Renewal

God is awesome.

Whenever I get in a funk, He pursues me and gently shows me His glory in a way that brings my eyes to Him instead of myself. And sometimes He just overwhelms me with His goodness.

After a cold, rainy, blustery day during which I felt I wasted precious time away from my family, I was feeling a little blue. (A long day after only 5 hours of sleep probably contributed.) But my outlook improved dramatically during our evening of fellowship with a family from church, Aaron and Jennifer and their 4 sweet children. Aaron is one of the pastors on staff, and he and Ted had the opportunity to visit while Ted was out here house-hunting in June. Ted felt a connection with Aaron and had been wanting us to invite their family for dinner. We finally set a date but ended up rescheduling twice because of our illness. So yesterday was our time to get together. Normally I would not have planned to host a family on the same weekend as a squadron function, but we figured we'd rather go ahead than have to postpone it anymore. Besides, I really didn't have to do much for the squadron party other than show up with one little craft.

And I'm so glad we had the D family over last night! We had an absolutely wonderful time of fellowship. The kids played together well (they have 3 girls and one boy, ages 4-8), and we enjoyed getting to know Aaron and Jennifer. We also got to hear about Aaron's recent missions trip to Cuba--we knew other people from the church who went as well but hadn't really heard any reports yet.

We couldn't believe over 3 hours had gone by when they were loading up the van and getting ready to go. We're already looking forward to our next chance to get together with them!

So, frustrating day...wonderful evening. :-)

And this morning started out so much better...I'm so thankful for God's mercies which are new every morning. For one thing, sunshine!! For another, Ted and I woke up early enough to have our hot tea and quiet time, plus pancakes, plus get everyone ready for church early! Ted played guitar this morning and took the girls with him to rehearsal, and I followed with the boys after nursing Lucan. Our "Visionary Parenting" class was amazing--very good fellowship and ideas along with the teaching time. We've been attending since the last Sunday in September (aside from our sick day), and we're finally feeling like we know the other folks in the class. We only have another 1-2 sessions left, but we may form a small group community. Ted and I have done a lot of parenting classes, workshops, books, etc. But it always seems that God shows us something new and challenges us in a new way no matter what we're doing. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be in a place where we can receive encouragement and support from other believers in a more intimate setting. Between this and our growth group on Wednesday nights, it seems as if Ted and I have been able to plug in just where we need to be at this time.

Then the church service was also amazing! Awesome worship time, wonderful teaching--I just can't wait for heaven. :-)

We had a quick lunch at home (extra spaghetti pie from last night!), then packed everyone up to go to Col. H's house for the Halloween party. Shane and Denise don't have any kids yet, but whenever God blesses them with children, they will be amazing parents! They LOVE to host gatherings, and they LOVE kids. They went all out for this party, and the kids had a blast. Since we don't really go out of our way to "do" Halloween, I appreciated that there wasn't anything yucky, just lots of good fun. Charis helped me put together a little pumpkin project, and we brought stuff to add to the card-making venture. Kids decorated bags for their goodies as well. Then there were a couple of games, a pinata, and lots of sugary stuff to eat and drink. It was so gorgeous outside, too, a perfect day for a fall party!

All in all, it's been a great Lord's Day! My time of rest isn't quite over, but I do need to start thinking about our school week, making checklists for the kids and getting my mind in school mode. I hope the good weather holds so we can get out and do some fun things!