Three Weddings and Retirement Party

How have you spent your summer thus far?

Remember the movie starring Andie McDowell and Hugh Grant entitled Four Weddings and a Funeral?  

Well, part of my summer can be described with the title "Three Weddings and a Retirement Party," although it would be a big reach to say that my four events follow the script of the movie in any way.  

What I can tell you is that three of those four events feature some folks that have had some connection to Bread for the World in Albuquerque.  And this gives me an opportunity to offer a toast for all of them.

First, let me talk about the retirement party for Ann Sims, a long-time Bread activist and ex-member of Bread's board of directors.  Ann retired from her job as a nurse at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Program.  So her son and her husband threw her a great party in her back yard.  At the party, I caught up with a couple of Bread folks I hadn't seen in a while: John and Violet Foley.  So there were are in the picture above.  Ann, Violet, yours truly, and John.

Now to the weddings. I went to three beautiful ceremonies within the span of four weeks.  They were all different and all memorable in their own unique way. One was at the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens, another at an old Jesuit church downtown and a third at a local Presbyterian church.

Of the three weddings, I want to especially highlight the nuptial ceremony for Ester Schneider and Marcos Griego. Ester has played a major role in having St. Andrew Presbyterian Church host our Offering of Letters workshops year after year.  She and Marcos are pictured at left (thanks to Carolyn Gonzalez for the photo).  Ester also spent a couple of years as local coordinator for the CROP Walk. 

Other Bread members participated in the beautiful wedding ceremony, which took place at St. Andrew.  Jenny Moore, a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law who has spoken at many Bread events, and her daughter Kyra Ellis-Moore, who led an Offering of Letters at Albuquerque High School, sang a duet. Their rendition was the song made famous by Debby Boone, You Light Up My Life. 
 
Another special wedding this summer was the nuptial ceremony of Mike Shawver and Rosie Chinea. Mike has organized Offerings of Letters the past two years at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, where he is director of young adult and social ministries.  Rosie, who spent five years as campus minister at Aquinas Newman Center, encouraged students to help organize and participate in the Bread letter-writing campaigns at our parish.

And in case you're wondering, the son of a friend from my faith-sharing group was the third person who got married (that was the wedding at the botanical gardens).

So here's a toast to Ann, Ester, Mike & Rosie!