On turning 39

When I announced Sunday morning that I had turned 39 last Friday, nobody, not even the visitors in services, believed me. I could tell by the look of incredulity on their faces. Then I explained that on Friday I turned 39 as a husband...

We never seem to understand where the time has gone when we see our children getting older, then our grandchildren growing. But time passes and we can only seek to use each day given us to the best advantage. But now that the subject of marriage has come up, I thought I would share some photos of weddings we've participated in over the last year.

This past Sunday, in fact, we had the first wedding ceremony in our new church building. Abbie and Jackie worked hard getting the flower arrangements fixed for Nelio and Rita's wedding. Nelio was baptized in December 2001, and in the past year he has moved to England, where he is working. The newlyweds will be returning to England in about a month.

Back in April, we attended the wedding of Blanchard and Rosa. (Left) Leaving the church. (Right) At the reception. They are originally from Angola, but have been living in the Lisbon area for many years. They got married in the Third Baptist Church of Lisbon, where they are members. Blanchard's company sent him to Madeira last year to work for several months, and this year he has returned to the island. He may be with us for several more months yet. Rosa is working and studying on the mainland. Blanchard is a member of musical groups in the church in Lisbon, and he's a welcome addition to our small choir. Two weeks ago in services we sang a song he taught us in Kikongo, his native language.

The wedding reception was marked by Angolan food, music, and traditions, and we are glad we were invited to be a part of it.
















The bride and groom were led into the reception hall by two lines of dancers.


It was a party for the little girls, too.


Finally, and AT LONG LAST, here is a family picture taken at Joy and Mark's wedding a year ago. I guess by now they're an old married couple, and I might as well put a couple of pictures from their visit here in June, shortly before their first anniversary. One is a night view of Funchal taken at a reception on board a ferry. The four of us were a little more informal on our outing to the top of the island. The peak is close to 6000 feet in altitude.





















Since I'm posting some pictures from their visit, I mustn't leave out Rick, Margaret and the grandkids, who were here a couple of weeks ago. It all adds up to evidence that 39 years of marriage is not so far out of the question after all.




In these pictures you can see that it was a little cooler when we went up to the same peak with Rick's family. One of the things that most impressed the grandkids was seeing bananas growing on the trees.



With all this posting about the passing of time, and about kids and grandkids, it's most appropriate that today is my mother's 89th birthday. Happy birthday, Mom!