A wonderful weekend!

We have had a wonderful weekend, we had church starting Friday night and going through this morning. The preaching, singing, praying, food and fellowship was all so good. I felt good and did not get really tired till Saturday night but even then, it was a good tired.

We got to visit a lot and were glad to see friends and family that traveled to be with us! It was especially good to see Deron, Laura and their family! Baby Hannah is so petite and to see her walking around was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time! Lillie was very excited to see them. All of the cousins had a happy reunion after church today. When Jay and I got married we had 4 nephews and a niece on the way. Now not quite 7 years later I am going to be having the 14th grandchild, and #15 is due in June! We all have so much to be thankful for!

It is so hard to believe Thanksgiving is this week. Time has flown by lately and in a way it has snuck up on me. I guess it hit me this morning that one week from tomorrow night, I go to the hospital to have this baby girl!

We always have so much to be thankful for but this Holiday season is so special. My sister in law who had her first baby, December said there is something special about having a baby around the holidays. I am beginning to understand. We will not be able to be with my family on Thanksgiving this year but we look forward to Christmas at Papa and Nana's house.

Babies bring so much joy and hope for the future. I remember meeting a lady about years ago and I asked her if she had any grandchildren. She replied "No, My daughter has decided not to have any children. The world is such a dark and wicked place and she can't bear to bring a child into that kind of mess." I have thought so many times how sad it would be to feel that way. I agree that the world is a dark and wicked place but can you imagine how sad it would be to not have children to make the world a brighter place!

Jay opened the church service with prayer this morning his words touched my heart. He prayed for the expectant mothers and their children, he prayed that we will be able to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and that God would keep a hedge about them and keep them safe. As I said, it touched my heart. I agree that being a parent is overwhelming. It sure looks easy enough before you have a child and then you have one. And you learn it is a great and constant challenge.

For example, you have a little girl who is in her 4th church service in 3 days. She misbehaves and you take her out for some correction. Only when you get her out the door she takes off running to flee the anticipated correction. When you catch the child,you have to take a deep breath and apply the correction to where it is needed. Being a parent is hard and sometimes very challenging but I believe one day we will reap the benefits of taking care of such situations. I know children learn valuable lessons as well. For example, I know of a little girl whom I doubt will ever run away from her mama again :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week!