No Regrets: Honeymoon in the Black Hills

For no particular reason, today I remembered our honeymoon & that I loved it. Andrew & I were married in the Black Hills & spent a few nights there, then worked our way back west for the rest of the week long honeymoon. Simple, budgeted, with a couple of splurges & glorious sunny (!?!) November weather for a post wedding road trip. I'm thankful for it & can't think of a better way I'd want it to be. Here are some photos leading up to the wedding & of scenes from our honeymoon travels.

We took communion together the night before the wedding, something my mom & dad also did before they got married.
The morning of the wedding, inside the cabin where we were married.The view out the window the morning of the wedding. It snowed very briefly that morning.
Also the morning of the wedding. We had "church" with some of our friends before setting up the cabin for the wedding.

First full day of being man & wife, we stopped off Highway 395 at Pactola Lake & took some pictures.

Playing with the color settings...

On the road trip home, we spent a night here, in the McFarland room. Ironically, my maiden name is McFarland!
Hope you enjoyed my reflection down memory lane...thanks for reading!

write, right (in my best British accent)

Saturday was infused with influence from Britain. Made scones. Made loose leaf Lady Brit tea. Watched Jamie Oliver make tiramisu. Wore Andrew's London hat on an excursion where I pored through a Jamie Oliver cookbook (recommended by a friend). Andrew & I then went home to eat our version of banger & mash (sausage & potatoes) & mushrooms, and capped off the evening watching Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World.

I like our interests, unintentionally themed days.

a live coal in the sea

Reading a book by Madeleine L'Engle called A Live Coal in the Sea. The title comes from a quote from William Langland. (Anyone know who he is? First time I've come upon his name.) It was written by him around fourteen hundred:

"But all the wickedness in the world which man may do or think is no more to the mercy of God than a live coal dropped in the sea."

That's needed for me lately. Pride/jealousy/resentment/unhealthy comparisons have been rearing their ugly heads in my life (I've been allowing them) at a time when I feel a stirring, when I feel messages of assurance being dropped into my spirit that this time in our lives is good, that God has good in store & if I can just abide, I'll be in the sweet spot. Living life to the fullest, the Jesus way. But it's hard, impossible. But with God all things are possible.

appreciation

Today I'm appreciating. God's provision for my sister's new job, seeing a huge rainbow over the city as I was on my way outside to do laundry, having lunch & an afternoon with my husband, Coralie's apple butter, the wondrous effect of dryer sheets softening our clothing, being productive in my profession, the stuff you missed in history class podcast...these little things.

tea for Christmas

I was permitted an early Christmas present from Andrew & was so delighted with it that I'm devoting pictures & an entry to it.


Busted out the Brown Betty teapot for this one! I love the beautiful way that the tea is wrapped. The paper around the tea has gold crowns on it, which I am thrilled to be able to use to make cards or other crafty things with. Two mornings in a row I've enjoyed English Breakfast tea, and I'm looking forward to having more today as I attack some reading I've been meaning to do. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Tea with Jane Austen, and some plays from my former drama instructor in college.
Thank you Andrew for the gift of British tea! You know me so well, know how much I am enthralled with England, with good tea & you truly take delight in watching me enjoy these things. And how that puts me in mind of God's love...what enjoyment he feels when I'm enjoying what he's given me, but deeper... How I come alive when I'm delighting in Jesus, truly.
Don't mind me, just processing some things.
I enjoy so much more what I've been given, simple as they may be, when I'm on track.

the brownies were good & a risk taken

Martha Stewart's pumpkin swirl brownies turned out alright, even though my oven cooks too hot, the edges of the brownies were singed & the the brownies on inside middle of the pan were liquidy when the timer went off. The lingering taste of cayenne after eating a brownie is really pleasant.
I took a risk today. See, I make cards & envelopes out of papers I collect from magazines, wrapping paper, brochures, etc., and the church I work at was having a craft fair today...so I decided to be brave & purchase a table to experimentally sell my wares. It was so fun! My friend Jenni agreed to share the table with me to sell her own unique rings, headbands, bracelets, necklaces, and "rosette" brooches. Our powers combined made for a more fun experiment & good company. We didn't make a ton of money, barely covering our costs, but the experience was fun & I'm considering the next brave step...dreaming of Etsy & a business like Painted White in my future.
Here's a picture of part of our table. Jenni's on the right.

musique de notre première année

Whoo! Who's that babe playing the bass with the long hair? Answer: my husband when he was in the hardcore band Weeping Prophetic in Arkansas...oh to have known him then...

Musique de notre première année. Music of our first year. Carla Harding, a favorite Brit blogger of mine, has this tradition every year of listing her favorite books/movies/music she's discovered throughout the year. I thought it'd be a good idea to remember the soundtrack of music of Andrew's and my first year of marriage. Here's what it'd sound like:

Above the Golden State
Michael Bublé
Damien Rice
burn PATTERN (Andrew's former band)
Josiah James
Jason Upton
Diaspora (Andrew & his friend Andrew's sideproject band)
Frank Sinatra
John Mayer
Jack Johnson
Coldplay (Viva La Vida)
Thrice
Dustin Kensrue
Nat King Cole (Christmas)
Chicago (Christmas)
Bing Crosby (Christmas)
Sara Groves (Christmas)
Kutless (worship album)
Matt Redman
Jeremy Riddle
Bob Marley
Sigur Ros
Sonata Arctica
Sondre Lerche
Michael Jackson
Amos Lee
Liason
Kansas
This Coming Season (friend Josh's band, real good)
Cream
Israel & New Breed
Johnny Cash
Dewey Lybecker
Keith Green
Enter the Worship Circle
Reliant K
Jon Foreman
David Crowder
Phil Wickham

So there you go. Soundtrack of our first year. Now I'm off to attempt making pumpkin swirl brownies, before the weekend gets real busy!