Snow and reunions

Well, the "top ten" storm of the past several years did not materialize over the weekend. The snow, predicted to come after midnight Friday night, didn't fall till Saturday afternoon. It was slippery and blowy, but not the blizzard like conditions that some had predicted. Today the sun is shining and the streets are plowed. The kids didn't finish shoveling the driveway, so I worked on it some more after my walk, freezing my fingers because someone used my new warm mittens so I had to resort to gloves to wear on my walk and shoveling. Also, Luke took my long windshield scraper/brush--but he's home now, so I guess I can steal it back. I suppose we should get another one--and maybe a dozen more pair of mittens.

On a different note, yesterday we had an all-church celebration at a larger church, so everyone from the congregation could attend (we have 3 services in a building that seats about 300?)

Anyway, we have just completed the 40 days of purpose book by Rick Warren. Ironically, his name was in the news as his wife is undergoing chemo for breast cancer and is having a bad reaction to the chemo at the moment and is hospitalized. It sounded like they were hopeful she would be home for Thanksgiving.

At the celebration, nine people were baptized. Several people gave testimonies, and our pastor read a couple of letters people had written. One was from my mother-in-law, who explained about the stroke she had suffered in the spring and how she hadn't been progressing as quickly as she would have liked. She'd been experiencing some depression, but being in her small group was a real encouragement and helped her quite a bit. She expressed all this in her letter, which of course moved us who know her well to tears.

On tope of great music, dance, testimonies and stories, I discovered that one of the small group leaders had a special connection to me. My brother-in-law Jeff and his wife were in a small group with a new couple to our church, whom I had not seen there yet--Jim and Holly Schaude. Holly was my first roommate at Bethel College, so I was very excited to discover that they were Jeff and Dawn's leaders. Holly wasn't at the celebration because she was working at the hospital (she's a nurse), but her husband Jim was there. Holly and Jim started dating at Bethel, so I remembered Jim very well, and I was at their wedding. It was so fun to become reconnected!

So, in spite of the snowfall, we still trudged out and were rewarded greatly for our efforts.

Till next time,


Suzi