Indian Wedding

Yesterday I got to attend my first Indian wedding.  It was very interesting; I've just never been to anything like it before.  I didn't really take a lot of pictures since I didn't know most of the people there I didn't want to be the weird one up taking pictures of everything. I took a few with my cell phone in the morning (sorry for the bad quality) and then just a few of the decorations and such in the evening.

It started at 10am when the groom arrived. Everyone moved outside to greet him, they played music as he got out of the car, and everyone clustered around him and had a mini dance party. How fun!  He then walked inside and stopped in front of this arch that was set up. The bride's family was on the other side of the arch and they had a mini ceremony to welcome him into their family (complete with some joke about trying to take his shoes, which I wasn't really sure about, but was a lot of fun to watch. He later had to buy them back or something like that?).

Once that was complete, everyone made their way into the room set up for the ceremony.  The entire ceremony lasted about 2 1/2 hours.  That might have been a very long time (seeing as how it was hard to be actively engaged when you don't understand the language), but apparently it is okay to move around and talk to people during this time. At first I thought the people around me were being rude by talking so loudly, but I quickly realized that just about everyone around the room was chatting with their neighbors while the ceremony went on up on the stage.  In the back of the room they even had a table set up with coffee, tea, water, and cookies for you to go and snack on. 

After about the first hour, someone came around and passed out mini ice cream cups to all the guests. Ice cream! I was sitting with something like 20 people from my school, and we were all pretty excited about that. hehe

The room looked incredibly beautiful! The decorations really made it stand out. I had a great time admiring all the women's sarees as well. I LOVE all colors and how different they all are.  Sure wish I had an excuse to buy and wear one hehe. And, of course, the bride looked absolutely stunning! She really looked so beautiful, and I loved how sparkly her outfit was! After the ceremony was complete, everyone filed out into the foyer area where they had set up a buffet for lunch.  I skipped out on lunch and came home though, because to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Indian food (as some of my family member readers may know haha).

One thing I really appreciated was the wedding program. In it they had described each part of the ceremony, telling guests what would be happening, and what the meaning behind it was.  Not being able to understand the language, this was incredibly helpful in keeping up with what was going on.

I spent my afternoon lounging around the house for awhile and then I headed back for the reception at 7pm. During the ceremony, a lady near us was giving us information about what was going on in the ceremony, and what the reception would be like later. She told us everyone goes home and changes into their "party clothes". We asked what "party clothes" meant and she said, "you have to put your bling on!".  Not so sure I have a whole lot of "bling" haha I think the dress I had was "party clothes" enough.

The reception was a lot of fun!  It was very similar to a western wedding reception like all the other ones I've been too. It started with drinks and appetizers in the foyer, then we were led into the ballroom so they could announce the family and bride and groom. 

They cut the cake, and then the groom's 3 nieces did some dances for the couple. Those kids have rhythm!  After that the some of the bride's friends did sort of a recap of her life through music. It was cute! They would read a statement, such as "she has an incredibly big hear and has always been there to help out her friends" and then music would play to match what they said (in that case it was the friends theme song). Then they had something called the bride's dance, which was a number of her friends and family members who had prepared these choreographed dances.  Very fun! I loved how the groom's tie was a perfect match for the brides outfit, and the cake was in the same color scheme! Obviously well thought out.

 

Then there were speeches, and thank yous, and then they opened up the buffet. I pretty much passed on the food again (not such a fan, and it's really spicy, remember?), but I actually tried a few things. So, we ate dinner and wedding cake, the bride and groom had their first dance, the bride and her father danced, and then they opened up the dance floor to everyone. Let's just say this, the people there knew how to party! It was like a crazy dance party up there. Literally, in a room with what we estimated was 350-400 guests, there were only like 20 people still sitting at their tables! It was crazy!  I decided I sort of like Indian music, it has a really fun beat to it! So, we took to the dance floor for awhile until we were totally worn out, and then called it a night around 11:40.

I imagine the bride must have been exhausted! What an incredibly long day! Her mother told us she had gotten up at 6am, and the wedding stuff was nonstop until after midnight! I would have been dead tired by that point haha. It was really a lot of fun though, and a really cool cultural experience.  I'm really glad I got to go :) 

This turned out MUCH longer than I intended; props to you if you actually read all this!

Worry

I went up to school today to get an update on the numbers.  It's still not looking very good. The numbers are low in 4 of the 6 grades.  Definitely not encouraging. Apparently though, if parents called up to administration to find out when they would be able to register they had been told not until August because a number of campuses have closed registration.  That could mean that there are a number of families holding out until August to register their children. We have had a few more registration packets come in, they are just coming in MUCH slower than we would like.  

After all the years I've spent worrying about things though, I've finally figured out that it does me absolutely no good.  Worrying and stressing about it doesn't change the situation, it only keeps me from enjoying the present. This verse has sort of become my mantra lately:

Luke 12:26 

If then you're not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?

So, I'm doing my best not to worry about it (although some days are easier than others) and just enjoy every minute of my break.  

A large part of enjoying my summer break has consisted of laying on the couch reading, watching movies, and snacking on these:

YUM! Definitely my favorite summer snack!

