They did it again

This weekend has been full and fabulous! My Farmer turned 50 on Friday, so we had a family lunch and he took the kids to the Kroc Center. They had a blast. Saturday I had two speaking engagements. Crazy to do two in one day - but they were both great. One was a women's holiday brunch - beautiful decorations, wonderful food, and a 40 minute message about the gifts that don't look like what we expected and what choice we will make regarding them. The second was with our Community Group at Salem Alliance - more of a discussion format on Ephesians 4:2-4. I enjoyed both opportunities immensely, and was totally beat by the end of the day.

Sunday dawned bright and clear as the day of My Farmer's Birthday party - and open house at our home for about 100 people. We cleaned last minute clutter, prepared food, and awaited the arrival of our first guests. I haven't counted up how many actually came, but from 1-4 there was a steady stream, with a major rush at the start, just after church got out. It was so fun to see so many people come and bless My Farmer. He truly enjoyed the day and had so many good connections with people he loves.

The day ended with a Roth family celebration of all the December birthdays, and an early Christmas gift for my kids - two of Mandy's Guinea Pigs!! (If you don't know Mandy, her family got two "boy" piggies and one got pregnant - now they have 8 piggies, and were happy to give us 2) The kids love the piggies, and seeing their responses made me less dubious of my rash decision to go for pets! :)

In the midst of all this activity, I haven't checked e-mail much. So this morning I sat down to sort out the weekend messages, and I saw a devotional from Friday, December 3rd. And those people from Ransomed Heart Ministries did it again. They posted a thought at JUST the right time for me, and summarized my life in 3 paragraphs.

If you read it, I think you'll see what God has been doing in me - perhaps you as well - over the past year: closing doors I thought I wanted to go through in order to teach me how to draw near to Himself. It's hard and good at the same time.

Happy Monday.