact, the better pictures come from other amateur photographers, and the professional ones can be sampled at carissabyersphotography.com/blog (scroll down to Ellen and Kelly). The pictures for this post have Chuck and me with the newlyweds.

Rehearsal Day

Since I now send short updates on Facebook, I feel less inclined to use this blog. But it must have a record of Ellen's wedding, for sure, so here are three (I can only manage two pictures per post). These are of the rehearsal dinner at the hangar where Kelly's "learning-to-fly" plane, Gracie Bird, lives with the rest of the Wings for Christ folk. We gave Kelly's sons gifts with a flight theme from the Hampton family and one picture is of the younger one, Joey, giving Karen a thank you hug. The second is of the Tall Hamptons (minus Lyn who was not feeling well and so was unable to attend, much to the sorrow of us all) interspersed with the Short Hamptons (minus Karen, who was probably following around a kid or two), otherwise known as the Georgia Hamptons and the Ohio (or the Family Formerly Known as The Ohio) Hamptons. Kelly's family provided the northern style cookout, all out of town guests gathered, sang a traditional Baptist hymn and enjoyed the food and each other on a beautiful evening.

April and May reading

These last two months have flown by--guess we were busy with a wedding or something :) Only two books each month, a reality I hope to change now that it is summer--well, it would be if it ever warmed up here in Michigan. In April I read by far the best book of the year thus far, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. I highly recommend this novel about a young Indian-Ethiopian who grows up in a medical mission compound in Ethiopia and confronts his family and identity in America. Many profound moments in this book. I also read a book of short stories set in various African countries called Say You're One of Them by Uwen Akpan. These are thought provoking as well but very very sad. Hope threads through Cutting for Stone.

In May, I skim read an IVP title by Mary Poplin called Finding Calcutta, some reflections on her time working with Mother Teresa. Ellen had a book on her shelf, a pre=print she got at an ALA conference, that she gave to me: a pretty good Muslim-American title, The Writing on my Forehead by Nafisa Haji. It's worth adding to a reading list I'll give my "students" when I teach a CALL (Calvin Academy of Lifelong Learning) course on fiction from the Muslim world this fall.