{pretty, happy, funny, real} in January

| a weekly capturing of contentment in everyday life |

Today I'm inserting a little "normal" {p,h,f,r} post before the Series of Fortunate Events finale (the wedding!) I really and truly can not believe that we're in the final days of January. I know everyone says this, but this time I really mean it. How is it possible? We began the month in what we call in these parts "full twirl" - holidays, family & friends and wedding festivities. We're ending the month kind of quietly, which has its own profound beauty. Brian and I are headed to a retreat center with a small group of Christ Church friends intent on learning new ways to come alongside lonely and overwhelmed people. January brought a lot of goodness, with some moments of sharp sorrow interspersed. Through it all, we hope to be grateful.

A few photos to practice contentment this week

| pretty |

Morning light in two locations

I was caught by the January morning light on a table centerpiece in my house, and then in the mostly-empty church sanctuary during Friday morning Epiphany prayer service.  

| happy |

Slow Cooking Saturday

It's been too long since we've made a good, old-fashioned meal for company. When Brian talked with two of his co-workers (whom we'd wanted to have over for the longest time) about what we'd eat, they decided to each bring one part of the meal and we'd prepare it all together.  I guess the idea came when Brian bragged about his (amazing) GF Chicken parm, and they wanted to know how he made it.  So why not cook all together?  Bekah made a hearty, delicious salad.  Sarah & Drew brought the most delectable homemade ice cream I've ever tasted.  (better than non-homemade, too!)  We had to fight with the kids to get our fair share of that yumminess.

Visiting the Newlyweds in Houston

I promise we waited a whole two weeks!  Long enough for them to actually want company, we hope.  We filled the back of our van with remaining wedding gifts, furniture and odds & ends they'd left behind.  I loved seeing their sweet apartment, their wedding gifts in use (note the lovely cobalt blue glass in the foreground above).  They made us coffee in a new coffeemaker, and we sat around and looked at the gorgeous sneak preview pics their wedding photographer posted.  

| funny |

Wedding pics & gifts

Speaking of wedding photos, I tried to snap a pic of us all trying to look at the same exact pictures at the same exact time.  It wasn't an exact science, but it was worth a try! There was one gift left unopened - this dreamy Nespresso machine from my sister-in-law's very generous mother.  Don't you love that reaction?  

Brian's church office

No, he did not order this nameplate for himself. Yes, he has been known to say this about himself on occasion

Making mischief at Aunt T's house

Even though it seems like it's been months since our family visited from the Northeast, I keep stumbling on sweet little reminders that it wasn't actually that long ago.  Take, for example, the original artwork on the pillow case above.  

You've heard of Making A Murderer?  Here's our spin-off: Making A Mischief-Maker.  Judge for yourself and start cranking out the conspiracy theories.  I, for one, am still not sure which sweet angel is responsible.

Whodunnit: Cade or Ellie? from Tamara Hill Murphy on Vimeo.

| real |

Kendra made the Dean's List!

We are | real-ly | proud of her.  Also, I'm learning that mothers never stop wanting to cover their refrigerators with their kids' accomplishments.  Someone once told me that God has a picture of each of us on his refrigerator.  I'm pretty sure that was metaphorical, but I totally understand the parental impulse!

Epiphany dinner with Christ Church staff

Someone recently asked me what these years in Austin have meant (assuming we'll need to move again for my husband to serve as Rector after his ordination).  Austin has been about healing, hope, hardship, growing up to be more like Christ and more like our truest selves.  I said a lot more than that.

This group of people -- the Christ Church pastors, staff and their families --  are forever imprinted on our hearts and intertwined in our way of seeing the world.  Sometimes Brian refers to this staff as "lightning in a bottle". In other words, it's almost impossible to gather in one place or to hold onto for very long. For this brief time in our lives we were part of something really special. I want to celebrate that, even if we won't be together for much longer. The kingdom of Christ has no end, and our hearts will be forever held together with this group of people.

Have YOU captured any contentment this week? 

 I'd love to hear about it!

| Join in at P,H,F,R to see other wonderful people practicing contentment. |

{pretty, happy, funny, real} next in the Series of Fortunate Events, the Rehearsal Dinner!

| a weekly capturing of contentment in everyday life | 

I'm almost finished with the Series of Fortunate Events (wish I'd thought of that title earlier!).  Today I'm sharing the pretty, happy, funny and real photos from the Rehearsal Dinner we hosted for Alex & Rebekah's wedding party and families on New Year's Day.  Next week, I'll share some about the wedding itself.  And, then, we'll go back to plain old, boring life moments for a little while.  Until a festive blip of birthdays and Easter holidays in March and then a Grand Finale of celebrations in May with Alex's college graduation, Brian's ordination to the Anglican priesthood and Natalie's high school graduation. (Yes, all of those things will happen within three weeks of each other.  As my sister said "Nothing ever happens one at a time with the Murphy family.") 

(Here's part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 recapping this season of milestone celebrations for our family.)

| pretty, happy, funny, real |

Before the photos, here's a few bits of story regarding the planning of the Rehearsal Dinner.  I find myself still at a loss for words in the deep gratitude Brian and I felt about the entire affair, so a bullet list will have to do until better words form themselves in my brain.

• This is our first time to be the parents of a bride or groom

• By Austin standards, we are not well-off in terms of cash. By any standards, we are filthy rich in terms of friends.

