Celebration!

On Sunday morning, Jill, Adam and Staci went to church early to practice.  Allen and I made sure the girls had their breakfast and got dressed, ready and to church on time!  Adam's parents, brother and aunt also came to share in the day.  

 Adam finished his sermon series on Ruth.  

When Naomi returned from Moab with her daughter-in-law, Ruth, the people in  Bethlehem said "Can this be Naomi?"  Her reply was "Don't call me Naomi (which means "pleasant").  Call me Mara (bitter) because the Almighty has made my life very bitter."

Often when circumstances go terribly wrong or tragic, we blame God and get so angry and bitter.  But we should not blame Him!  Wouldn't you rather want to walk with Him, hold His hand as you walk a road that is difficult?!  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He is the one DEAR friend you can count on!  He is GOOD!  Trust Him!  

I am so very sad the children have moved so far away, but I KNOW God brought it about.   It is in His plan!  He orchestrated it without a doubt!  So I rejoice in it and I will choose NOT to be bitter.  Rather, I will take this time to hold onto Him and draw closer to Him.

God filled Naomi's arms once more.  Ruth married the kinsman redeemer, Boaz, and they gave Naomi a child who ended up becoming the grandfather of David!  And Who else is in the ancestral line?   Jesus Christ Himself!  Matthew 1, Luke 3

And I know God will fill my arms once again with joy in His presence!

When we got back to the house, we had lunch together.

Look at Al's pretty napkin arrangement! 

After lunch, we gathered in the family room to read a skit the children wrote.  They got their idea from Adventures in  Odyssey.  We were all given lines.

Claire, Ryan and I were foleys.  "A Foley artist is the person who creates sound art. Foley artists use creativity to make viewers believe that the sound effects are actually real. .."

It was a great play with many laughs!

The day before, Hannah had made the sign for Sophia's special day.

Didn't she do a good job?!                        

                               Time for cake!

anticipation 

Time for presents!  

And she put it together by the end of the day! 

We also set up a volleyball net

 We had a wonderful time in Wisconsin!  Al and I planned to get up at 2:30 am because we wanted to get to the area of totality for the eclipse so the family gave us their silly waves before they went to bed!  They were not going to be in the mood to get up in the middle of the night to wave goodbye in the driveway!