Home again...

So finally i can relax!! sort of. It seems like this month has been one crazy event after another! First there was exams, and then the choir tour, and then my sister's wedding. It was fun times though (minus the exams part). First of all, as Gayle, Laura, Dan, and Felix already pointed out, choir tour was an AMAZING time of making new friends, getting to know other friends better, and most importantly, praising God in song. It was filled with laughter, testimonies, some tears, and amazing billet stories. Some of the things i enjoyed most about choir tour were:

- the 'pseudo' felix lam story
- sunday morning worship service on the bus
- trying to see as much of the halifax meuseum in under an hour :)
- laughing at Kendra when she 'accidentally' stole postcards from the meuseum gift shop :).
- awards every night
- Mikey Arce's, Sarah Thompson's, and Louis' 'essays'
- making new friends
- listening to the guys serenade (who's up for picking a better song for the girls next year?)
- Maffia games (poor steve... poor melissa... :))
- awesome billiters who took us on tours of old Quebec city
- Charlottetown, PEI
- playing dutch bingo at nearly every billeters
- the tenor salute
- singing Beati and Witness (my personal favourites)
- worshipping God

After choir tour came the wedding. That was stressful to say the least, but well worth the stress in the end, because it turned out beautiful. My favourite part of the ceremony was when Karen and Rob washed eachothers feet to symbolize being servants of Christ for one another. It was a beautiful ceremony, one of the best i've ever been to (no bias here at all :)). To top it off, God definitely blessed their day with good weather. Just as we were rolling up to the church the sun showed itself, and it lasted throughout the ceremony and pictures. The rain arrived just about the same time as the reception began, by which time we were nicely inside again. It was an answer to prayer :). The reception itself was a lot of fun too. A lot of making fun of Karen and Rob which is always fun :). I also caught the bouquet at the wedding!! hmmm.. so now i just need to find a guy.... :).

So now it's back to work for me! So far... so good. Work has been quite easy, and my coworkers and I find ways to make it fun. i think some of our newest workers find us a little crazy at times.... but you do what you can to stay sane :).

Now it's off to an education meeting at the church while i inwardly chagrin at missing the 6th game of the leafs/philly series... i do hope the leafs do well in my absence....

GO LEAFS GO!

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Oh.. and as promised to Karen, i shall include a copy of my speech.

Kare, as your sister I have many fond memories of us growing up together, including late night chats about boys, trips to Florida with the family, camping trips, outings to the “Hasty Market,” and images of you doing cartwheels in the lake, cartwheels on the beach, cartwheels on the lawn, cartwheels in the pool, cartwheels in the house, and… well, you get the point :). We had lots of fun as kids playing games such as the ‘brother/sister’ game in which we would repeat the SAME story and SAME series of events over and over again, but we still managed to have fun doing it each time.

Now, things weren’t always perfect. We tended to fight often, as I’m sure Mom and Dad will attest to. Fights over clothes, shoes, and whose turn it was to put gas in the car were common items of dispute.

Now, apparently we can be quite humorous when we fight as both of us have a tendency to speak fairly rapidly, and this is only accentuated when we are angry. In fact, many claim that they can’t even understand what we are saying. But we understand each other, and that is what is important.

I guess there weren’t enough waking moments in the day to get upset with me though, because I still distinctly remember walking by your room one night and hearing you mumble in your sleep:” “Raaaachel…Stop that! Why are you being so mean??!!.” I still to this day wonder what I could have done in your dreams to get you so upset. :)

Despite all our arguing though, whether in real life or in your dreams :), we always managed to make up with eachother in the end – usually with each one of us feeling so bad and claiming that it was WE who were in the wrong. Karen especially has always been one to avoid lasting controversy. She hated fighting and refused to go to bed still angry at someone. Karen, over the years, has been especially forgiving and understanding with me, putting up with the many times that I “borrowed” her clothes without asking, and letting me go on a choir tour the week before her wedding, understanding that, for me, that was an important thing to do.

