It's been a busy weekend (again!)

Jamie rode down on his motorcycle last night and stayed overnight. It was fun to have him come and visit us! We missed Krista, who was in Nevada visiting her grandparents this past weekend.
This afternoon, Jim performed his first wedding since starting here at our new church. It was a beautiful and meaningful ceremony. Of course, their little flower girl stole the show--she walked slowly to the front, carrying her basket of petals, then dumped out the entire basket! But it was a great way to occupy her time up front, as she then proceeded to pick up the petals! and rescatter and pick up again --and again!

On Friday evening and most of Saturday, we attended a seminar with some other friends from our church. It was an intense 9-hours of learning, but well worth our time.
We enjoyed spending our time at the conference with Kelley & Kevin, and Jenny & Chris (both couples are close neighbors to us and also part of our leadership team at church).
The speakers and the material at the Truth Project seminar were excellent. If any of you have a chance to be involved in either the seminar or a home group study using the materials--IT IS WELL WORTH YOUR TIME!!! Do it!

Guess who came to dinner?

This past weekend was very busy. Marilyn left on Friday AM with a group of women from our church to go to Yuma, AZ for a district women's retreat. (check it out on our new blog for the PSW district) Jim stayed home and held down the fort!
We had our first significant rainfall in the past month, so he had to wait until Saturday afternoon to wash and polish the cars! The other big news of the weekend was the appearance of a family of possums! (sorry, no pictures yet...) This week we found out that our fair city is well-known for it's rat and possum population. Not exactly the kind of news that we wanted to know...

We had a wonderful surprise this afternoon! We got a call from our friend Gary Thompson (he and Jim share an aunt and uncle and several cousins--so they are kind of related). He was in our area in a business trip, so he stopped by on his way to San Diego. We had a great visit and he told us all the news from Fergus Falls. It was nice that he had the time and could spend several hours with us. We love it when our friends and family stop by!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is here and we are blessed with the fragrance of flowering bushes and trees everytime we go for a walk. (The blossoms above are from our little orange tree in the backyard. The pink floral bush is located in front of our porch.)



This is the sight that greets us just as we enter our church campus: the patches of pink flowers and the red bougainvillea (reminding us of Africa) on the left side of the parking lot. We are so blessed to have eyes to see the magnificent colors that our Lord has splashed all around us!

Easter Celebration

Yesterday, we enjoyed our first Easter celebration here at Calvary Church. Although it was overcast and a bit chilly, a festive spirit was in the air as we began the day with brunch on the patio in front of the church.
On Saturday, several ladies spent hours decorating the sanctuary. The barren cross in front was transformed into a huge floral display symbolizing the grace of our resurrected Lord. The air was filled with the scent of lilies, and there was excitement as we sang the victorious songs of Easter.
Jim delivered a message of challenge as we thought about the angel's words to the women who came to the empty tomb that first Easter morning, "Why are you looking here among the dead, for one who is ALIVE?" It certainly challenges us, as too often we fail to remember the words of the Lord and look among the "dead and decaying things" for life itself!
We wish you all a blessed Easter season!