Happy Birthday America

It's been a few days since I have posted, I just haven't been home much.  I cannot even explain how much I am loving having the summer off! I had forgotten what this was like after having taken class or worked through the past 7 summers. People ask if I get bored, and honestly I haven't at all.  I've managed to fill my time and enjoy every minute of it.  I cannot believe it is already July though, where in the world did the month of June go?!?  I'm going to be very sad to go back to work in the fall.  I need a job that pays me to be on vacation all the time; that would be fantastic haha.  Maybe my new career aspiration should be to become a traveling photographer.  Travel the world, take pictures, and get paid.  That sounds pretty awesome to me! haha

I spent the 4th down at the beach with some friends and had a fabulous time! We spent the entire day just relaxing on the beach and then got to watch some a great fireworks show (that lasted FOREVER) right from the rocking chairs of the porch.  Between the food, fireworks, and the strong breeze, I could have sat in that rocking chair forever haha

I took a bunch of pictures, but this one is my favorite.  I LOVE the colors! (have you noticed I'm all about color in my photos?) This one has a gorgeous bright blue sky, a faint purple tint to the clouds, dark blue ocean water, and I love the way the sand has a sparkling golden look to it. That, along with the contrast of our dark shadows stretching towards the water makes this one really eye catching to me.

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

At one point in the day the boys walked across the street to the convenience store to buy something.  One of them must have said, "happy birthday America" in front of the cashier, because she responded by saying, "so, does that mean it's everybody's birthday today?".  Happy birthday America means it's everybody's birthday then became the joke of the day.

"Happy Birthday America!"

In all seriousness though, how blessed are we to be able to live in such a great country. And how blessed are we to have people willing to fight for us so our freedom is not taken away. We had a great tribute to the armed forces at church yesterday.  I for one, feel extremely blessed, and am extremely thankful.

sweltering heat

According to weather.com, in the past 15 days we have had record breaking temperatures for 9 of those days. 9 days out of 15 we had hotter temperatures than had ever been recorded on that day!  That is not a good sign of things to come this summer.  The heat has gotten out of control! We have had more days with temperatures over 100 degrees already, than we did all of last summer combined. ugh

Tropical island?  I wish ...

a sign of love

I started to read this great book, Captivating, a few days ago. This morning, before I went to yoga, I had a few extra minutes so I decided to read a little.  In what I read today the authors were discussing God's deep love for each individual.  In the book, they challenged the reader to ask God to show her some sort of sign demonstrating his love, and then they sited examples of what had happened to them when they prayed this same thing.  So, I took them up on their challenge, and then went about my day.

This evening, I was about to retire to the couch to watch a movie, when it popped into my head all of a sudden that I needed to go to the mall to look for one more thing (I had already spent half my day at the mall earlier).  I could have waited until tomorrow, but I decided to go tonight. So, I drove to the mall and parked my car.  When I got out of my car, literally, as if it appeared out of nowhere (it definitely had not been there moments before), this gorgeous rainbow filled the sky. I'm not talking a little splash of color; I'm talking the biggest, brightest rainbow I have ever seen in my life!  It quite literally spanned above me from the horizon in the East all the way to the West. It was stunningly beautiful. I have honestly never seen anything like it.  

I looked around the parking lot to see if anyone else was marveling over this like I was, and there were probably 10 different people milling about who didn't seem to notice it at all.  Not just that they weren't stopped to stare at it, but they didn't even direct their eyes up to notice it was there.  You had to see it to understand, but this was incredibly hard to miss! In that moment it dawned on me that this was my sign.  I have no doubt that this beautiful, perfect rainbow appeared, as if out of nowhere, so I could see it and know I am loved. You don't have to believe it, but I do.

I just wish I had taken my camera with me ...

silver lining

The numbers at my school are not looking good.  And I'm not just talking about first grade numbers, I'm talking across the board.  This is bad, very bad.  Not only might I not be teaching first grade again (which would make me incredibly sad), but if we don't get a LOT of kids registered in the next 4 weeks, I might not even be teaching at my school again.  I keep having to remind myself that I have been through this before and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, so if it happens again that's how I'm going to have to look at it.  I'm really trying to prepare myself so that this doesn't turn into a "my life is ending" moment like it did 2 years ago.  If I have to switch grades, there is a reason for it. If I have to move schools, then there is a reason for that.  Maybe it will turn out to be a great thing for me, or maybe there will be a kid there that really needs me. Whatever the case, I'm telling myself that whatever happens, happens for a reason.  That has become my mantra: there is a purpose greater than me.

Toady's photo is appropriate:

Every cloud has a silver lining

Sometimes you don't find out what the silver lining is right away. Sometimes you don't ever get to find out what the silver lining is.  But it's there; God can use any bad situation to bring about greater good. He knows what He's doing. He knows the plan. I just have to trust that it will work out okay in the end. Sometimes, you just have to have a little faith.

LOVING summer!

Can I just tell you how much I love summer?  This is the first summer in something like seven years that I have not worked or taken a bunch of classes and I am LOVING having the time off to myself!  I have all the time in the world to do all the things I want to do. I've been renting movies, doing a ton of reading, laying by the pool, and taking lots of pictures. It's wonderful!

Here's a picture for today:

Follow the lights from house to house 

And they will lead you home

"Follow the Lights" - Ryan Adams