Not-So-Lazy Days of Summer

Wow. The past two weeks have been crazy. But in a good way.
On Monday, August 6th, George, Jacob, Luke and I flew to Seattle for JUBILEE’s CD release party. It was amazing! A standing-room-only crowd filled The Triple Door, one of Seattle’s coolest music venues. I wrote about the evening on The Master’s Artist.
The next day we met the caterer, Liz, at Rosario Head where Curtis and Grace’s wedding will take place. After discussing strategy for serving a lovely meal in a state park picnic area, we proceeded to her company’s office for a tasting party. Mmmmmm. You wish you were coming to this reception. I’m just sayin’.
We spent the next couple of days scouting out potential places for Grace and Curtis to live when they’re married. Both their leases are over at the end of this month, plus they’re leaving on the 28th to go to Guatemala for five days with International Justice Mission, which means they need to box up all their possessions before they go. Oh, and another thing. As if they needed more stuff to do, Grace’s car decided this would be a good time for the engine to self destruct. Now they’re looking for a car, too.
In spite of all this pressing business, we had an awesome time in Seattle. One of Grace’s roommates works for SPU guest services, and she arranged for us to stay in one of the campus guest apartments. We enjoyed all the comforts of home in an area of town we know really well. One afternoon Curtis brought a croquet set over, and we set it up on the soft lawn grass. Another evening we kicked the men out of the apartment, and I got to watch while two of Grace’s friends–a fashion design major and a gifted seamstress–worked on some of the final stages of her wedding dress. Grace drew pictures of what she wanted, and they created a pattern. Very talented young women. She’s going to be so gorgeous! (Well, she already is, but you know what I mean.)
Friday the 10th we headed back to Texas. Grace and Curtis came with us for a reception/dinner/concert/shower at our church on Saturday evening. We knew most of our Texas friends and relatives wouldn’t be able to come to Seattle for the wedding, so we threw a big BBQ bash and invited the masses. Lots of people worked together to make it wonderful, and boy did they succeed! I was blown away. Curtis and Grace provided the “concert” portion of the evening. They performed some original music and some covers of Brazilian jazz classics, like The Girl from Ipanema, Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars, etc. Really, the whole evening was perfect. I only wish we’d had more time to visit with each person there. I’ll post pictures soon.
Monday afternoon I drove C&G back to Dallas and then to the airport Tuesday morning. Came back home for a couple of days, and then Thursday evening, Luke and I returned to Dallas. Friday morning (yesterday) he had lasik surgery on his eyes. It went great! Within a few hours he could already see better than ever before. This morning he met with his doctor here in Marshall, and his vision tested at 20/15! No more glasses! Which will be especially nice when he goes to Africa next month to stay for a year. The only problem is now he doesn’t have a Clark-Kent-ish disguise to subdue the power of his rakish handsomeness. I guess he’ll just have to learn to cope in other ways.
So, did I mention the past couple of weeks have been crazy? Yeah. But in a good way. And there’s more goodness to come–like a wedding in only four weeks!
What’s crazy . . . er, I mean “new” with you?