What a Great Weekend!

This has been such a good weekend! Michael and Addy spent the day yesterday while Elizabeth worked at the wedding chapel. Jim and Sheila came out to finish packing up everything from the old house, so I kept Ethan and Samuel while they worked. Nick and Candace brought Levi and Joey out to play with the kids for a while. The weather was so beautiful! The kids were able to play outside most of the day and they loved it! They were sweaty and dirty and all smiles when they had to come inside.

My nephew Brad is in the Marines and learned earlier this year that he would be deployed to the Middle East this year. He is leaving next month, going to California for a month and will then be going to serve but will not be told exactly where in the Middle East until the time comes for him to leave the states.

My sister and her husband planned a get together for him yesterday evening, so that we could all be together before he leaves. He was married last summer and he and his wife live in another state. Even though the circumstances for getting together with the family may not always be the best, the feeling is always the same! It’s so great to see each other and to be together even for a short time. This was the first time we had all been together since Mother’s funeral and it was a time to share a few memories, laugh together and know that we are all there for each other always!

Michael, Elizabeth and Addy spent the night last night and then Chance and I went to church with them this morning at LifeChurch. What an experience! I was raised in the Church of Christ and that is where I have always attended, even if in different congregations. This was a totally new style of praise and worship for me! I definitely was uplifted and the singing was amazing! The message this morning was concerning Communion traditions and customs. The Pastor spoke, with an open Bible before him and quoted many scriptures during his sermon. Anytime the minister actually uses the Bible as his guide, it’s a good thing if you ask me! He was a great speaker and presented the lesson very well. The only thing different about the sermon delivery was that it was presented via a large TV screen! He was not present in the building, but the same recording/message was delivered simultaneously to each of the different campus of LifeChurch. There was an on-site Pastor who then led the Communion Service with scripture reading and prayer. Overall, it was a good experience. I miss the congregational singing, even though I did enjoy the music and singing by the band. The words to each song were shown on the TV screens for the congregation to sing along, but the voice of anyone singing along could not be heard above the band. I don’t really think that made my personal expression, through singing, any less effective or any less uplifting!

If you are familiar with practices of the Church of Christ, you know that we are very conservative. We do not use instrumental music; only our voices are lifted to God in praise and in worship! I have been to Contemporary Christian concerts a few times before and listen to this type of music often on the radio, so it’s not totally foreign to me except in the worship service. I will definitely return to LifeChurch again!

After church we went to Chili’s and had lunch together and then from there we went to the cemetery to put flowers on my Mom’s and Dad’s grave since Friday was my Mom’s birthday.

They are buried in Piedmont, which is very close to the town where I attended high school and then lived after I married Elizabeth’s dad. When my Mom, Elizabeth and I would go to the cemetery to decorate my Dad’s grave over the past 12 years, we always go to Cashion to see what’s changed since we left so many years ago! It’s always fun even though Cashion is not really a busy, tourist town! Today was the first time Michael had ever been to Cashion so it was fun showing him the house where I used to live, the school I attended – which by the way, has Kindergarten through 12th grade all in the same building!

We always “drag” Main St, which is three blocks long – and the town doesn’t even have one traffic light! There’s no grocery store there anymore, only one café, the Post Office and the Town Hall make up most of the town! It’s always fun to go there and see if there’s anything new!

We got back home about 4:00 and Michael and Elizabeth left, on their way to Michael’s Mom and Dad’s house where they will feed his parents animals because his parents went out of state for Spring Break. Addy is staying another couple of days with Jody and me so that Michael and Elizabeth can paint her room and get it all set up again once they finish painting.

I have a couple more doctor’s appointments this week and I hope that everything is normal for each of the tests I’ve had done over the past couple of weeks. I will also be called back for a 2nd interview on the job I interviewed on last week. I’m really excited about the interview. It sounds like something I would enjoy and best of all, it will be a paying job! I am definitely in need of that!

I’m looking forward to this week – the kids are all out of school and I’m going to get to spend some extra time with Chance and some time with the grandkids.

When you come to the edge of all the light you know,
and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown,
faith is knowing one of two things will happen:
There will be something solid to stand on,
or you will be taught how to fly.
Barbara J. Winter