Silver Anniversary

We're spending the night at my dad and stepmom's in Tioga.  We came up today to be able to attend a party this evening for my cousin and her husband, who are celebrating their 25th anniversary.  Wanna see some photos?

"There Is Love . . ."

Do you know the song "Wedding Song"? It was an immensely popular choice for weddings throughout the '70s and into the '80s. My sisters and I, throughout our teen years, used to sing for/accompany other singers on the piano for/play organ for a lot of weddings around northwest ND, and "Wedding Song" was often among those songs that we were asked to perform. I haven't heard it at weddings in recent years, but my cousin's daughter Rachelle selected it for her own wedding this afternoon--a nod to tradition, perhaps! (The song is also known by a repeated phrase within its lyrics: "There Is Love." That explains the title of this post!)

If you don't know the song, or if you haven't heard it in a few years, it's worth it to watch this 1970 performance by the man who wrote the song, Noel Paul Stookey (of the folk music group Peter, Paul, and Mary).

Anyhoo, Rachelle and her fiancé Jason got married today, and our family traveled to Tioga, ND for the wedding. We got to Tioga early enough to stop at the The Drive In (clever name for a drive-in restaurant, huh?) to pick up potato salad and broasted chicken to take to my dad and stepmom's home for dinner at noon. Beverly and her sister-in-law were at a baby shower, but Beverly's brother and my dad were home, so we ate with them. After we got cleaned up and dressed up, we left Dad's home an hour before the wedding to make the 15-minute drive into town. Susan couldn't figure out why in the world we would want to be at the church 45 minutes before the wedding.

But, to Susan's surprise (but not to mine), the church was already quite full when we arrived, and we ended up sitting halfway back from the altar . . . and on the groom's side, no less (no room for us on the side of the bride, my actual relative)! I leaned over and told Susan that we should have left Dad's house even earlier. She rolled her eyes in disbelief at the presence of so many people so early before the wedding and stated that no one should be at the church 45 minutes before the wedding except the wedding party and the photographer! Hey, this is how people roll in northwest ND.

It was serendipity that, despite our "late" arrival (45 minutes early), I ended up seated at the end of the pew right on the aisle, so I was in a good position for taking pictures (we Mobergs take a lot of photographs at get-togethers). This one is of the aisle runner for the wedding. Zion Lutheran Church in Tioga has red carpeting in the sanctuary, making the gauzy white runner look somewhat pink. The blue rose petal was one of many dropped by the flower girl as she processed up the aisle (the wedding colors were royal blue and lime green).

That's the groom, Jason, in the lower right-hand corner. At the opposite end (on the left) is his brother and the best man, Jordon. The little blond guy toward the middle is Nicholas, the bride's brother (and my cousin Brenda's son).

The two women at the right are the bride's sisters. Farthest right is Meghan, the maid of honor; and beside her is Katrina.

Here's a closeup of Katrina and Meghan.

Rachelle was escorted up the aisle by her daddy, Rick.

Here are Rachelle and Jason being presented as a married couple to the congregation.

"You may now kiss the bride." And our daughters may now put their fingers up in front of their eyes and giggle and squirm in the pew.

After the wedding and the receiving line outdoors, the bride, groom, and wedding party left the church atop a fire truck! Jason is a volunteer firefighter, so he got one of the fire engines for the day, and some helpful gentlemen on the ground used a stepping stool to help all the be-gowned bridesmaids climb aboard for a quick drive around town with the sirens blaring. While they did that, I had my ladies pose inside the church entrance for a pic.

Afterward Jason and Rachelle had a reception and wedding dance at the Tioga Farm Festival Building, which they had decorated with a couple professionally printed posters (like this one) on the walls, tons of ropes of pretty blue lights on the walls and columns, and blue and green decorations and ribbons on the tables.

The tasty cake was pretty, too--and huge! They also served salted nuts, Hershey's Kisses in blue wrappers, punch, and coffee. Of course, this was all supplemental to the meal: pasta salad, fruit salad, pudding salad, buns, ham, corn, Swedish meatballs, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Delicious! (And with the Swedish meatballs, tonight's meal qualified for Scandinavian Saturday, too!)

Pretty background for the table at which the wedding party sat and enjoyed their meal. Meghan did a fine job offering a toast to fulfill one of her duties as the maid of honor. Particularly sweet, though, was the best man's toast. Jordon had written it out, enabling him to make the jokes that he wanted to make while still wrapping up on a serious note, telling how sincerely happy he is for Jason and how much he loves him. Jason stood up and gave him a lo-o-o-ong hug, and Jordon buried his face in Jason's shoulder and cried. It was so touching that I'm tearing up again just writing about it!

Here are all the Gohrick cousins (my aunt Penny's grandchildren): my cousin Darren's daughters Makenzie, Paige, and Shantell; and his sister Brenda's children Rachelle, Meghan, Katrina, and Nicholas. (Darren and Brenda's brother Jerry has no children.)

