It's Friday before the 3 day weekend and the last bits of my summer vacation. I head back to the preK agency on Tuesday and the students begin on Wednesday!
But for now, I'm finding FIVE FAVES from my last full week of vacation...things or people who were true blessings.
Do you have some things you're thankful for? How about joining in with us over at Susanne's site?
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| front entrance of our church Grace Fellowship Church/Latham |
- IN PERSON CHURCH!! Oh my gosh I was so excited as I pulled into the leadership parking area and walked into church on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. This past week was just for volunteers and staff (i'm a small group leader so was allowed to go and my husband was working stage production so had been there since 8). We only need masks when standing in lobby or walking in, and when we can't sit 6-12 feet apart from people. We are allowed to remove them for praise and worship and communion. It was a huge blessing to talk with my pastor's wife and to sing and hear the word LIVE! I'm so thankful for my church!
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| me and Michelle 30 August |
- LUNCH AND COFFEE WITH FRIENDS! My friend Michelle and I have reconnected in the recent past and we finally got together for lunch after church on Sunday at one of my fave grain bowl restaurants. We chose to sit outside as it was a perfect summer day. We chatted and caught up on each other's families and lives for almost 3 hours! We raised our babies together and both left our toxic church a few years apart from each other. She is in a good church now as are we. She's been through a lot but her faith in God is very strong. I also had coffee with another dear friend I haven't had a good conversation with in years. We reconnected because of her daughter and the lawsuit. I actually got to read the lawsuit this week and it's more of a cover up than I thought. It left me feeling sad and betrayed by "Christian" leaders who just didn't do the right thing and still cannot admit to wrong doing. The thing I'm thankful for is that both of these women continue to follow Christ and harbor no bitter feelings.....we all agreed that we will leave everything up to the courts (we are done discussing it unless the lawyers contact us again) and God and prayerfully we hope justice will be served.
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| Cinnamon-Vanilla Coffee and a fire on a perfect late summer Sunday evening |
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| late Sunday night |
- BONFIRE: Sunday was one of those late summer days where when evening arrived, it almost felt like autumn! We had some wood for a fire so Dave made us a nice bonfire in the pit and we sat outside together. I enjoyed some new cinnamon-vanilla coffee by Good and Gather which was perfect. When he went in to watch a podcast, I messaged my neighbor Melissa to come over. We hadn't gotten together all summer! And she lives right next door. Her oldest daughter still lives at home and her youngest is away at college. We caught up on what's going on in our lives and she stayed until quite late. I'm thankful for relaxing evenings around the fire with good conversation and coffee!
- ENCOURAGING TEXTS AND EMAILS: our senior pastor has emailed me 3 times in the past couple weeks and each one is full of encouragement and help and assurances of prayer support. And his wife has sent me some texts that really ministered to my heart. They are aware of my role in the lawsuit and they are standing by to encourage and support. My pastor said it is heart breaking and wrong the way this former church of ours handled an abuse situation that went on with one of their deacons. I'm relieved to know that I have the support of our senior pastor. It makes me so thankful to have them as leaders and to be in a thriving, healthy church!
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| Durham, NH Campus photo courtesy of UNH website |
- SAFE! Claire made it to University of New Hampshire for her last year of undergraduate study last Friday morning. She left very early and had to have a 2nd Covid19 test upon arrival and show proof of test before moving the rest of her stuff into the upper campus apartment she is living in with a friend from the Ballet Company. She sent me photos of the apartment and it's beautiful. I'm thankful that they have in-person classes and even though there are about 65 kids with positive results, those kids have to quarantine for 2 weeks. UNH has a definite good working plan in place and I'm thankful they are open and praying it continues to go well for the students and community.
Those are the things I consider to be my favorite moments of the week.
I hope you all enjoy the long weekend ahead and stay safe no matter what you have planned!!
I hope you all enjoy the long weekend ahead and stay safe no matter what you have planned!!
6 comments:
Sounds like you had a good final week of your break with catch ups etc. I hope you make the most of the weekend and good luck when you go back next week. These are still worrying times. Stay well.
Glad you got to go to physical church and had some good encounters with friends! I can't believe this is Claire's last year of undergrad studies already! Glad she got there safely. It's wonderful to have the support of your pastor and his wife.
So glad you are in a good, supportive church. That means so much. I love all the fun things you have been doing over your break. Prayers for a good, safe and healthy school year for Claire. See you again soon!
Sounds like your last week of vacation was great. It's wonderful to attend church where you feel uplifted and encouraged both in services and personally by the pastors. Glad your in person services are back up and running. Ours have been for a couple months but they still offer online to those who are not comfortable or are vulnerable and feel they can't attend. How fun to reconnect with old friends. It's great that you as a parent are feeling good about what Claire's university is doing to keep their students safe. All the best to her last year!
Coffee with friends. Good hikes. Bonfires. Encouragement from others. Sounds like an almost perfect week to me!
Enjoy your last summer weekend!
It sounds like a wonderful last week of summer. I have heard of quite a few people getting together again with old friends that they haven’t seen in years. Many of the churches opened this weekend as well. The Catholic Church has been opened for quite some time now though.
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