20th Wedding Anniversary Celebration - Part One

Keith and I have many blessings in our lives, one being our marriage of 20 years. We felt a strong desire to celebrate this 20th wedding anniversary with our families and friends. In addition to having a party (I will write more about that in a later post) we had a very intimate "anniversary blessing" ceremony that preceded our party. Our parents, and a handful of our dear friends attended the ceremony that was officiated by our minister. For us it seemed like the right time to rejoice in our marriage and to celebrate our commitment to each other over all the changes that the last 20 years have brought into our lives. Sharing this blessing with our friends, family and minister honored our marriage in a very special and meaningful way.

The ceremony took place outside, on the deck of our friend's beautiful home in Bittersweet Woods. On this cool spring evening, we were not only surrounded by friends and family, but also by the beauty of magnificent budding trees and flowers.

Our ceremony was beautifully written by our minister and it reflected what is dear and important to us. The ceremony included a family blessing, a Wendell Berry poem, and blessings written and read by Amy and Stephanie. Mac and Ethan also shared a beautiful gift of music - a piano and violin duet of Pachelbel Cannon in D.

Below I posted only a few excerpts from ceremony.


Family Blessing written by our minister:

Keith, Kim, Mac and Ethan,
May the home you’ve made together continue to be the kind
That helps to make this world more home-like.
May it be a place of virtue and honor
Of hospitality and peace
Where all who arrive in peace are welcome
Where both adults and children are nourished.

Above all, may each of you always find such fulfillment there,
That you never cease to reach out in love and concern for others
So that those who have cause to follow your lives
Will rejoice not only in your success and happiness
But in your brave and generous living.

As this anniversary blessing brings a new meaning to love,
So allow this love to enrich the meaning of your life.


Excerpt from The Country of Marriage, by Wendell Berry


Sometimes our life reminds me of a forest
in which there is a graceful clearing
and in that opening a house,
an orchard and garden,
comfortable shades, and flowers
red and yellow in the sun, a pattern
made in the light for the light to return to.


The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep on going in.

Car Seat Cutie

Can't help but to post another adorable picture of Madelyn. She is 6 weeks old now but looks much more mature in this picture. My sister says that she smiles all the time now, which is clearly evident here.

Mac the Composer

This short video clip is a musical piece that was composed by Mac and his friend, Gabe. It is being preformed by a string quartet from the Indiana University Jacob's School of Music, during a school assembly. Enjoy!

Birthday Cupckes With a Touch of Spring

My friend ordered these cupcakes for a birthday celebration that includes three people whose birthdays are within a few days of each other. One being her birthday which also happens to be the first day of spring equinox. So with that in mind, I decided to make her cupcakes very spring-like with butterflies and flowers.

The funny thing is that every time I look at these pretty little cupcakes they remind me of a head of hair, an updo to be exact, with flowers, baby's breath, and butterflies pinned in the sides.

Look At This St. Patty's Day Sweetie!

Madelyn if five weeks old now and look how much she's grown! For and update on Madelyn click here.

Chandler House Tea Room

My tea-mates and I are always looking for an excuse to go to afternoon tea, and what better an excuse than Steph's birthday - The most exquisitely charming and classy tea lady that I know.

Chandler House Tea Room, which recently held a ribbon cutting ceremony on February 20th to celebrate its grand opening, is located in Bedford, Indiana. The tea room is a historic Victorian era home that was built in 1870. It serves lunch and is open Monday through Saturday, 11am - 2pm.

Although the tea room doesn't serve traditional afternoon tea, it does have a nice lunch menu with items such a soup, sandwiches, salads and quiche. I was delighted with the dessert selections as they were very afternoon tea-like. The teas are quality loose leaf teas with over 20 varieties to choose from.

The inside of the tea room is beautiful. There are three separate rooms, each tastefully decorated with antiques and lots of pretty tea accouterments.

Steph and I shared a pot of tea that came in this pretty brown and white toile teapot. Amy ordered an artisan tea and it was served in a glass teapot. Notice the pretty flowering presentation. Artisan teas are hand-sewn rosettes of fine teas that delicately unfurl when steeped in hot water.

Also notice the pretty teacups. We were each served tea in a unique china cup and it was hard to decide which one was the prettiest.

The food was delicious and we were all happy with our choices. I ordered a vegetable quiche that was served with a salad. Notice the cute little cutout cheese hearts that are on the salad.
For dessert, we ordered a variety of "tea" desserts, scones, tartlets and petit fours. They were all fabulous. My favorite were the petit fours, moist cake dipped in chocolate. Yum!We all had a lovely afternoon and will definitely be back for another visit. The Chandler House Tea Room is worth a stop in Beford. The service was friendly, the atmosphere elegant and cozy, and the tea and food were served hot and tasted delicious.