Another full Sunday

This morning the youth worship team led our praise and worship, and Dick and I and Destiny actually got to sit together. That is a very rare occurrence. We always have the communion elements on a table up front for anyone to take communion if they want to during worship. Because I'm usually at the piano and Dick is either playing bass or in the sound booth, we never get the chance to do that either. So it was really special that during the song Mighty to Save (the one that has the phrase Savior, He can move the mountains, which has come to mean so much to me lately), the three of us went front to take communion. I carefully explained to Destiny what Jesus wanted us to remember when we take the bread and the wine (for our church it's grape juice). Then we each prayed (even Destiny) to thank the Lord for His sacrifice for us. It was really, really neat.

Immediately after church we ate together with the other families who have children in our Christmas musical, then we had rehearsal. I'm telling you, there are so many people involved with different aspects of this musical, that I am quite sure they could do it without me! It is AWESOME!! I just love our church.

From rehearsal we went to an annual reunion of my mother's family. This was a really special reunion today. Some of you readers may remember that back in March my mother's brother Bob, who was dying of cancer and had recently given his heart to the Lord, called the brothers and sisters together before he died. I was there as the photographer and it was a most amazing, precious experience. A few weeks later at his funeral there was again a rich bonding experience among that family that had never, ever taken place before. And once again today, with a much higher attendance than there has been for many years, we could sense that bond of love. By the time we got there, some folks had already left, but I was told that at lunch time there were not enough chairs for everyone to sit down!

I got to see my cousin Joanne, pictured below with her friend Terry and her two granddaughters. Shortly after Uncle Bob's funeral Joanne started blogging and we've been staying in closer touch through our blogs than we ever did in our entire lives! This past summer Joanne's parents sold their home and moved into a smaller place. When I saw Joanne's mother today I asked her how she likes her new home, and I assured her I had already seen it because of Joanne's blog. I don't recall ever meeting Joanne's granddaughters before, but when I saw them today I immediately knew who they were from the pictures on her blog!

After we came home from the reunion I took another too-long, but much needed nap. We took Destiny back home this evening and now I'm sitting here listening to the rain and trying to get sleepy. Two weeks from now all my Christmas programs will be over! I can't believe it!