Sara's Bridesmaids

Selfie of all five of us warming in the car before outside pictures last Saturday:

the last day of December.

WHO does outside pictures (in sleeveless dresses!) on a windy 32F day?!?

We all survived :)

pictures from Sam and Sara's special day

The Happy Couple :)

the entire wedding party (photo thanks to Megan M.)

(photo by Megan M.)

Of course the "W" is for "Wedding"...
or, maybe it's for "Williams"-?

The cake (made by Sara's sister-in-law) was so beautiful! Fresh blueberries and blackberries as decoration... that's my kind of cake :).

Friends from Afar

Michelle and me at Sara's reception

December was a month of guests at our house...

friends from our Africa days (originating from multiple countries) traveled from afar to spend time visiting, and to attend Sara and Susanna's weddings. What a treat to have international friends make the long journeys to this Pennsylvania destianation!

Last Thursday, Sara and I sneaked away from the wedding hubbub and drove to Philadelphia to collect our friend Michelle, who traveled all the way from British Columbia to celebrate with Sam and Sara on Saturday! Her brief two-day visit flew by, but not without special times spent together. Thanks, Michelle, for coming to visit. [and thanks, Andrew and kiddos for letting her come.]

414 roomies

Sara, Susanna, me, and Sharon at Susanna's wedding the weekend before Christmas.
These gals have been an incredibly special part of my life here in Pennsylvania.

Yesterday Sara married Sam!

what a privilege to be part of Sara and Sam's special day!

I played maid-of-honor yesterday for Sara as she married our mutual friend (my former coworker) Sam. What a lovely day. (more posts to come, of course!)

For now, here's a reprint from my speech at the reception:

My relationship with Sara isn’t touchy-feely… I guess because neither of us are uber touchy-feely people. And I think I didn’t realize how much Sara has been a sister to me these past three years… until these past several months when we both knew life was about to majorly change. While I’m thrilled that Sara and Sam are merging their life journeys into one, I will miss the significant companionship Sara and I have shared the past three years.

Sara is one of my favorite traveling companions. We’ve wandered all over Zambia’s southern province, and bits of Zimbabwe, and Malawi on the African continent, as well as traveled together to Colorado, Virginia, and of course multiple parts of Pennsylvania here in the States.

I love traveling with Sara for so many reasons—her excitement, which is contagious. Her planning, which is meticulous. Her last-minute-ness yet always prepared-enough-ness. Her fearlessness, and bluntness. Her road trip music. Her packing—just a few items, but so much variety, simplicity, and significance all tied together. Her adaptability, and her little snacks.

Not only have Sara and I traveled together, we’ve hiked together, dreamed together, planned together, hosted together… and as we’ve lived together, we’ve shared deep soul moments. The kind of moments that words don’t really express.

If I had to choose three words to describe Sara, I think I’d say, Complex, Intelligent, and Lovely. Sara’s the sort of friend who lives on a fairly small income, yet isn’t afraid to spring for an expensive luxury here and there. She’s also the sort of friend who expands my vocabulary (probably once a week she uses a word in normal conversation which I have to ask for a definition or remain semi-clueless of its meaning as we continue our dialogue) [sagacious gal!], and she inspires me with her discoveries of how to make the world a more beautiful place.

Sara is a friend who faithfully listens to me unload a stressful day at work, keeps tiny lists of everything scattered throughout her purse, and stashes snacks under her bed in preparation for midnight cravings (Cheez-its with Nutella was a fave for a while).

While sharing life in Zambia, Sara and I found a space in this world to be together. Sara’s the one who shared tea time with me in the bush… more than once. Just her and me, and our chairs, and our tea out under that vast African sky. It was a bit of soul food, a respite from the normal challenging moments that met me on the veranda every day.

And as I packed my life into a couple suitcases and crossed the ocean to the world of a new job in an immeasurably different culture, one of the most meaningful pieces of my Zambian good-byes was a handwritten note from Sara.

Sam, I’m so thankful that you will have Sara’s deep thoughtfulness alongside you throughout life. Her complex, intelligent, loveliness is a gem to cherish. I’m filled with anticipation as your lives merge together onto one path. With Sara’s excitement, adaptability, dreams, and little road trip snacks, it’s going to be an incredible journey! And, I hope you’ll both continue to include each of us along the way, to whatever extent we can be a blessing and encouragement, as you live out God’s calling on your life as husband and wife. 

stockings

I used Seth's hand-me-down stocking (backwards to hide his name :) )
and Sharon has the cute bunny stocking

I made it back to Pennsylvania just in time to exchange a few little Christmas gifts with Sara and Sharon before the weekend wedding busyness ensues. We had a sweet time discovering the dollar store treasures we chose for each other... as we sipped hot drinks and discussed detail after detail regarding the wedding ;).

The funniest gift was a second-hand mug I bought for Sharon last month... it was the exact same design as one of Sara's mugs. Since I knew Sara would be moving this month, and we all liked said mug, I bought the "replacement" mug for Sharon. When Sharon opened the mug, she wondered why Sara was giving her mug away. Meanwhile, Sara was wondering why I was gifting her mug to Sharon!

Sara's Tea

Early in December we hosted a high tea to celebrate Sara's upcoming wedding to Sam. Sharon and I planned the details and solicited assistance from various friends and family.

The end result was a lovely party.