By the way, Darren and Jerry served as ushers for the wedding; Brenda (the mother of the bride) joined her daughters Meghan and Katrina in singing for the wedding; you already know that Meghan, Katrina, and Nicholas were in the wedding party; Makenzie was one of Rachelle's personal attendants; Paige was a punch pourer; and Shantell was a wheat attendant. I have a funny story regarding her job:

As we left the church, Shantell handed us each a packet of wheat wrapped in a small square of gauze tied with a ribbon. Abigail asked what it was for, and I told her it was to throw at the bride and groom. She said, "But won't that hurt?" Apparently Abigail didn't remember previous weddings at which we have unwrapped the packet of rice or wheat or bird seed in order to toss the grains into the air above the bride and groom's head rather than pelting their bodies with the hard little grain balls themselves.

Turnabout's fair play; at the reception, Susan had me pose with the lovely ladies.

Here I am with my dad. Do you see any resemblance?

I got to dance with Susan and with each of our daughters before we headed to Dad and Beverly's to spend the night. (Beverly made us all tasty late-night snacks: popcorn, ice cream floats, sundaes, etc.) During one dance with Susan, the DJ kept sending couples off the dance floor with commands such as, "Okay, if you're dating but not engaged, go sit down," "If you've been married for less than a year, go sit down," "Less than five years," and so on. With our 16th wedding anniversary coming up next month, Susan and I lasted a while on the dance floor before having to leave. The last couple remaining? My aunt and uncle Rose and Elton, married for 52 years! The DJ told Rachelle and Jason to take a look at the longest-married couple left on the dance floor and aim to be like them.

Between dances we were able to visit with many friends and relatives. As it happened, most of the relatives at the wedding and reception/dance were ones we had just seen at the Aune reunion last weekend! But there were others, too, including my second-cousins Kim, Val, and Jeri, with whom it was fun to catch up.

Aren't they cute?! We wish you all the best, Jason and Rachelle!

Five Score Years Ago . . .

My cousins' grandpa Morris died last week; he was 99.5 years old! Because I spent a lot of my childhood at my cousins' house, and because Morris was always there, he felt a bit like my grandpa, too, when I was growing up. I attended Morris' funeral this afternoon in Tioga (Susan and the girls stayed behind; they all still have school). One of the things that Morris was known for was his ability to recite selections that he had memorized long ago, including the Gettysburg Address, which he would often deliver with great expression at patriotic gatherings such as programs for Memorial Day or the 4th of July (he's even been featured on the news doing so). In honor of that, the minister recited the Gettysburg Address today in much the same way that Morris often did. It was a nice touch that everyone who knew Morris understood as soon as the minister began with "Four score and seven years ago . . ."

The ladies from Morris' church served a delicious lunch after the funeral, and in the room where Dad, Beverly, and I ate (Dad sang a song for the funeral), we watched a slideshow, set to music, that featured photos from throughout the years including family as well as farming: from the implements that Morris used when he started farming in the '20s (which required horses to pull them) to the huge tractors and other machinery that Morris and his family were using when he retired from farming a couple decades ago.

Morris had two sons--both deceased now--the younger of whom was my uncle Jerol, married to my dad's sister Penny. For supper Penny invited the extended family to the Jungle, a restaurant in Tioga, and I snapped a buncha pics. Here are some highlights for those of you tuning in to see photos of the family:

my aunt Penny, Morris' daughter-in-law

Dad and Beverly

my cousins Brenda and Jerry, two of Morris' three grandchildren (Penny and Jerol's children)

Darren (Morris' other grandchild; Penny and Jerol's other son), Brenda, my cousin Myrna (Dad and Penny's brother Shine's daughter), Dad and Penny's cousin LeeAnn (their dad's sister's daughter), Penny's hair to LeeAnn's right, Morris' niece in front of Penny, and Brenda's son Nick in front of Darren

my step-aunt Janet (Shine's wife), Wanda (Jeff's wife), my cousin Jeff (Shine's son), and Myrna

A Bittersweet Father's Day

Before we went off to church yesterday morning, my blonde beauties presented me with cards and gifts in honor of Father's Day. One of them was a Flip Ultra digital video camera pre-loaded with this kyoooot video for me! Here I am (photo above) givin' some sugar to the darling stars of the video.

Another gift was Missy Moo-berg, a carved wooden cow that lives now on the veranda next to Lyle Jerome Opdahl, Jr., a pig that we had bought for the veranda several weeks ago.

