Claire's Thirteenth New Friend: That is what happens when you eat dessert first!

This week I attended my friend Chariti's wedding in Phoenix. I worked at Maggie's Place with this awesome lady, who has been working there for the past 10 years. If you don't know what Maggie's Place is, it is a nonprofit with 3 homes in Phoenix and one in Cleveland for pregnant women who are alone or on the streets. The typical staff member works at Maggie's Place for only about 1 year because you actually live in the house with the women and babies....and you make a stipend. It is definitely a life changing experience. So, as you can imagine, the turnover rate is pretty high, and if you work there for over one year, you get to know a lot of different staff members. Chariti knows pretty much all of the staff who have ever worked there. And a large portion of them were at her wedding.

I was lucky enough to sit with a group of alumnae staff, which is comparable to sitting with a group of alumni from your college or high school who are close in age. Some of us worked in the same house, but at different times, we compared insane and unfortunate baby names, and told horror stories of diaper blow outs and crazy residents. I sat right next to my new friend Kate Raber. She moved from Bremerton, WA to become a staff member at Maggie's Place in 2005. She worked at The Magdalene House in downtown Phoenix, hated the desert and was counting the days until she could move back to lush Washington, untilllll she met the man she was going to marry! Enter Jason Raber, a pastor at Redemption Church in Tempe. Kate and Jason's love story has been passed along from year to year and is what Maggie's Place staff members' dreams are made of. Seven years later, Kate and Jason are married, living in Chandler/Gilbert (aka DESERT!) with 3 beautiful little kiddos. Kate brought her youngest baby, 4 month old Magdalene, with her to the wedding. Man, she is cute!

A little cake was sitting at each of our place settings at the wedding before the food was served. While waiting for the food, Kate and I were getting a little hungry, so we decided to eat the topping on the cake, which was an edible charcoal colored sugar diamond. Well....our mouths turned black. Not just the inside, but it was dripping on to our lips. Good trick Chariti and Joel! Congratulations!!


Photo to come....it is on somebody else's camera.