Wedding Day, 20 Dec: the Bride is ready!

...And she is beautiful!



Instead of a veil, Rachel wore this headband and flower-hair piece - Theo's creation, which turned out so lovely and perfect with Rachel's short hair.

Okay, okay, this isn't a bride photo - it's me and Ellie. But it's such a nice photo of our dresses and the flowers (and the crazy earrings from Rachel!) that I couldn't resist.

Wedding Day, 20 Dec: preparations

Early afternoon on Saturday we gathered together in the Blacknall church parlor (and women's bathroom) to dress and get ready for the wedding ceremony. Though there were 4 bridesmaids and 1 bride, there were also about 8-10 other women (and 2 children: Lillian and Phillip) in the parlour helping to get ready! It was a bit of a madhouse at times. "Where's Mom?" and "I'm hungry...is there any food around?" and "Oh man this ribbon is hard to put on." and "Rachel, you look beautiful!" were frequent comments. From my side, it was a strange feeling to see my sister preparing for her wedding day in the same room of the same church as I and Katie had both done 7 1/2 years before.

Below is Mindy, Rachel's friend from Appalachian State U days, who was an amazing lifesaver on the "day of" - among other things, she did Rachel's make-up.



Rachel with Theo Roddy, who made the bouquets and Rachel's headpiece. SO lovely.

Ellie (and Monica reaching in from behind) helped Katie fix her hair.

Okay, Rachel, are you almost ready?!

Rehearsal Dinner, 19 Dec

Rachel and Craig held the rehearsal dinner at the Blacknall Church fellowship hall, and a big crowd of family and friends (100+) joined for a Hog Heaven dinner, the Newlywed game (the soon-to-be against their parents), remarks by bridal party and lots of talking and hugging.

The 19th was also Dad and Mom's 38th anniversary!


Hannah noted that Phillip very eagerly ate the hush puppies and seemed to demonstrate his southern roots in doing so. Not sure how he felt about the North Carolina barbeque (pulled pork) with cole slaw.

Hannah and Miner cousin Ruth with her 1st son John Thomas. Second son William is in the car seat in the background.

Jul with Ellie and Karen Friesen nee Mulle. We've grown up together (though at different phases of life) and it was like being with 2 more sisters again. Ellie is a sophomore at Wake Forest and Karen, now married to John, lives in Winnipeg.

Kate and I both shared a few memories about Rachel. Hey Craig, watch out, you're the youngest in the family now!

Hawkins Christmas Morning

A few photos from Christmas morning - at the Lake Gaston lakehouse we rented. We ate cinnamon rolls, sausage and coffee for breakfast, then opened stockings and a few presents, plus of course the new tradition of Rita's Gift Basket, which we do "raffle style" or "white elephant style" by picking numbers then selecting the gift out of the basket in turn.

Hannah carefully put up all the stockings on the railing and Rita took our photo (Katie, Kyle and Lillian were absent from the photo, and I'm holding Jack). Nice one, Matt. Is that a peace sign?

Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas

Since the Hawkins family is all together this week (in celebration of Rachel and Craig's wedding on Saturday) we decided to have Christmas Day together on Monday. In proper tradition, we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, followed by stockings and some presents.

Jim and I were assigned to "potato dough cinnamon roll" duty - the famous Edna Ruth Byler recipe from More with Less that we do every year. (Okay so we begged Mom to let us do the honors and make them.) We made a batch of 100 and shared it with Mom; we did 36 cinnamon rolls and she did about 75 dinner rolls. For 13 adults and 3 children under age 3, we had plenty!






*More family reunion and wedding photos to come soon!

Back in Wheaton (and the snow)!!

Departed Cape Town on Monday evening and arrived Wheaton on Tuesday afternoon, 20,000 miles later (or something ridiculous) - yes, there's snow here!! And yes, it's cold!! We definitely had forgotten what this felt like.

So to reacclimate, Wednesday morning Jim shovelled the front walkway and we went for a walk around the neighborhood, Wheaton campus, and "downtown" Wheaton. Crossing streets and intersections, we had to hang on to each other and remind each other which way to look before crossing - right? left? where are the cars coming from?!



Below: So many Starbucks in this country! Here's the one in downtown Wheaton, a 10-minute walk away - amazingly strong coffee aroma in the air as we walked by. No we did not go in.



Below: Blanchard Hall, the original main building of Wheaton College. We stood on the lawn in front and threw a few snowballs around. Seemed a bit strange to see students still on campus (since UCT has been finished for a month) - but of course there are still 1 1/2 weeks of the semester left here.

So far we've had two nights of good sleep - no waking up at 2 am, although the first morning I woke up and thought, "Where am I? ... Oh, right!" I think we're slowly starting to get into it now...Mom G's cooking helps. Wow what a good meal we had last night.

Hair Cut

Yesterday after work (walking home as usual) I stopped at the hairdresser to get a much-needed haircut. I've been wanting to do this for a couple of weeks in anticipation of our Christmas trip and Rachel's wedding.

I went to "Step Ahead" first because I'd heard they have a "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" deal going. Not sure how that could work but it does sound like a deal. Unfortunately I found out the deal is no longer going and since I don't qualify for a student discount ("But my husband's a student! And we're on a student budget!" to which to receptionist replied with a blank stare) I didn't have enough cash on me to pay their price, so I walked over instead to "No Name Hair Salon", which is where I went the last time. It does have a name but I don't recall it at the moment.

This little salon is squeezed between a frozen yogurt shop and an Indian takeaway restaurant, next to the Woolworth's grocery store (also on my way home). There are 2 employees - one is the woman who washed my hair and one is the woman who cut my hair. On the walls of the salon are several posters of modern haircuts and several 30-years+ large framed prints of children playing.

The woman washing my hair was particularly chatty that afternoon, especially when she discovered that I am American. Then she proceeded to talk enthusiastically about Obama. "Yes we all have high hopes for him. With the economy this way we hope he can fix it and help the world. That will be a challenge." Meanwhile I scrunched in my chair trying to tilt my neck better into the wash basin without getting the typical muscle cramps. Partway through the process she called out to a departing customer and they bantered back and forth in Afrikaans for a few minutes. The smell of my shampoo mingled with the incense stick burning on the receptionist desk.

When she finished I switched chairs for my cut. This woman was more brisk with me, confident and comfortable with scissors. Maybe too comfortable. I said I like my hair long but want some more layers - just a trim please, my sister's wedding is in two weeks. She nodded and started cutting. Within 15 minutes she was finished and had cut off between 2 - 4 inches (in places). "What do you think? See the layers?" she queried. "Oh, yes. Well." I replied. There are definitely layers but where did all my long hair go?

I thanked her and paid my 65 Rand (currently equal to $6), and walked out into the sunshine and wind. I walked home briskly and as soon as I came inside, I went to the mirror. Okay, this is it. Hope Rachel likes it!

*Sorry no photo on this one. I'm not quite "into" the haircut yet. And let's be honest, who takes a camera along to the hairdresser?