Christmas party

Several years ago (maybe 7), Allen and I began a young married's Bible study in our home. There were 3 couples with us. Then the next couple of years there were only 2 couples with us but we had a blast and really got to know one another well. After that, we had 6 couples. By now our church was really growing. There were many young marrieds coming to our church that needed to be in community life groups. So we encouraged each of the couples to lead a group of their own. We coached them and we also asked Dave and Sarah to come on board with us to help us.

Each Tuesday morning, Sarah and I meet with the wives of these couples. Last year we studied Beth Moore's study on the book of Daniel. This year we are going through a book called "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas. "What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?" "This book doesn't tell you how to build a better marriage (except it does), but how your marriage can help you deepen your relationship with God." It is so good!

We had a Christmas party. We had 3 kinds of soups, breads and desserts. You can get Sarah's recipe for her Navajo soup on her blog. Lots to eat. Lots of laughter!

We had our traditional white elephant gift exchange.

I found this box at an Amish country store in Oklahoma. I had to get it. Infact, I got two - one for us and one to give away. You open the lid and this spider pops out really fast and lands on your finger. Freaks me out every time! Sarah opened this one....

....but it was stolen. That is part of our gift exchange. You can steal from others. Below are pictures of some of the gifts we got. I also gave away Bacon Jam. Yes, bacon jam. Yuk!! I found the recipe on-line. Had to render the bacon for over an hour. Add 2 yellow onions and cook it in the bacon grease for 4-5 hours. Add spices and such and blend them together to make the jam. I wouldn't call it jam myself. It was gross. But if you know any of these guys, you will know they are bacon fanatics. They even made bacon-wrapped chocolate once. How sick is that??

We treasure these couples and the many other couples our church has been blessed with. What an impact for the Kingdom they are making! And because I am the nursery director at our church, I get the added blessing of getting to know all of their children and loving on them every week!

( I took 3 pictures of the group, and Joel - stinker that he is - made funny faces in every one.)

We treasure you all and you are always in our prayers!

"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 2 Tim. 2:1-3