Tue 28 Nov 2006
Catching Up
Posted by Liza under Personal
I don’t know why, but it’s a lot harder for me to blog about good things and big events than stressful things or minutiae.
Which is why I still haven’t blogged about the wedding part of our trip to DC for a wedding, or the baptism part of Noah’s baptism yesterday.
The Wedding
The wedding was for a couple we just adore. Mikki and Claire went with us to St Martin on vacation last Thanksgiving week. Jill and Mikki have been close for years. Both of them are generous and loyal and smart and funny and we miss them so much. We are beyond happy that they found one another.
The service itself was intimate, sweet, charming, and moving. It was a Reconstructionist Jewish ceremony, including many traditional elements of a Jewish wedding, and a few personal touches.
My favorite part was that the Rabbi interviewed Claire and Mikki separately before the wedding, and asked each of them “Why her?” She took amazing notes on the answers, and told us what they said. It was a touching — and funny! — insight into their personalities and their relationship, and a great element for a wedding.
Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day:
Good times.
The Baptism
Noah and another baby, Madeleine, were both baptized yesterday. She was adorable, just a few weeks younger than Noah. During the preliminaries, she kept grabbing his hand and arm, which I thought was too cute.
I don’t know if this is unique to our church or is a Presbyterian tradition, but my favorite part is that they involve all the children present in the ceremony.
One child stands in front of the congregation, while the rest sit on the floor in front of the pews.
The child standing asks all of the others if they will promise to stand by Noah and Madeleine and be their friends, to help them if they fall down, and to guide them if they need help.
And they answer that they will.
It is the sweetest thing I have ever seen at church.
Here’s what the actual baptism looked like to me:
After the baptism, they finish the rest of the regular Sunday worship service. Noah sat with us, and when the choir started singing, Noah went wild! He loved it. L.O.V.E.D. IT. It looked like he was directing the choir. Only bigger and more wild.
And because of the baptism, we were seated in the front row of the church, so the entire congregation could see his enthusiasm. Approximately 1/3 of them mentioned it at the lunch after the service.
We also took a picture of the whole family, after the service and the lunch:
Today
J, partner of The Baby Juggler, is in town today, and she came over for dinner.
We had a great time catching up, hearing about all the challenges they’ve had moving all the way to the other side of the US with twin 2 year olds, and watching Noah dance.
But wow was it hard listening to her talk about living in her hometown. It made me so homesick for Milwaukee. Especially the part where J talked about all the people in her hometown whom she’s known for 25 years.
November 28th, 2006 at 9:48 am
“But wow was it hard listening to her talk about living in her hometown. It made me so homesick for Milwaukee. Especially the part where J talked about all the people in her hometown whom she’s known for 25 years”
uh-huh
you know we have a deal right? What did we say? Five years? Ten years? When we move to Milwaukee and Noah and Alex are best friends? They can hang with the Mulvey Kids and we’ll get a sitter and go to Landmark Lanes.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:53 am
We’re there, dudes. Dave’s talking about applying to Milwaukee magazine.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:59 am
Tee-hee. Were your ears burning last night? We had a whole chunk of conversation specifically about YOUR family.
(Of course others among you came up too. If Carrie & Dave can be talked into going back to Milwaukee, Adam can hang out with Alex and Noah, right? And Sam and Maggie. And Olivia and Caleb. And Emily and her forthcoming sibs. And Freddy and Andy. Who am I forgetting?)
November 28th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Adam, Alex and Noah would SO be best buds! All the kids would play together and have a blast!
My ears werent burning but every night I say to Dave “We need to call Liza” and then all of a sudden its time for bed.
I predict we’re all going back to Milwaukee to raise our kids and grow old together.
.. and does anyone else find it funny that it is actually MY HUSBAND that grew up with all of you (and even..ahem.. dated some of you), but ME who is saying “yeah.. lets eventually go to Milwaukee to be with your friends and family”
I have totally infiltrated your circle
November 28th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
I’ll come to visit!
November 28th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Henry is more than welcome! In fact, if you and he and The Mistah would like to move to Milwaukee, too, I promise you’d be welcomed with open arms.
November 28th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Lizzie, you know, it isn’t that I don’t remember that we haven’t known you as long as we’ve known Dave…more that it just seems completely irrelevant.
Resistance, not that I think you put up any, was futile. You have been assimilated.
November 28th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
“Resistance is futile”
GEEK!
and for some reason.. being assimilated sounds dirty.
and seriously.. if Lizzy, Henry and The Mistah were to move to Milwaukee too.. I swear I’d be in heaven.
November 28th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
“Resistance, not that I think you put up any, was futile. You have been assimilated. ”
Muahahahaha!
We are the Beerg… Resistance is futile.
But seriously… last one to Milwaukee is a rotten egg.
November 28th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
“We are the Beerg…” I snorted water all over my keyboard at that one!
And yeah, I am a geek. (A nice federal law enforcement agent came to my office a couple of weeks ago and asked me why on earth I had a bumpersticker that said “geek” on my wall. Um. Either it’s hilarious or inexplicable?)
November 28th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
Lizzie, it’s my Dave who’s suggesting Milwaukee too! He has been asudsilated into the Beerg. (And he adds another Dave to the group, plus my brother-in-law Dave. Remember Dave-squared, Dave-cubed, etc.? We’ll have to expand the system. Or tell Peter, Scott and everyone else to change their names to Dave.)
Liza, when Dave calls me a nerd, I call him a nerd-lover. He looks abashed, and says, “It’s true.”
November 30th, 2006 at 10:09 am
You guys just look SOOOO great. The other issue is when posting is too personal… I try to keep my kids out of my blog - at least as far as their own issues are concerned but it’s tough. So there’s some sort of censor hanging around in our heads, too.