Hi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Jane (PlainJane) and I am the blessed and happy wife to Jeff and doubly blessed mama of two perfectly wonderful daughters. Please join me as I share our Lifestyle of Learning through Christian homeschooling and homesteading on our little hobby farm with our prairie girls.
Bookworm is our dd14/9th grader.
Our perfectionist and over-achiever. She loves reading, playing violin, her Paint horse, Annie, being a farm girl, and History re-entacting.
Ladybug
is our dd11/6th grader.
Our "girls just want to have fun" girl. She loves to play and has a great sense of humor, but also likes reading, music, her Quarter Horse, Kitty, and History re-enactment.
We are finished reading
the Moody books
By Sarah Maxwell
and HIGHLY recommend them
Please click on images for
information
~ I am a part of... ~
he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you -- THEY ARE YOUR LIFE. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." Deuteronomy 32:46-47
May. 1, 2008~ Happy Anniversary ~
15 years ago today was a very special day in my life...
our wedding day!!!
So, in meme style, here are a few facts about our special day...
Jeff & I dated about 2 years before he popped the question. It wasn't exactly a surprise and he's not exactly the most romantic fellow. We went to the Conservatory, one of my favorite places, but Jeff was so nervous that instead of proposing to me in one of the beautifully flora-ed rooms, he proposed in a not-so-attractive in-between room in front of the pop machine. :) I still said yes.
That was on February 6th. We set our wedding date for May 1st - less than 3 months later. I wanted an easy-to-remember date as I'm so bad at names and dates. It's good we decided on a small wedding! We didn't want to make it too big of a deal since we were older (I was 34 years old at the time - my first & only marriage - a late bloomer I guess).
The big day was cool and rainy. The wedding was in a small chapel of the large church that Jeff & I were attending. And the reception was in a room in the lower level. I wanted a small but tastefully formal wedding and so there were less than 30 in attendance - including the wedding party. We didn't even have a rehersal the night before.
Finding a gown was a real adventure....after visiting countless bridal shops and looking through many bridal-type magazines, my mom and I stopped in at a bridal consignment store in a posh area of the Cities. My mom found a gown the SHE loved, a replica of Jackie O's gown ~ it was everything Mrs. Kennedy complained it was -- super heavy, and I looked like Little Bo Peep, not to mention it was so tight I was afraid I'd pop the zipper in the middle of the wedding. My mom loved the dress and told me to lose weight (my ribs can only get so small) and offered to pay for it, but I hated it and declined. Instead, we ended up going to one of those bridal sales at a hotel where about 200 young brides stampede into a ballroom at 8 am and start grabbing gowns off the racks (very fun). I already knew what I was looking for, and found a near-perfect match - a candlelight white, dupioni silk gown with a very full skirt. It was slightly big on me, but it would have to do, I didn't have time for alterations. Of course, my mom (pouting the whole time) was mad that I didn't get "her" gown, so she didn't volunteer to pay for any of this one, but I bought it just the same and made my own vail (I still have the silk roses I had glued on the headpeice).
Pictured: Jeff's brothers were his groomsmen & two of my best friends were with me. A third friend I would have loved to be up there too, but I had her with the guest book, lest I have more up front than in the pews. Btw, fushia was not my top choice for the maid's dresses; I love blue, but since my best friend/matron-of-honor had "my color" for her wedding, I decided not to do the same.
Of course that wasn't the only thing that didn't go smoothly or perfectly (and I won't go into all those that involved my mom), but if I had to do over again, I wouldn't have had my hair put up. I had/have fairly long hair and even though some of you gals look great with short hair, I never have - I should have wore my hair down, but after spending lots of time & $$ that morning at the salon, I was afraid to let me hair down.
Also, my bouquet & the fresh flowers on the cake didn't turn out anything like I ordered, but once they arrived at the chruch, it was too late to do anything about it. I really wanted a long bouquet with some pink & lavander flowers - I even gave them a magazine picture and told them to make my arrangement EXACTLY like the picture - it was NOTHING like it. The perfectionist in me was crushed. Also, I forgot to tell the florist that my wedding cake was small, so you can imagine my surprise when I find the cake topper almost as big as the cake itself. lol There were other little (or not so little) problems with the caterer; with forgetting my Seiko watch in Jeff's tux pocket ~ never to see it again; and with my mom in a YELLING rage at the price of catering (boy did that put a damper on the day).
All in all, it ended up being a tiring, so-so day. We spent our wedding night at home (Jeff owned a little house already) and opened our gifts the next day at my parents' townhouse. A couple of days later we flew off to the Florida Keys for our honeymoon - which even then we had flight delays and missed a connection and spent way too much time in airports.
