Community

We attended church this morning - in fact, all four of us were 'serving' in some way today. J. and B. played at the contemporary services (9:30 & 11) and rehearsed starting at 8. I helped out at the coffee kart from 10:15 until it was time to go to the 11AM service - we had to adjust my scheduled since it turned out H. was signed up to be the A/V guy up in the booth at the 11AM service. Until he's driving (oh my gosh - a little more than a year away) and IF we have a car for him (a BIG, HUGE "IF" at this point since we're not really planning to be a 4 car family though I have a feeling we will be), it's a bit challenging to get all of us where we need to be - thankfully, these rare 'we're all serving today' Sundays don't come around too often - usually more staggered.

Anyway, I've missed church a bit -busy at work, had some back issues that made me take a Sunday or two 'off' - then 2 Sundays missed for the Hawaii trip. And the thing I felt the most this morning - and it just felt so incredibly great - is the sense of 'community' we have at that this church. Friends greeted me like a long lost traveler. Hugs all around. A woman that was pregnant last time I saw her was carrying her 6 week old son. Another lady that was just 'sort of' pregnant last time I saw her is now within a few weeks of giving birth - not that I've missed (necessarily) months of Sundays - but maybe we attended different services sometimes. I usually attend the 9:30 and they attend the 11 - so seeing them today (and they are sisters, which is really cool) was so great.

It's just such a great place to be - to feel that sense of 'belonging' and to know that you are 'known' there and when you're not there, people do miss you. And to feel so 'welcomed back' - like old friends who are glad to see each other after a long absence. My coffee kart friends greeted me with such warmth and genuine 'oh, we're so glad to see you!' - and of course, part of that is the line was a mile long and they needed an extra set of working hands. It felt really good to have a 'place' in that ministry.

God is doing some amazing things in our church and I'm so grateful to Him for leading us there. It is a warm, inviting wonderful community of people who love God and who want to spread that joy. It's a great place to be.

We took all three cars to Costco for gas - $150 later, we were all full. J. headed into the store armed with a list and no wife. If he goes alone with a list, he will stick to the list - if he takes his wife, we will come home with a bunch of stuff we didn't know we needed until we [ I ] saw it. So one of my 'stick to a budget' and post-Hawaii expenses recovery plans is to send J. alone. We did a major stock up on last weekends trip (which I did accompany him on since we needed a lot of stuff) and so this week wasn't too bad. They sent us another coupon book and there are a couple things we will get because there's a coupon - but we can wait a few weeks for those items. We don't need them TODAY but we are buying them 'in advance' because the coupons are available - things like shampoo, conditioner, cases of Diet Dr. Pepper, etc.

I will attempt to work on taxes today and also brought work home and I need to make some headway on that as well. But I feel a brief nap on the horizon. And maybe a wee bit of time to enjoy a good book (that I didn't finish on vacation).