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Saturday, March 5th dawned clear and bright here in the Portland, Oregon
area. Our friends the Cones had opened their home to host the
shower and they were scurrying around making their lovely home even
lovelier in preparation. Friends and family kept arriving until we
had a total of 65 women and girls, give or take a few. The brunch
that was served was delicious, consisting of egg casserole, several
kinds of coffee cake, fruit, and refreshing yellow punch.
After eating we all
gathered into the living room. Mrs. Evans and my mom introduced
their family and Hannah Payne, my maid of honor, asked Mrs. Erland to
give the opening prayer :
"Dear Lord, we thank You
that we are able to gather together for such a happy occasion and that
the Cones have opened their home to us. And Lord, we would like to
thank You for all you've done for Amanda and Eli, shaping them to come
together and honor You in their upcoming marriage. We thank You
for giving them godly and loving parents who have brought them up in
Your nurture and admonition. We thank You for giving them dear
Christian friends and relatives who have helped them grow in Your grace,
knowledge, and love. We thank You for giving them tremendous
teachers in the church and at home who have helped fill them with Your
truth. We thank You for giving them loving brothers and sisters
with whom they have learned mercy, tenderness, service, and forgiveness.
We thank You that You have fit Amanda to be a capable helpmeet for Eli
and that You have given Eli a vocation that provides a great service to
the Christian community and provides income to so many young people.
Now, oh Lord, we pray that you will help Amanda and all of us listening
to the devotional to have understanding and willing hearts to learn,
through the power of your Holy Spirit. In the name of our Lord,
Jesus Christ, amen."
Mrs. Meyerdierk, Eli's
aunt, then gave a wonderful devotional, which you can read by clicking
here. She taught a young ladies'
Sunday school class about four years ago that I attended and I greatly
appreciated her wisdom then. She is a very wise woman and the talk
that she gave will be something I will go back and read again.
It's definitely worth the read!
After the devotional, I
began opening the presents. Everyone was so generous that it was
overwhelming! We are truly blessed to be a part of such a
wonderful community of both friends and family. When I was younger
I looked forward to getting married, trying on wedding dresses, and
opening up lots of presents. But you know what? Trying on
wedding dresses and opening up lots of presents is tiring! I don't
think I really knew what people gave me until I got home and we spread
the gifts out on the dining room table. It was ten times better
than Christmas, but I think it's a good thing it doesn't happen every
year! Thank you all so much for everything!
Once the last present had
been sufficiently oohed and ahed at, the younger ladies in our company
(and a couple mothers) went down to the Cone's basement to play one of my
favorite bridal shower games: toilet paper brides. There were
three teams. Each one selected a bride and the rest got to be
"seamstresses", toilet paper and tape being their only dressmaking
goods. When they were done I was to go down and pick which decked
out bride I thought should win the prize.
I think it was about an hour
later that I went down to see the product of their labors. There
were three beautiful brides, each with lovely ruffles, puffs, and veils
all made with only toilet paper and tape. I was reminded of the
many times that I had been involved in just such games. It was
weird for me to be the real bride coming to do the judging this time.
It was 2:00 or 3:00
before all the guests had departed and we loaded my gifts into the van
to depart for home. As we drove home I thought to myself, "That
was my bridal shower. It's all over now and I'll most likely never
get another one." It had been a wonderful day and I will look back
on it with pleasure. I send out my grateful thanks to Mrs.
Meyerdierk for her gems of wisdom, to the Cones for opening their home,
and to everyone who came and blessed me with your presence and your
presents.
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