Wedding pictures

Two of my little sisters-two of the 3 flower girls.

I'll post more pictures later-I wasn't able to finish while I was home, and it may be a while before I can post more, but I'll try.

Life as a dictator

....at least that's what my little brother says I'm being. I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. Lots has happened since May 17, the last time I posted anything. I left Puerto Rico on June 1, at 7:00 AM. I was exhausted when I left, because the day before, I got up at 6 AM to do laundry before going to the beach at 8. When I got back from the beach, I fixed lunch, then fell asleep on the couch for about 30 minutes. When I woke up, I called Ariel and Andrea, because we were supposed to go to the motor vehicle place to transfer the car title to my name. We didn't realize that it woukd take 4 hours, though! I got back to the apartment at 6:10, and we had to leave around 6:25 to get to church. After the church service, I talked to a lot of people and said a lot of goodbyes to people I will not see again for a very long time. I got home around 10 or so, and called my mom. Around 1AM I finally got off the phone (no, I wasn't talking to my mom that whole time, a couple of other people called, and I called a couple of other people), and as soon as I got off the phone, I started packing and cleaning. I know I should have done that earlier, but I was so busy that it didn't happen. I finished packing about 4:20 AM, 10 minutes before we needed to leave for the airport. I didn't get to sleep again until sometime around 4 that afternoon, so I was understandably exhausted. The next Monday started serious preparations for my sister's wedding, including painting numerous parts of our house. Monday night (or tuesday morning) we went to bed at 3, Tuesday night at 3, Wednesday night 1:30 or 2, Thursday night 11:30, Friday night 2, Saturday 12 and sunday night I don't even remember. So really, I'm still recovering from the lost sleep. The wedding really did go well, and I'll post a few pictures soon. Now to the reason I'm called a dictator. All day Sunday, my dad was sick, and Sunday night we left church early to go home and take him to the ER. He came back sometime around 1AM, and on Tuesday went to the doctor for a followup visit. They decided on Tuesday that he needed to have his galbladder out, so early Wednesday morning, mom took him in. They were hoping to do it laparoscopically, and send him home Wed night, but that didn't happen, so as of right now, he is still in the hospital, but we are hoping he'll be able to come home tomorrow. Since Wednesday, I have been playing mom to 8 of my younger brothers and sisters, and you know what, a large part of that has been spent being a chauffer! Then again, I knew it was going to be that way. So far we have been doing pretty well, but we will all be glad when mom and dad come home and things are back to normal. Ian says that I'm being a dictator, but that's the way it has to be when you are trying to keep 9 people organized, get them everywhere they need to go, and make sure they get done everything that needs to get done. Right now they're all supposed to be taking naps, which means a little more peace and quite than usual, really the only reason I can type this long. This entire vacation has been very crazy, but the Lord has been teaching me so much about patience and trust. Even though I'm exhausted and things are crazy, I'm very thankful for the lessons I've been learning.