Holy Matrimony

Keeping with the "H" post from the beginning of our trip to KC, today's post is Holy Matrimony.  We went to KC for the weekend to attend 2 weddings of our nephews.

The first wedding was Friday night.  It was for Clint, the son of Allen's brother, Harley, who passed away 8 years ago due to familial glomerulosclerosis; a scarring of the tiny tissues/membranes within the kidney. It tends to run in families.  We are crossing our fingers for Al.

Here are some pictures of our kids with their cousins, Jenny and Clint back from 1987.  Grandpa and Grandma Graber had brought them up to visit for the day.  The kids had so much fun!  This swing set was eventually relocated to the farm.

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Clint and Erin's wedding was at the Twenty-eight Event Space.  It is in an old warehouse, minutes from downtown KC.

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We were all assigned a table # for the reception.

 The wedding ceremony was so sweet and God-honoring too.

 After the wedding.

 The pastor was assigned to our table too.  He was so enjoyable to get to know!  He has been a missionary in Venezuela, Costa Rica and Guatemala so we had much to talk about.

 

The darling couple

Cousin catch-up.

 cute picture, Josh and Emeri!

photo bombing papa

******

The next day, my brother Doug's boy, Brandon, was married.

A couple photos of Brandon and our kids from many years ago.  (That upset little toddler, Josh ended up being a worship pastor and plays piano for his job!)

These pictures were taken 6 years ago.  

Doug died of a sudden heart attack 5 years ago.

Brandon and Sara were married at Eventful in Westin, MO.  The drive there was just beautiful!!  

Rolling hills and old farm country.  

I looked up Westin.  It is a cute little historic town that I think we need to visit someday!

Eventful is in the country.

The wedding ceremony was a small private affair.

Lots of friends and family came to the reception.

Brandon's mom and me.  She and her husband own the Sunflower Cafe in Olathe.  Infact, they provided the meal and cake for the wedding!

Emeri wanted us to do a silly face picture

There were several children at the wedding and they provided toys for them.

Cheryl, Brandon's step-mother, from Pennsylvania

It was getting pretty late for these kids

Blessings to both couples!

Keep Christ the center of your marriage!

A High speed chase, a Hospital and a Hotel

This past Friday, we were on our way to Kansas City for the weekend.  We made a stop at Starbucks in Emporia and continued on.  Soon afterwards we saw one, then two policemen flying past us going toward Emporia.  Then we began to see one after another police car in the median.  Then more and more either speeding south or along the road.  At one point it looked like some guys were getting ready to put out spikes.  I was getting nervous.  What in the world were we in the middle of?

Later on I found out it was a high speed chase and this was the write up in the Emporia paper:

Emporia Police Sergeant Lisa Sage said EPD was initially called to Motel 6 in Emporia on a report of suspicious and possible drug activity. 

"We learned this individual had multiple warrants in the Kansas City area," she said. "As officers were investigating, the suspect took off and a car chase ensued."

At 12:44 p.m., scanner traffic indicated a gold Pontiac Grand Am fled from Motel 6 and proceeded eastbound on I-35, reaching speeds of 100 to 105 miles per hour. 

At 12:53 p.m., the chase had reached Coffey County and stop sticks were deployed but did not stop the suspect. Officers were able to stop the suspect at mile marker 178.5 and the arrest was made.  

We never did see the guy - thank goodness!  He was apprehended before he got where we were.  We pulled off I-35 to visit a friend in the hospital.  When we pulled off the road, we saw this.

We arrived at Gardner rehab hospital to see Vernon, a friend from church.  Vernon is in rehab as he was almost killed by a steer.  It really is a miracle, an answer to prayer that he is alive!  We had a wonderful hour with him!  He was wearing these goggle looking glasses to help him see and to keep him from being dizzy.

What is interesting is that Al did his hospital pharmacy residency at this very hospital back in the late 1970's.  It wasn't a rehab hospital back then.

We arrived at our hotel in Kansas City just in time to change clothes and get ready to head out to our nephew's wedding.  

Our Arkansas grandkids and their parents came too.

Actually, this weekend we had 2 nephews who were getting married.  On Friday night, our nephew, Clinton, the son of Al's brother who passed away 8 years ago from kidney illness was getting married.  And then on Saturday night, my nephew Brandon, the son of my brother who died 5 years ago from a heart attack got married.  More about that in another post.