Courageous, Mom and Dad, and the Wade's

On Thursday evening my parents arrived to stay with us over night. My daddy had some meetings in Atlanta and they came a day early to spend some time with us. They brought back my very missed baking pans that I left when moving. They also brought to us some highly anticipated eggs that our chickens (which are now their chickens) had laid. Oh the difference in fresh farm raised eggs. Their is a richness to them and something satisfying to know that you just went and got them from your backyard.

We had a very nice time with them, although it was short. On Friday they took the oldest five of our children to see the movie "Courageous" . Keith and I were able to prescreen it back over the summer and loved it. We decided to stay home with the two little ones and this was a special treat for our other children. They had been waiting eagerly to see this movie and had tried to get details out of us to no avail! We didn't want to ruin one second of any kind of surprise.

When they came home all of them were deeply moved. They talked and talked about it. Of course, they loved the funny parts. They spoke of tears they shed and a little fearfulness during certain parts. We hope to talk with them more about the central theme of the movie this week. For me and Keith it was such a challenge in the area of fatherhood. To rise above the mediocre way of parenting which can consist of just letting the days go by and making very little impact in the lives of the children God has placed in our care. The movie will have you laughing and crying and contemplating how you are doing in relationship to your children and the responsibility you have before God. It is the best of all of them in our opinion. They are excellent about weaving the truth of the gospel throughout the entire movie. When it is said and done, it makes you want to cheer for a job well done for the Glory of God. And, as the children told us, that is exactly what the audience did when the movie ended for them on Friday.

I pray you will make a great effort to go and see this movie. And, please take someone with you. Take your children with you. It may be a little too intense for the little guys. We allowed Joshua, our five year old to go. We also need to pray that God will use this avenue of spreading His powerful message in a miraculous way to touch many lives.

And if the weekend couldn't get better, we were able to have a special family come and stay with us Saturday and go to church with us on Sunday.

All 11 of them!! Soon will be 12!

The Wade's have been a special family to us for quite some time. Jason serves as a deacon at our former church and both are pharmacist's. Sandra Kaye works one day a week and is at home with her family the rest of the week. They have two boys, Justin and Mason, and two girls, Georgia and Olivia. Keith was able to go and enjoy watching Georgia play football while we stayed home and took a picnic lunch to the playground and just hung out together. Precious time.

Thankful for...

my pampered chef stones
my small loaf pans
twenty something little brown eggs
visit with parents
children's excitement over movie
memories made with the Wade's
worshipping together in our new church
great afternoon naps
another day to wake up to God's mercy

Nichole