Tea with Hope

Last Saturday was the long awaited "Tea with Hope". My sister Jean donated this to the benefit auction held for Hope back in March, and six lucky women contributed a goodly sum of money to purchase tickets for this event. Jean included Hope, four of her daughters, and her mom to round it up to an even dozen. It was a lovely August afternoon to sit in the shade by the creek in a gazebo and enjoy an elegant tea party in Harrisburg farm country at the home of Jean's parents-in-law.

 A purple ribbon connecting tin buckets of flowers lined the way to the gazebo. We servers walked properly down this way instead of cutting across the yard with our various courses.

 This is Trudi's seat. I detect a bird house theme.

 Hope's daughter Adrienne and darling son Kenden came from the far reaches of Ontario, Canada for this even.

 It was a delight to see cousin Becky Boone, who made the trip from Salem.

 Hope and her girls, from left to right: Jenna (from Virginia), Hope, Adrienne with Kenden, Janelle, and Camille. (Daughter Brianna was unable to make the trip from Pennsylvania as she is nearing the due date for her second child.)

Jean and her sister-in-laws and mother-in-law, (the Baker girls who are famous for the spectacular teas they put on), worked smoothly together with efficient coordination and skill preparing the lovely delicacies, many of which require last minute popping in the oven or assembling.

I demanded a group photo of this fabulous group of ladies, including my SIL Carol who helped serve. Now I could tell you that I chose the artsy looking photo below, which blurs the faces of these lovely ladies, to honor the fact that they are all very humble, modest women who are not seeking any glory for the amazing work they all did on this event. Or I could tell you the truth, which is that I have no idea why in the world this picture and several immediately following turned out weird like this.

 Here is the first course, Grapefruit Mint Sorbet. 
 You can read the menu on the right (if you put on your reading glasses or click on the photo to make it larger or maybe both) to see the corresponding items on the plate below (starting with Cucumber-Avocado Tea Sandwich).

The Blackberry Lemonade was incredibly delicious, as was everything else. Up in the house, we found opportunities to sit down and sample these elegantly wonderful treats.

 The spun sugar birds nest atop the cupcake was quite a work of art.

Most of the ladies took several of their dessert dessert items home with them to enjoy later.

Here's another fabulous artsy photo, this one of the attendees. Trudi Gregory (who organized the auction), cousin Becky, Bonnie Smucker (a long-time friend), friends who are sister-in-laws Vicki Ropp, Vonda Ropp and LaDonna Stutzman. I listened in as everyone shared how they heard about Hope's accident. Vonda's recounting was especially touching, as she herself suffered a broken neck two years ago from a motorcycle accident and knows what is involved with the recovery process. When she and her husband visited Hope in the hospital and prayed with her, Hope asked them to pray for her son Micah who was on her heart, not knowing that on that very afternoon he was involved in an accident which potentially could have resulted in serious injuries, but he was miraculously spared and has recovered.  I wasn't able to stand around and eavesdrop all day, because of course I took my serving duties very seriously, and I also got to take care of sweet Baby Kenden for a bit. There was much laughter and everyone appeared to enjoy themelves greatly.

 Such a lovely setting.

 I forgot my camera but used my cell phone until I realized the battery was very low, because I hadn't saved and closed my Runkeeper activity from my morning run. So I requested that my darling niece Janelle to take various pictures and send them to me. I'm still waiting, even though I sent her a very nice text last week. "Dearest favorite beautiful sweet niece, could you please email me some tea pics?.. I want one of the lovely scone platter for sure!"  The reply came swiftly, "Uh...Bruce???" I reread my text.  Sure enough, it actually said, "Dearest favorite beautiful sweet Bruce.." We got that cleared up then I received a long list of her upcoming activities for the weekend which meant she had no time to sit in front of a computer. I'm going to call her nothing but Bruce until I get them. In fact, I may just change her name to "Sweet Bruce". I'm always getting in trouble because I call her the wrong name anyway. The names Janelle and Camille are similar enough that my tongue gets mixed up sometimes and Sweet Bruce always gives me a really dirty look. Anyway, I'm sure she'll send them soon and then I'll post them.

But I digress.

So how is Hope doing now? If you see her, you might think, as many do, that she looks like she's back to "normal".  But she still can't comb her own hair, lacks stamina and tires easily, often has pain in her neck, and still has constant tingling in her hands, among other things. She posted this on Facebook a few days ago:

"Another first for me today. I made the bed by myself, including the sheets AND pillowcases. It took awhile, and it wasn't easy, my fingers and hands don't work like they used to, but yes, a great accomplishment for which I am very thankful! 
I just keep thinking about disabilities and limitations. We as humans are so programmed to think we need to be "normal", to have all body parts functioning as they are supposed to, and when they don't, we make every effort and sometimes spend lots of money, so we can function normally again, so we can be physically "whole". I was thinking about the phrase of a song the other day, "Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole.." thinking about only the physical, because of pain and what I'm dealing with. Just this morning it hit me, Wow, I am slow sometimes! Do I spend as much time and energy .. and prayer .. becoming spiritually whole?!?! And what's the rest of that song, anyway?
"Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole,
I want Thee forever to live in my soul,
Break down every idol, cast out every foe,
Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow."
"...Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Rev. 1:5b"

She continues to challenge and inspire me. Let's keep praying for physical healing for her as well as spiritual wholeness for all of us!