local St. Patrick's parade info :-)

You are invited to the Plantation South/Helena
St. Patrick's Day parade
at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17!

There will be fun and silliness, and it'll be brief, so be on time or you'll miss it.
If you would like to participate in this event, please respond asap so I can fit you in the lineup. :-)
We welcome any bike riders, dog walkers, or musicians. Don't forget to wear your green!

St. Patrick's Day Parade 2009

In keeping with my love of celebrating holidays, our family has enjoyed the St. Patrick's Day parade in Birmingham for several years. Last year's rainy weather caused us to venture into unknown territory, since we were so disappointed that we didn't get to go to the parade, we had our own. You can read of that adventure here. This year, the parade held new significance, since Abigail had been asked to be in the parade. She recently began Irish dance lessons, and her teacher encouraged her to participate in the parade and in a performance afterward with their school, even though Abigail would have only had 2 lessons by then. A few days ago, when we realized the forecast was not looking too promising for this year's parade either, I started warning Abigail that we may not be able to go, or it might be canceled, if it was pouring. It rained all last night, and all morning today, as we got ready to go. Abigail replied to my reminder of the weather with calm assurance, "It's o.k., Mom. I asked God to let it stop in time, and I'm sure He wants us to enjoy the parade and my dance." I passed her room later to see her kneeling by her bed, earnestly praying for God to please make the rain stop, because she wanted to be able to dance so much. That just nearly did me in. The rain wasn't supposed to move out till afternoon, and the parade started at 11:30.

Slightly concerned, we got ready to go, and headed downtown, as the rain grew heavier and heavier. Within that 20 minutes though, Abi's faith never wavered, and she just grew more excited. By the time we reached the meeting point for the start of the parade, the rain had absolutely stopped. The streets were soaked, but the skies were clear! I was so thankful, and again blown away by Abigail's sweet childlike faith. She loved being in the parade, and Elijah and I walked/strolled with her dance school, while James and Isaac, with my brother Jacob, enjoyed watching and taking some photos. The afternoon performance was a showcase of different Irish bands and various dance groups. Abi's teacher, Elizabeth, encouraged Abigail to get on stage with her and do part of the jig she's learning, and when I wondered if that was really a good idea, since she's so new at this, Elizabeth and her mom both said it would be great for her, and that the crowd would be encouraging. Well, they were right! Abi danced well, three different times, and got lots of applause, and many people came up to tell her how well she did, to be so young. She was the youngest dancer to perform, by several years. We are so grateful for her hard work, and even more so of her great faith, that is such an example to us. She is the sweetest little Irish lass we know!
P.S. Thanks, Uncle Jake, for coming!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What a fun holiday this has been! I first started celebrating St. Patrick's Day when I was teaching first grade. I researched to figure out why in the world there even is a St. Patrick, and ended up being fascinated with the story of this guy who was captured by pirates as a teenager, spent time as a slave in a foreign country, was taught and converted to Christianity by monks, and then escaped to return to his home and spread the Gospel in that pagan land. Anyway, on my Mom's side of the family, we're descended from the Ferguson and Calhoun families, so I love to claim a little Irish heritage.
This year we got carried away with our connection to Ireland since the weather prevented us from being in the parade as we'd planned. Friday morning we kept debating whether it was worth the trek downtown, to risk getting soaked with 3 kids, and finally decided against it. This was after we'd already enjoyed dressing up in our green and Elijah sweetly cooperated as you'll see here, to give us some joy, in spite of the gloomy weather. (Yes, James did break out into a few Elton John lyrics because of the sunglasses!)

After being severely disappointed about missing the parade, James and I decided to host our own local parade. We coerced a few families into gathering today, so we'd have an excuse to toss all this candy I'd stocked up on, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We took the parade to the Barlows' neighborhood, since they couldn't load up their kids and the 2 friends Amy was keeping today. I pushed E. in the stroller, I. and A. rode their bikes, and James threw candy, beads, and Irish flags. Though I didn't have time to line up a marching band, I did the next best thing and we blasted U2 from Ronda's car stereo. We startled a few innocent neighbors who drove through the neighborhood looking very confused at our silliness, and one startled UPS man took a flag and candy from James a little reluctantly. There was one lady who was enthusiastic and shouted a cheery, "Top o' the mornin'!" to us. Oh me. It was great fun and these pictures should leave no doubt about that.