The Blessing of Busy-Ness

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. It sounds redundant to say "we've been busy," but in all honesty, well, we've been busy. Last week on Thursday I had a ladies' meeting. We all cozied up in the Meroff's living room and we enjoyed a great time of prayer, time around God's Word and a time of fellowship. For those of you who don't know, last year we met every month at the church. It was spacious, but very cold (physically) and impersonal. I decided to shake things up a bit by having us meet in homes this year. The feedback that I've gotten from the ladies I've spoken to has been all positive. But here I'm rambling. Sorry, that was quite the rabbit trail. Back to the busy weekend...

On Friday night the Sheltons came to our house. Stan and Grace Shelton (and their four boys Kaleb, Lukas, Micah and James) are here from Austria on their second furlough. We were elated to be able to spend the entire weekend with them. Marshall and Shaylen were only two when we saw them last AND we were up in Maine. Thankfully, Heritage supports them too, so we were able to reconnect. Stan was going to speak at the men's breakfast on Saturday morning, Sunday school on Sunday morning, and then preach in the evening service. In between functions, we were able to crash at the house, let the kids play with each other and sit and chat.

As you can tell from the photo, our kids made themselves quite at home with Stan. I love the fake "I'm Dying" look that Stan has on his face. Funny as it sounds, this is a blessing of having missionaries in our home. It gives Marshall and Shaylen a connection; a relationship with those that we pray for on a weekly basis. They aren't just some face on a prayer card. They know them personally.

On Saturday when the guys got back from the breakfast and book study, Stan mentioned that Grace had hoped to hit The Christmas Tree Shops while she was in town. Would I be able to take her? Of course, I jumped on the opportunity and we made an afternoon of it. We first went to lunch and then over to the store where I told her to take her time and enjoy wandering around. (This was such a priceless iron-sharpening time for just the two of us.) The guys in the meantime took the kids out sledding. I have to say that all ten of us had a fantastic time enjoying each other's company.

Sunday we were able to have the Meroffs over for spaghetti and meatballs, salad, fresh bread, lemon cake and good coffee. Scott and Amy had spent some time with the Sheltons the past two times they had been at our church, and had wanted the opportunity to do that again. Amy contributed a ton toward the meal so between the two of us, it was an easy prep for the masses.

After lunch, we all sat around and chit-chatted: the ladies in the living room, the guys in the basement (with football) and the kids, well...everywhere. There were fifteen bodies floating around the house. It was glorious! I loved every minute of it.

Many times missionaries or special speakers will say what a blessing it was to stay, but I know the truth: the fact is, we always receive the greater blessing. Pray for the Sheltons. They return HOME (Vienna, Austria) in February.