The bittersweet part of this Father's Day was the fact that we had to drop off Abigail and Suzanna at Bible camp south of Medora yesterday at 4:00 P.M. and say goodbye to Abigail for a few days and to Suzanna for the entire week. [*sad face*] After church we went to Medora to spend the first part of the afternoon together. We ate in the Rough Riders Hotel dining room, whose decor suggests the late 1800s when Theodore Roosevelt called southwest ND home. In the photo above, notice the animal skin on the wall behind us? It and others around the room are there because of Roosevelt's hunting expeditions to Africa. Anyhoo, the food was delicious (I had a buffalo burger with smoked gouda cheese.)

After dinner, we took a guided walking tour of downtown Medora ("Footsteps into Medora's Past") led by the knowledgeable but long-haired ("He needs a haircut, Dad," said the girls) young man in the dark jacket in the photo above. The man in the red shirt is a DSU colleague of mine portraying a German settler from Medora's early days ("time travelers" appear occasionally along the tour route to explain aspects of life in turn-of-the-century Medora).

This statue of the Marquis de Mores (founder of the town of Medora) stands in De Mores Memorial Park, a project of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration ("The New Deal") in the 1930s. A stop at the park was part of the walking tour.

One is not surprised in Medora to see horses, horse-drawn vehicles, and horse-mounted infantries (historical re-enacters, of course) interspersed among bicycles, cars, pickups, and RVs.

One never ceases to be surprised, however, at the beauty of the Badlands in southwest ND. Medora is right in the heart of them and lies at the foot of this range of buttes. In fact, the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park has its entrance in Medora.

After the walking tour, we all went mini-golfing. Susan won but got a sunburn on her chest, so it was a wash. Hillary was averaging 27 strokes per hole, which we found amusing but which didn't bother her in the least. Afterward we had tasty ice cream in waffle cones from the ice cream parlor downtown, sitting outside to eat while people-watching and enjoying the breeze.

We couldn't delay forever: eventually we had to take the two older girls to Bible camp. Badlands Ministries has a number of camp options for children of all age groups, including day camps for kids Hillary's age; so last week, Susan hauled Hillary to camp south of Medora in the afternoon and went and retrieved her at night both Monday and Tuesday (we opted not to send Hillary the third day of her session since the Zanders were here, and she wanted to spend the day with them instead). Abigail's camp session is a three-day, two-night thing (she comes home tomorrow). Suzanna's lasts until Friday morning. Here they are posing at the camp sign in Medora directing people down the right road to the camp site.

The camp lies along the Little Missouri River and is surrounded by the Badlands. This is a view from the area where the girls' cabins are located. We're hoping that the girls will be too busy to be homesick, but gorgeous scenery like this should help to keep them distracted, too (Abigail's group will be taking a mini-hike into these hills, and Suzanna's group will be horseback riding among them). Watch Pensive? No, Just Thinking for reports from each of the girls upon their return (Hillary has already returned, but she'll get a turn, too).

Unchained

We were sad to have the occasion to, but happy to be able to, return to Dad's today to attend the funeral of Lyle Opdahl, husband of Dad's cousin LeeAnn as well as Dad's elementary school classmate and lifelong friend. The funeral was in Battleview in the afternoon, so it was another daytrip for the Dickinson Mobergs (see this). We got to Dad's in time to have dinner at noon with him and Beverly before the funeral.

My sisters and I have always been friends with Lyle and LeeAnn's kids, our second-cousins Kim, Val, and Jeri, as well as with Lyle's nieces Cheryl and Veronica ("Prudie"), who went to school with us and rode the same school bus (Prudie to not-so-qualified substitute bus driver Eilaf: "Keep your eyes on the road!"); so it was very nice to get to visit with them before and after the funeral. I was too much younger than Lyle's other nieces, Debbie and Theresa, to know them well, but Theresa was at the funeral and told me that she remembered me as a nice little tow-headed kid who bopped onto the school bus and then sat quietly in the front. I said, "'Nice'? 'Quietly'? Are you sure that was I?" (Sisters, you're probably thinking that, too, aren't you?!)

In the evening, we extended family members were invited to join LeeAnn and her kids for supper, which they brought to the church to serve in the fellowship hall downstairs (people had brought them so much food in the days before the funeral that they wanted to share it all). There was plenty of time for visiting with Lyle's family as well as with other relatives and community members whom I saw often while growing up when they were my neighbors but don't see much anymore unless it's at holidays, weddings, or funerals. I'm grateful to be living close enough to "home" now that we're able to make quick trips back for such occasions; when the drive from our house was five or more hours, we weren't as free to come back without planning ahead, taking time off from work, etc.