• Even though we didn't have a savings account all prepared for the day our kids get married, we did have plenty of dreams and ideals of what celebrating with them would look and feel like.

• There is no place I would rather have celebrated Alex & Rebekah's rehearsal dinner than FoodHeads Cafe -- even with every resource at my fingertips.  The atmosphere is delightful during every season, and the food is spot-on yummy. Always.

photo credit: FoodHeads website

As it turns out, we are fortunate enough to call FoodHeads owners Chip & Candi Wendt our friends.  When we asked to reserve their venue and hire them as caterers for New Year's Day, we knew we were asking a lot.  When we told them the number of people we were hoping to feed and the budget we'd set aside, we hoped they would still consider us friends!

The day of the rehearsal, we stopped by to drop off a few items.  Chip, Candi, and their beautiful daughter Lily were bustling around adding finishing touches.  The kitchen was warm with delicious aromas.  I stood in the middle of the room and held back tears.  

Later on, in the privacy of our car, I actually broke down in sobs. Not only had Chip & Candi welcomed our ideas and our budget, they made my dream of a lovely, warm, charming rehearsal dinner come to vibrant life.  All that before I even tasted the heavenly, perfectly-prepared food!

Here's Chip! (Unfortunately, we didn't catch Candi in time for a photo.)

So there's the background to the story.  And here's a couple more points of "dreams coming true" this evening.

| the space |

While we could have managed the evening had the pouring rain forecasted all week actually happened, it was so much better that we didn't have to worry about it.  With the help of Chip's kerosene heaters, some wind-protective tarp and a toasty fire pit, the guests were able to mingle both indoors and out throughout the evening.

| the music |

What's an Austin party venue without live music?  One of the first people we talked to after Alex & Bekah set their wedding date was our precious friend Scott. Not all of the world's best guitarists live in Austin, and we have missed hearing him play for all of these years.

 

| the parents |

How many parents of the bride and groom actually WANT to sit together at the rehearsal dinner?  We couldn't wait for a few quiet moments to spend with Bekah's parents.  Bernie and Jodi have become some of our dearest friends (so much so, that we told the kids years ago that no matter what happened to their relationship we planned on being friends with the Cummins family for life!) 

Joy beyond joy, fortune upon fortune.

| the food |

The photos might speak for themselves:  pulled pork sliders, home fried chicken strips (with the zippy honeydill ranch dipping sauce), a-mazing baked salmon, delicious spicy slaw, homemade macaroni & cheese (a huge hit with Brian!), savory roasted brussel sprouts (another favorite) FoodHeads famous homemade icebox pickles, cheese platter (Vermont cheddar, brie & peppered goat cheese), creamy, comfy butternut squash soup, all rounded off by sweet jars of tartlets (chocolate cake, peach cobbler and succulent key lime).  With all the scurry of wedding prep and travel -- this felt like a moment we got to hit "pause" and pay attention to the delicious food and friendships.  It may go down as one of my favorite meals of all time. (although the reception BBQ we'd be feasting on the next day is a sturdy contender!)

| the toasts & blessings |

Another first decision we made about the rehearsal dinner was to ask my Dad (Alex's grandfather) to open our time in prayer.  He has loved his grandchildren so well, and his blessing was another one of those "dreamed about since my kids were babies" moment.  Add to that the few words I prepared, and it was all a bit surreal. And, it may sound over the top, but I promise you it felt fitting in the moment:  Brian and I concluded my toast by singing the lullaby we sang over our kids during the years we were the ones putting them to bed: Barocha by Michael Card.  In those days we could have never known that we'd be singing the same words of blessing over a new daughter-in-law belonging to the very people who gave us the Christ of the Aaronic Blessing.  (and, how I wish I could share a video of her uncle singing the blessing in its original Hebrew during the ceremony the next day!)

After our toast we opened the floor for anyone who wanted to give blessing.  It's one of those moments every mother remembers again, and give thanks for the tribe that surrounds her children, broods over them, prays for them, and walks with them through life.  May God be praised for this wonderful gift of community who have loved Alex and Rebekah so well all these years.

 

| the friendship & conversation |

 

  

 

 

| the finale |

While the rehearsal dinner is truly for the Bride & Groom and their wedding party to relax and refresh before the big day, we chose a couple of moments to be about our own little wish dreams.  For example, a week or two before the dinner (probably on Christmas Eve when we think about this memory the most), I blurted to Brian "You and Scott should sing Silent Night at the rehearsal dinner!"  

If you knew us in New York, this was the tradition: at the close of our Christmas Eve services every year our church -- like many other churches -- would sing Silent Night during a closing candlelighting service.  For the years that Brian and I were on the worship team at the church, Brian and Scott would lead out on the song.  It's just one of those sweet things you don't really think about too much until you've moved across the country and it's Christmas Eve and you're lighting candles with a different church singing the same song.  

I didn't actually expect Brian to follow up on the idea, assuming it was just one of many last minute sappy, over-the-top ideas I tried to pull off in the days leading up to the wedding (most were, thankfully, vetoed).  To my delight, as the evening was winding down and the kids were leaving and it was just a few of us left lingering around the porch, this happened: (and may my husband be forever blessed)

   

Brian & Scott lead us in Silent Night to close out rehearsal dinner.

from Tamara Hill Murphy on Vimeo.

Have YOU captured any contentment this week? 

 I'd love to hear about it!

| Join in at P,H,F,R to see other wonderful people practicing contentment. |