Oh Happy Day!

What an absolutely awesome day it has been so far and it's not even 2:00 in the afternoon!

I went to my bible study and church by myself this morning (the kids went to their classes), because Brian went to work today. I wish he could've been there to enjoy everything with me, but I still had an incredible morning. My bible study was great (we're studying the book of James) and I visited with some people in that class. Between bible study and Venue was really awesome though. I got to talk to Pastor Phil (our head pastor) for a while, which was really nice, because I've missed him lately. Seems like the weeks I have been there, he hasn't been, so it was really nice to get to talk to him for a few minutes. I also got the chance to talk to Julie, who really embraced me and made me feel comfortable when we were first starting to attend Colonial Woods. She and her husband, Pastor Dwight are just awesome people and I feel so blessed to know them. One of the greatest conversations I had though, was with a woman who I met back in March. She and I were at a packet stuffing meeting in preparation for Ladies Day Away. As we got talking and she was telling some things about people in her family, I realized that I knew her son and his wife and son. Her son is a severe diabetic and had just before that been hospitalized and the family was basically told that he wouldn't make it through his current situation. However, he did pull through (absolutely God's doing) and his wife and he went on a much deserved vacation together. When I ran into his mom today (first time I have seen her since that night in March) I asked her how he was doing. She smiled at me and started telling me about how since that big scare with him, they have had so many great times together. She was telling me how her daughter just recently got married in June and that at the wedding she was watching her son out on the dance floor, dancing and having a wonderful time and that it made her cry tears of joy that he was still here to celebrate his sister's wedding and to enjoy life. She said that the day after the wedding, the family had a big picnic and that he was out playing volleyball and she cried tears of joy and thankfulness again. By the time our conversation ended, I felt so uplifted and was so happy to see the joy that God has provided for that family. She thanked me more than once for asking about her son and how he was doing and we parted feeling happy and blessed. I really feel that God meant for us to meet this morning and to talk. It was just a really nice time.

Then, we come to Venue (our contemporary church service). The message was like it was speaking specifically to me. It was all about an issue that I have been struggling with for over a month now. God brought such peace to me today and answered the questions that I have been asking. I left feeling so incredibly peaceful and happy, it is just beyond description. All I can say is, our God is amazing and constant in our lives and He will see us through anything and bring us peace, if only we seek Him.

I came home from church feeling so incredible and then had another great thing happen! Our old dog, Biscuit, came to visit! Some of you may remember that we had gotten a dog in May of 2007. By October, we knew he just wasn't the dog for our family. He was extremely high strung and was pretty much destroying our house. We actually found him a new home on Asher's 2nd birthday. It was a bittersweet day. While I knew he was going to a good home and that we would no longer have to deal with our house being chewed up, peed on, etc. I was still sad to see him go. Well, the people who took him absolutely love him and they keep in touch with me through emails. I was talking to the girl yesterday and she said she would like to bring him over to visit us today and I was excited and so were the boys! So, about half an hour after we got home from church, Biscuit was here to visit! He's so cute and it was really nice to see him. The boys were happy too. We're making plans to take the kids (she has a 2 year old son) to the park near her house, so we can visit him again and let the kids play. I'm so glad things have worked out the way they have and that we still get to see him. She said to please let her know whenever we'd like to see him and we're welcome to any time. So, that's a cool deal.

So, this has been a great day so far. I'm super excited for tonight as well. It's the first night in the week of vacation bible school and I'm going to be working with the upcoming 3rd graders, so I'll be with all of the kids I taught in 2nd grade Sunday School all year. I'm really looking forward to it and there is nothing like seeing kids learning about the Lord and enjoying themselves. I can't wait!

Yay, what a happy day!