Dispite all the faux pas of our wedding day, our marriage has gone swimmingly. Oh, not that there is never any hiccups, but I praise God for a happy and strong marriage and a faithful husband.
ps - Bookworm was born nearly 11 months later and we felt God calling us to homeschool even before her birth. I Love my life!!! Thank you Lord!!!
Oh, and btw, tonight we will "celebrate" by just going out as a family to Applebees -- boy, are we ever partiers.
Aren't weddings wonderful!!(sarcasm intended!) We've encouraged our girls to elope....with our consent of course!! We'll give them money for a down-payment on a house in lieu of a big wedding!!:-) Actually what I learned from my wedding is to really listen to my daughters and give them what THEY want and not complain.
Our daughter was born 10 months later too!!:-)
I think Applebees is the best choice you have in that town...unless you want fast food!!:-)
Awwww I LOVED reading that! What a special day and a special couple.
I should share my wedding faux pas ha! so many! I even had to report to Harris Labs on our wedding night or forfit the $800 for the study I had started 6 months earlier hehee. If I had to do it over....
Awww... Happy Anniversary! I'm so happy for you. If it matters much, I always celebrate our anniversary with the whole family. My kids make everything such a fun celebration. So, Applebees sounds great!
Too funny about the pop machines....
What a beautiful bride. Your hair was so lovely "up" like that. And I don't think I ever knew anyone who actually was in one of those bride stampedes you see on the television. Hey. Maybe I saw you!
bethanyrae
I wanted to let you know that I am hosting my first giveaway over at my blog! It is to celebrate Mother's Day! Stop by and tell me why you are happy to be a mother and you could win an awesome devotional book, a journal and a cooking with kids CD-Rom.
Enjoy your weekend with your family!
SchoolinRhome
Here is the giveaway link:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SchoolinRhome/525838/
Hey thanks for dropping by my blog too. I'm just getting to this and trying to learn my way around. Thank you also for the very encouraging comments about our house sale. I really appreciate it! Congratulations on your anniversary! We will be celebrating #8 this summer.
that things would go wrong, and agreed not to let it matter. They did, but I don't remember much. You look gorgeous in that top close-up picture. I'm glad your marriage isn't as rocky as the wedding!
Happy Anniversary!
I so enjoyed the photos you shared. Have any recent ones?? ;o)
I hope your evening out was enjoyable.
May the Lord bless y'all with a lifetime of a special husband/wife relationship and a marriage with Christ at the center.
Not dis-similar to ours, which I will get around to one day LOL.
Many 'fairytale beginnings' see to end up shattered too soon, with only the debt to remember them by - lets hear it for us - the late bloomers who had to have a practical slant on life from day one!!!!!
Happy 'belated' Anniversary, my friend! May your year be filled with special blessings! Thank you for sharing :)
We have started SOW! We are only now on day 2 but I've been prepping and praying all along. The Lord even led us to new Bibles and they are the best homeschool tool/text/book that we have ever invested our homeschool funds into!!!
Well, in 15 min. we are starting our AM Family Devotions, so I must run!!
I enjoyed this post immensely! I'm so glad I was able to come visit tonight. You look beautiful! I love your dress - I've never seen one quite like it - there is kind of a ruffle along the collar over the arms. That is really pretty. You had a short engagement! I guess with two years of dating, you didn't want to waste time. Congratulations on your 15th anniversary. That is wonderful that your marriage has gone so much better than your wedding :)
Antoinette
Finding a gown was a real adventure....after visiting countless bridal shops and looking through many bridal-type magazines, my mom and I stopped in at a bridal consignment store in a posh area of the Cities. My mom found a gown the SHE loved, a replica of Jackie O's gown ~ it was everything Mrs. Kennedy complained it was -- super heavy, and I looked like Little Bo Peep, not to mention it was so tight I was afraid I'd pop the zipper in the middle of the wedding. My mom loved the dress and told me to lose weight (my ribs can only get so small) and offered to pay for it, but I hated it and declined. Instead, we ended up going to one of those bridal sales at a hotel where about 200 young brides stampede into a ballroom at 8 am and start grabbing gowns off the racks (very fun). I already knew what I was looking for, and found a near-perfect match - a candlelight white, dupioni silk gown with a very full skirt. It was slightly big on me, but it would have to do, I didn't have time for alterations. Of course, my mom (pouting the whole time) was mad that I didn't get "her" gown, so she didn't volunteer to pay for any of this one, but I bought it just the same and made my own vail (I still have the silk roses I had glued on the headpeice).
Pictured: Jeff's brothers were his groomsmen & two of my best friends were with me. A third friend I would have loved to be up there too, but I had her with the guest book, lest I have more up front than in the pews. Btw, fushia was not my top choice for the maid's dresses; I love blue, but since my best friend/matron-of-honor had "my color" for her wedding, I decided not to do the same. 