The route between Dad's house and our own in Dickinson is lousy with deer of a summertime evening, and this trip was no exception. I have to keep a keen eye out for the creatures, which love to congregate in the ditches, laze along the shoulder of the road, meander across the highway, and generally make even more unpredictable the already potentially dangerous drive along the curvy and mountainous nighttime roadway. Here are some of them plotting to leap, gazelle-like, into the path of oncoming traffic:

And here is a pretty nighttime view of the Four Bears Bridge spanning Lake Sakakawea west of New Town:

We have a little wooden pig that looks in on us through our patio doors as we sit at the dining room table and eat; it's a recent purchase to decorate our veranda. The girls have named it Lyle Jerome Opdahl, Jr., the Pig in honor of Lyle. Also in honor of Lyle, here's a little music from Johnny Cash--a song called "Unchained" that might relate to Lyle's transition to Heaven:

100 Years of Lutherans on the Hill

Have you ever been invited by a friend to attend a family birthday party for someone to whom you're not related? You're the outsider there--treated kindly by, but still a stranger to, the distant relatives who have returned for the party; unable to share in the "remember when?" stories or insider references; eager to spend all your time latched onto the one or two people there whom you do know, etc. Know what I'm talkin' 'bout? I experienced a bit of that myself today.

My dad is a member of the congregation of Bethel Lutheran Church in Battleview, ND. My mom was a member of another Lutheran church about six miles away where my siblings and I were members with her, and Dad attended church there with us without ever changing over his membership to that congregation. After my mom died six years ago, Dad began attending church in Battleview again, and now when I return with my wife and children to visit him and my stepmom, we all go to Bethel for church.

Today that church celebrated its 100th birthday with church services, a meal, and an afternoon program--a six-hour extravaganza! Church members had asked my wife and kids and I to provide music, so we spent a few evenings this past week rehearsing some songs around the piano at home. Today we left at 5:30 A.M. Mountain Time in order to have a few minutes at Dad and Beverly's house before we all drove to town. The drive through the Killdeer Mountains at that early hour was lovely, and we even stopped to visit with an unexpected wayfarer munching along the side of the road:

After arriving at Dad's and visiting for a few minutes, we got in our separate vehicles and drove to Battleview, arriving at 9:30 A.M. Central Time for 10:00 church and finding a crowd already in place. Organizers had rented and erected a huge tent on the lawn north of the church to accommodate the very, very large throng gathered for the celebration. Although the church itself was open for touring, the service was held outdoors beneath the tent with a trailer at one end serving as the platform for the altar.

The two-hour service included a baptism (with nine sponsors!), communion, and lots of special music--including an unexpected performance by us! The pastor greeted us as we arrived, conversed with our daughters, learned that one of the songs we had prepared for the afternoon program (during which we had been told we would be performing) was "Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying," and decided it would be the perfect song to follow "Jesus Loves Me" during the service instead. It went just fine, as did "Jesus Loves Me," sung by all the children in attendance in a spur-of-the-moment children's choir assembly by the pastor.

He did the same thing for the songs sung by the adult choir: "Who's going to come up and sing in the choir today? Come on up, come on up!" And quite a few (Susan and I among them) got up, went to the front, grabbed a hymnal (each one bearing an inscription on the front cover to indicate that it had been given to Bethel in memory of my grandparents John and Olga), and sight-read--in four-part harmony--a couple of hymns. That was one of many moments that made the day feel like a tent revival.

1. First of all, we were gathered for a church service beneath a tent!
2. Second, there were several invitations--both during church and the afternoon program--to anybody who felt so moved to get up and offer some music or some words about their memories of the church.
3. Third, the pastors there (the current one, a previous one invited to deliver the day's sermon, his pastor wife, a synod representative, and a lay minister) kept offering amens and hallelujahs when they liked what one another was saying in the pulpit.
4. Fourth, the music consisted of a lot of "old time" hymns--familiar tunes, familiar words, very Christ-centered . . . just the thing I'd imagine folks would burst into during an actual tent revival (but with no snake handling, fainting, or speaking in tongues).

The two-hour service (very optimistic, celebratory, optimistic) was followed by a delicious meal served by the ladies of a sister congregation in Powers Lake: ham, chicken, potato salad, cole slaw (with ring noodles in it . . .), buns, crudités, coffee, lemonade, and ice cream. A couple hours later was the program, which featured lots of music, "words" from representatives of various groups (this congregation, that congregation, this group from Bethel church, that synod, etc.), and a releasing of balloons by the children. Our girls sang "He Is Good" by themselves and were joined by their mother for "Come to Jesus" (I accompanied on clavinova both those songs and the one from the morning). My dad played his accordian, and his cousin Lee Ann read excerpts from letters of congratulations that had arrived from far and wide. My childhood friend Kayo and three other gentlemen from the area used to sing in a quartet called The Generation Gap, and they performed, too.

It was a really great day, actually, even though in visiting with others throughout the day, I was doing a lot of introducing myself and explaining why I was there--to whom I "belonged" or what my connection was to Bethel. Afterwards we returned to Dad and Beverly's for visiting and eating supper before hitting the road again to return home. We paused in New Town at the Four Bears Bridge to admire the scenery of a North Dakota summer evening at Lake Sakakawea: