A Week With Friends

This past week we enjoyed the fellowship with some friends from college. Mark & Mike Herbster and their families were in town for special meetings at our church. The last time I saw them was eleven years ago! Between the three families we now have eight children! In case you were wondering, they are twins. Hard to tell them apart? In the picture on the left it is Mark, Amy, Us, Amy & Mike. Hope that helps ya!

They all came over to our home shortly after they arrived in town and we enjoyed a great deal of fellowship around the table. (Side note: It is a wonderful encouragement to hear of fellow grads who are "holding the line" and serving the Lord with all their hearts. It's nice to know there are other "fish" the same age who aren't swimming with the currents, if you know what I mean!) Not only are the Herbsters godly people, they are godly parents! How nice to have Marshall and Shaylen play with six new well behaved friends!

Our meetings started on Sunday morning. Mike's wife, Amy, is a fantastic pianist and she offered to play for the choir so that I could sing with them. What a blessing! It was so wonderful to be able to sing the hymns with our congregation this past week. All of the Herbsters sang special pieces in the services, including the children, and after all of the singing was done, the kids got to go downstairs for a special children's program. Marshall and Shaylen LOVED it. The kids' meetings included puppets and we heard all about them on the ride home!

I had an opportunity to play for the Herbsters for Wednesday's meeting and Friday's Youth Rally as Amy (Mike's wife) got to head down to Southland Christian Camp in Louisiana to help with a ladies' retreat. It's not every day that you get to play for these guys so it was quite a humbling honor! You can bet I practiced more in preparation for those two nights than I ever have (hence the silence on this blog). I originally had six pieces to play, but they decided to just do the same pieces on Friday night so I only had to practice three. Whew! What a relief! Amy Beaver Herbster is a hard "act" to follow and I in no way filled her shoes, but God stretched me and enabled me to do the task. I LOVED playing for them.

We also got to sing with the Herbsters. Aren't they gracious? Taigen sang in a trio with the guys on Tuesday night and then Mike, Mark, Amy, Taigen & I sang an acapella number on Wednesday and Friday. I loved it, but I have to say that I was very nervous since I am mostly at the piano these days and rarely sing. Let's just say that these vocal folds are a bit out of shape!

After church on Wednesday, I went out with the other Amy(Mark's wife) for dessert and a time to just chat. (Pray for her, she has girl #3 due in a month!). We talked and talked and lost track of time. I bet Applebee's was wondering when we would leave! She is a sweetheart and I enjoyed the time to get to know her better.

On Friday we hosted a Youth Rally(pictures sprinkled throughout this post) for some church youth groups from MA, NH and ME. We had about 75 teens at our church! They played a game outside while there was a bit of daylight left, then came inside for a snack, another game, skits (pictured left...Mike didn't wear hick overalls and a camo hat every night, I promise. Ha!), music and then preaching. It was a great service. How wonderful it was to see all these teens and their youth leaders.

I have to be completely honest and say that it was extremely hard to see them go. They were a huge encouragement. We loved sitting and talking with them. They are such godly, likeminded friends. It was without a doubt the best week of services I've ever attended. I can't wait until they come back! That can't come soon enough.