birthdays and weddings

Yesterday was Phil's birthday, and to celebrate Emily bought ribs off a cruise ship, and for "fun", Phil built a grille to cook them on...it was like it was EVERYONE's birthday!  So thankful for Phil in our lives, hard-working and reliable and patient and always with a good attitude...

And today's wedding was fantastic.

From the time Leme joined EBS after losing his father, his school and almost his leg in the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, he has been the best of the best.  He is humble and kind, wise and patient and a Christ-like example.  After graduating, Emmaus hired him purely to not lose him, and after years of praying for someone to be a right-hand man to Matt to lighten the load, it became Leme...and his friendship has just continued to be a great gift in our lives.  

the bouquet...which proved to be MUCH easier than the cake of 2012, though I WAS unable to find royal blue flowers, as they had hoped!

We've been praying for he and Gesuca for a long-time, and it was such a gift to be a part of their wedding today!  He had us both in tears.

For those of you who enjoyed the throw-back green cake from 2012, here was the rest of the story, and the photo!
 
The whole ordeal with the cake.   Night before the wedding:   Noel-"Can I come at 6 am to get the cake Saturday morning?"  Stacey, "Sure."

7:00 AM:  Noel- "Can my sisters and I come and iron all of our clothing and all of the kids clothing and the wedding party's clothing?"  Stacey, "Of course!"

9:00 AM: Noel- "Can we borrow a bunch of totes to transport all the clothes and cake in?"  Stacey, "Sure!  Let me box them all up for you."

11:00 AM, fixing lunch for other friends and other friends are here:  "Can you take the cake off the stand it is on, wrap the stand in wrapping paper, and put the cake back on it, without ruining the cake?"

Hold your breath....Stacey:  "No...I can't do that without ruining the cake."  (look there.  I said no.  AND I assumed that the cake could indeed be WORSE)

11:45 AM, still with friends, chasing the girls, doing laundry, finishing lunch.  Noel's sister: "Can you collect flowers from around the yard and make 6 bouquets, one for each member of the bridal party?  And we have to leave in 30 minutes!"

Stacey:  "I'm sorry!  I just can't do that right now!  But you are welcome to walk around the campus and gather whatever flowers you would like and use my scissors and string!"

Ta-DAH!  I can and I DID.  Yes, I realize that technically I did not say "no."  But I did. I did say no, mind you...eventually. 

And then, to top it all off, when the wedding was over, and everyone went to the reception, and the groom stood up to welcome and thank everyone, he instead told everyone that due to lack of funds, there would be no reception, gave his regrets, and everyone went home. 

Which yes.  Means there was no reception FOR the cake.

or the Pringles cans.