Guests

This weekend we had the joy of having Steve's brother and his wife
Kayla here. We spent the evening walking around at the Rio. The
Rio is a really fun place to go, lots of fun shops and good restaurants
and a pretty outdoor walk.


Steve and Uncle Shawn with the girls are we were walking around



Aaron admiring his lovely auntie



I know some of you have been wanting to see a picture of Kayla and her cute
growing belly...

Generosity

We have had the privilege this week of being taught by Jerry Bridges. Though I'm planning to do a post later on what I'm learning about Grace & Sanctification, I thought that first I would share one of the highlights of the week so far. Wednesday afternoon, CJ Mahaney interrupted class just before lunchtime. He came in and honored Jerry for the invaluable contributions he has made to Sovereign Grace, particularly in his understanding of the gospel and how it is applied. Then CJ announced that we were all to go upstairs, Jerry included, and that we were to each get a book out of the church bookstore (and Jerry was to get as many as he wanted). I got John Frame's "The Doctrine of God," mostly because it has been on my list for awhile, but also partially b/c it was big and expensive--and if you're getting a free book, make it a good one! CJ also led Jerry through the bookstore, recommending and feeding books to him to ensure that he was well-rewarded for his trip. Yet another example of the many kindnesses of God to us, not only in hearing clear and compelling teaching on the reality of the gospel of grace, but also in getting free books. Unbelievable.

More Fun...

Today was day 3 of our activities. We had a big
feast to end our time together. What cute little
Pilgrims we have!!

All the kiddos


Claudia and Hannah Flood


Morgan "feasting"


Aaron happy to be a Pilgrim


Hard-working moms: myself, Gina Flood and Tiffany Delage

Thanksgiving Fun

Our house here in Gaithersburg is a townhouse on a street with
tons of other houses, 2 of which are also Pastor's College families.
It is fun for us to have others so close by. One of the other moms,
whom I affectionately call a homeschooling "diva", had a great
idea to do a Thanksgiving unit together as families. In all there
were 11 children. So the past 2 days we have spent the morning
together doing all kinds of activities to teach the children (and
those of us adults who remember nothing from history class!!)
about the Pilgrim's journey to America. Thanks to some great
resources, time invested, and some creative juices, this thing
has actually come off pretty well! The girls and I are really enjoying
ourselves. We've been having a history segment, a related
craft, and then a game that pilgrim children would have played.
Tomorrow will be our last day together with the big
event of our feast. I will write more then. Here are a couple of
photos of the past 2 days together.


Here the kids were playing a game with marbles


Aaron hanging out with his girlfriend, Faith


All the kiddos, except the 2 babies, having snack


One little boy left his cowboy hat here and Claudia though
Aaron needed to try it on

Happy guy

One thing that we all love about Aaron is that he is always
so happy. Thought these 2 pictures captured that well!

Pay Day

This evening I was in the girl's bedroom doing some organizing and cleaning up. Morgan came in and was digging through her purse. She came to up me and gave me 2 pennies and said, "Mom, I want to pay you for all the hard work you do." What a little cutie. I wish at that moment I could have been inside her little mind seeing what she was thinking.
I have become more and more thankful for my little girls. They are growing up so quickly and becoming little people that relate to me like friends. For example, the 3 of us were at Old Navy the other week and I was trying on a sweater debating whether to get cream or navy. I was going to get the navy and Claudia was trying to tell me that the cream looked better. After going round and round with her (remember, she just turned 7) she says to me, "Mom, it's not that I'm saying that the navy one looks bad on you, it's just that I think the cream looks much better." So I bought the cream one.
I love those girlies.

Dressin' up

We were so thankful to have some company these past few
days. Our good friends Pete and Grace Privitera and their
4 girls came for a visit. Pete is the senior pastor at our home
church back in Lancaster. Last evening all the kiddos got
dressed up and went to a harvest party held here at
Covenant Life Church. The girls had a blast, playing games
and getting all kinds of candy. It was great to spend some time
with the Priviteras, we are so thankful for their friendship.

Aaron as a little duck


My girls and Hannah, Hope, Faith & Felicity Privitera



Claudia with her friend Emma



Morgan with her Denver Broncos balloon hat


Me and Aaron with Rebekah and Ronan Kurth