Subject: Weekend Update: July 30-31
Date:    Mon 8/2/99  9:21am

I wrote letters to each of my campers this past week.  I found out at
least one camper admitted that he thought it was a corny letter.  I
told the mother that it was my job as camp counselor to be corny in
this case and hoped a tangible reminder of camp would kick in good
things from time to time. :-)

The Big Event of the weekend, however, was the Casler-White wedding.
Anytime the child of a pastor gets married, it is a big event.  I was
given the honor of video-taping the before-during-and-after memories.
I figure they put me behind the camera to keep me from misbehaving.
(Good thinking.) Video-taping is a little like buying insurance; not
too many people enjoy having "the Eye" pointed at them but when all is
said and done, its an important historical record that people want to
have. So I do it.

I won't try to tell too much of what is a story for the White and
Casler families to tell, but I can tell you my observations from the
Chronicler's perspective.  Weeks and months of planning really build
to the energy push in the final days prior to the ceremony.  Activity
builds to a crescendo, plans are foiled, or nearly so as people
scramble to fix the problems and irritations that arise; always arise,
it seems, at every wedding.  But when the Groom awaits at the front of
the church and the Bride appears with her father and traverses the
distance down the aisle, none of the stress is seen, or perhaps even
remembered by those who labored mightily to bring the moment to pass.

Jesse and his groomsmen played video games at the Bickom's house on
Saturday morning.  Krista was still wrapping flowers for her own
bouquet.  The men had Dunkin Donuts and ice coffee.  Krista had
butterflies; I saw her have a piece of toast not long before getting
into the limosine.  Both Bride and Groom expressed excitement over
finally getting married and starting life as husband and wife. 

Pastor was calm and did some video-taping of his own in his shorts;
the day was blazingly hot.  He did well in keeping most of his
feelings private, which isn't to say that those who know couldn't
imagine what it was like for him to actually give his daughter away to
another.

A great, releasing sigh of satisfaction was given as the Newlyweds
drove away from the church in a Classic ('57?) black and red Corvette
(borrowed; not a wedding present), but it was only a momentary bask as
the White-Casler volunteers began the monumentous job of cleaning the
church.  It was a beautiful wedding from prelude to recessional, with
a beautiful bride and beaming groom.

Phil and Anne Kanter traveled from Wisconsin with their five children
to attend the wedding.  They stayed at our home, much to our delight.
They had brief opportunity for reunion with us and many church
families over the weekend.  They moved back to Wisconsin family roots
more than 6 years ago.  Phil and Anne are special people and I want to
take a few more moments of your reading time to explain why by telling
you about someone else.

Some of you know Len and Peg McLaughlin.  I knew Len when he came as
foreman to build the Wollaston church in 1979-1980.  I was janitor of
the church at the time. We took a break one day and asked each other
about our families.  He told me of Peg (his wife), and his three
children, Michelle, Pam, and Mike.  In talking about each of his kids,
he informed me that Pam had some mental challenges to which I
responded, "Oh, I'm sorry."  Quick as a wink he corrected me.  "Oh,
don't be!" he said.  "The way Peg and I figure it, God thought enough
of us to entrust a child with special needs to our care."

Phil and Anne have five children: Hannah, David, Joe, Tim, and Grace.
By their names, you can't tell the difference and that's about how
this family interacts with each other.  David is a special child
surrounded by a family of love; just another child entrusted to
special people like the Kanters.

Space and time consideration prevent me from going on much more but in
our church, we have a support group for families who have a special
needs member.  Mike and Julia Martin have coordinated several meetings
for such families and other interested persons; more special people
caring for special needs.  My Dad has often said that "Missionary's
are the royalty of the Church" and I think the families like the
Kanters (pkanterfam@juno.com), the Martins (jmartin965@aol.com), the
McLaughlins, and others are the nobility.

Mark
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