Whee! Time is Flying By...

 I finally figured out today how to shut off the date on photos.  This one taken two weeks ago one morning around 6:15am as John left for work.  It's surprising how dark it's already getting these early mornings, even on non-cloudy days.


I feel as though I've barely had time in the past few weeks to even bother to write at all.  I've been very busy of late, as I shared.  It's been another full and busy week and another weekend filled to the brim with family.  I do believe God is giving us a season of family time to enjoy our kids before we are moved into a new field of ministry.

Since our sabbatical time from synagogue ended a month ago we've had some changes in our life.  John and I are no longer attending the synagogue we'd been part of for four years and indeed have not yet visited a church or synagogue anywhere. It was not intentional on our part to step away from the ministry work John had been doing but it was God's intention and brought about by His desire for us.  Following that stepping out, John immediately gave notice at work that he would no longer be working on Sundays he'd normally be off and would instead work another day of the week. Our plan was to be open to visit synagogue or church.  But it all coincided with our children's move to south Georgia from California. After four years of his being occupied every single weekend it was, it seemed, a great time to take off to visit our children.  Of course, last weekend was his regular week of work, but Katie was here and then Monday Bryan and Virginia stopped by to visit while home from Texas.  Mid-week we got a call from our farthest south children asking to come up and celebrate their son's third birthday a wee bit early (on Grandpa's weekend off)...I think we're in a season of family.

Does it seem odd that we'd stay away from church or synagogue when God is obviously central to our lives and who we are?  In years past, I would have fretted mightily over it, but I feel strongly that we are doing exactly what God means for us to do right now.  We'd been prayerful about what He wanted to bring about in our lives and honestly after nearly ten years of being caught up in worship team and practices and services every single weekend, I don't feel badly about taking this time out session.   We've seen and heard some powerful sermons on TV, online, read books that are spiritual based, have our daily Bible and prayer times. We want to continue to be in ministry (I am prayerful that I too will be used in active worship once more) but this is a time of waiting, too.

This past week Katie and I were pleased to see Bryan and V.  John, sadly, was working and didn't get to see them as they had another visit and a dinner to go to that evening.  Coming home is hectic for family who live out of state.  Bryan said he'd enjoyed it all but was ready to get back to the routine of home!  I understand that very well.  And, as mentioned earlier, we had a big family gathering here yesterday with our family and my daughter in law's brother and his wife here to celebrate our grandson's birthday.  My son and his family arrived Friday, and to my surprise so did Katie!  It was good to see her but I was out of places for her to sleep.  She said the recliner suited her fine, but in future I'll try to have a cot or air mattress extra.  Samuel and Mama came Saturday along with my daughter in law's family and the house rocked and roared.  Now honestly there were ten adults here and only two infants and 1 toddler but ten adults were actively kept on all 100 toes keeping up with those children!!  LOL  It was fun!  It was EXHAUSTING.  It was glorious.  I fell into bed at night too tired to close my eyes and woke the next morning with a huge smile on my face when I'd hear that toddler's feet running up and down the kitchen, lol.

Gratitude...I PRAYED for this and God answered my prayers!  While all the family was gathered yesterday my oldest daughter called.  Her circumstance for calling wasn't joyful but I felt I had my little bit of people gathered tight around me for about an hour there.  I have another prayer...That my daughter and her children will be near enough to visit one day soon.


Katie and Samuel left yesterday but Jd and family stayed through until nap time this morning.  Do you know that when you have twins in the house, the volume of crying is amplified almost four times? lol  They were sooo sleepy, to the point of fussy and rubbing eyes but I understood the reason for waiting to leave until nap time.  It's a long ride home for them and if babies sleep part way it's a good thing.

All that roaring and rocking that went on all weekend long sure did leave this house quiet when it was all done and gone.  It was, without a doubt, the fastest lived 44 hours in my history.  "More, please!",  That's all I want to say.