Some of my fondest memories of Karen have to do with bedtime. Quite often I would join Karen in her bed on stormy nights or on nights that I just couldn’t seem to sleep. I always felt safer with her. Now, Karen has always been somewhat of a perfectionist (except perhaps when it comes to keeping her car and room clean :)), but she had this little goodnight ritual that she would recite before going to sleep during which time she would say goodnight to each member of the family outloud to herself. This included any pets in the family we might have had. She would also go through this little goodnight ritual with me which went something like this:
“goodnight Rachel”, she would say
“goodnight Karen”
“I love you,” she’d say
“I love you too”
“You’re the best sister in the whole world”
“You’re the best sister in the whole world”
“goodnight,”
“goodnight.”
Now, this was all great and all, except for the fact that if either of us talked after this, we would have to go through the WHOLE thing all over again. This could go on multiple times throughout the night. I guess you have this to look forward too Rob :).

Karen’s perfectionist nature carried over into her games and stories we played as well. She loved planning out games and clubs of sorts and always paid attention to the remotest of details like making club bracelets, deciding on elaborate club names, or unique new names for each of the members in the games we were playing. When it came to stories, Karen spent considerable time just planning out the people and characters in her stories. Each of the families she created each had at least EIGHT kids (always an even number because she hated odd numbers of kids) and had a unique first name with about 3 middle names :). Thankfully Rob, I hear she’s toned things down a bit over the years. I think now, she might only want about 6 kids… :)

Karen has also been known to be the senstive one in the family. This is not to say that the rest of us aren’t sensitive, but just that Karen has the unique quality of being overly concerned for everything. When we were little she’d get upset even if I ‘hit’ or ‘hurt’ inanimate objects and was very proctective of her favourite doll. This sensitivity hasn’t dulled over the years, and she has been known to get upset about things like hurting ants and/or other insects.

Now, I say this all in a joking manner, but in all seriousness, Karen’s sensitivity is one of the things I admire and love most about her. Karen has always been there for me and for others and truly knows the meaning behind the word empathy. Karen has a genuiness, a purity, and a JOY (which appropriately happens to be her middle name) that she just exudes. She is one of my best friends. I am so proud to be called her little sister and to be able to stand here today to witness the marriage of her and the man who compliments her so well.

Now, when I first got to know Rob, which I have to brag about for a minute was BEFORE Karen really got to know him, I liked him from the start. Rob was the kind of guy who knew how to make people laugh, either because he was cracking a joke or because people were making fun of him :). He has a heart and a passion for Christ that shines through in all he does.. Rob loves to tell his story about God’s faithfulness in his life and is genuinely caring for all, especially when it comes to Karen. I still remember thinking in first year, how awesome it would abe to have this guy in our family. Well, God heard me, and he brought karen and Rob together, for which I am so very thankful.

Rob fit into our family right from the start --- going so far as to bug me about boys and be generally annoying like the big brother I never had is ‘supposed’ to do :). Since theier engagement I’ve always joked that its not too late for Karen to call of the wedding and that I could still choose not to sign those witness forms :), but Rob, I want you to know that truly I’ve never been more excited to be able to call someone my older brother.

Karen and Rob, your relationship from the start has been a testimony to God’s goodness and his faithfulness. It is a testimony of two people who have looked to God and followed HIS will in their lives.
Your love reminds me of a quote I once read which went something like this:

“Love does not consist in gazing at eachother, but looking together in the same direction”

This is what your relationship has been and I pray it wiill always be, that is, a relationship centered first and foremost on God, looking to God for direction, although I’m sure there will be a lot of that gazing into eachothers eyes part too. I hope and pray that you will continue to remember that your marriage is a three way contract between the two of you and God. I pray that you might continue to grow together in him and seek his direction and will in youre lives wherever that might lead you. Never forget that God is faithful. His mercies are new every morning. I would like to close now with a verse from Isaiah 26:4:

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind his steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

Karen and Rob, you have begun your new life by bulidng on the foundation of Christ, which is the strongest foundation you can build on. I pray that you might be richly blessed in your life together. I love you both.

I would now like to propose a toast to the bride and groom.