Church Music and Family Time

We have had a wonderful family weekend together.  It sort of feels like old times where we pack the weekend full of fun and activities.  I love it! 

Saturday we took the kids to the Hungry Mother Arts and Crafts Festival.  It was cool and cloudy which was perfect weather for David. 

We ran into the Bystreks and had fun catching up with them and throwing rocks into the lake.  My children could do that for hours!! 

There are lots of vendors set up selling cute stuff, there is also great music and yummy food.  Here are my sweet three together. 

Hope picked out some new hairbows!  I love the Hello Kitty ones and we just had to have the Minnie Mouse one for our next  Disney trip.  This sweet lady in Saltville makes these and we had such fun picking them out. 

I bought some Christmas gifts as well!  We love the park year-round and we are so blessed to have this in our backyard. 

When we came home Hope and I had a spa day.  She had to wear one of her new bows as we did our nails and toes  yesterday.  This is the fun stuff that I have missed with her so much.  Our life has been so crazy and fast-paced between here and UVA that I have missed quiet time with my girl doing girly things.  She is growing up so fast that I want to bottle all her sweetness-even if she can be a huge diva!  I love how she is sitting on our bed (yes my bed is unmade in the afternoon) letting her nails and toes dry while she is watching Max and "Wuby".  Below is a really cute father/son moment I caught out of the window where Mike is teaching Kyle how to mow.

  
Last night we cleaned up and headed over the mountain to Rich Valley for a party at the Buchanan's.  Wow!  It is so beautiful over there and the party was at the restored family home that dates back to 1905.  It is gorgeous and we had a great time.  David had so much energy and had a great time playing.  Kyle and Spencer had a great time together.

David loves Jeff Cassell and Dennis Carter and they were both there!!! The food was amazing and the fellowship was even sweeter.  I met a blog reader when Hope saw her daughter's skirt and said "I want a "skurt" like dat gurl!" 

David was in heaven sitting on the tractor, playing on the swingset, and playing ball. 

If you look closely you can see that the scooper on the tractor (I am sure it has a more accurate name than scooper but I am not a farm girl) that was used as the cooler for the drinks. My kids had a ball playing in that big ice pit!  Lights were strung across the yard and tiki torches were burning and it was a wonderful night.  Sadly our kids were ready for bed before the band started playing, but it was a wonderful night.  Thank you Buchanan family for your hospitality. 

This morning was church as usual.  I must apologize now for the people sitting around me in church.  Today the praise band played David's top three songs ever and I got very emotional.  They started with Our God and I could remember that little guy singing that right after his surgery. He still had hair then and we were in the big room beside Haley. That song brought back memories from early in our journey.  Then they launched into Forever Reign and that is when the tears started really flowing.  I love that line that sings my heart will sing no other name Jesus, Jesus and it gets me every time.  After I got control of myself I whispered to Suzanne sitting beside me that if they launched into How He loves us I was going to croak and sure enough thirty seconds later that familiar opening chords started.  It was the most intimate and emotional worship I have ever experienced.  I just felt bad for the poeple around me.

I am not emotional because I am scared or nervous about the future.  I am at peace despite what the future scans will say about his cancer.  I am emotional because the nightmare has taken us into a more intimate relationship with the father and I am so in awe of how he has provided for us.  We have been so scared and hopeless that Abba Father has been our only hope.  He has provided such blessings to us during the journey and we will forever be changed.  It was just so fitting that the Sunday before David's last treatment all his songs from his journey were played in church. 

I believe that flyers were passed out today in all our local churches for the Ordinary Women's Conference coming up here in Marion on September 22nd from 9-4.  I have been asked to be one of the speakers at this event and I am super nervous and excited.  Admission is only $5 and the event will be held at Marion Baptist Church.  The weekend will be based on Psalm 121:1-2 and I look forward to having a womens event here in our community.  I just pray that I do not throw up or cry when I speak.  Speaking is not my gift, but I must share how God has been so present and active in our lives throughout the nightmare. 

It has been a wonderful weekend here in our community.  From the festival at the beautiful park to the party last night on the Buchanan farm we have been blessed with time with friends and time together.  We are truly blessed.