We were able to attend Cornerstone on Saturday night, the fourth of December and then drive to Lyles, Tennessee to sing on Sunday morning. We always have baptisms on the first weekend of each month but I hadn't put everything together in my mind that Faith was a candidate for baptism now and she'd be there to get baptized. So when Pastor invited people up who were ready to be baptized I looked at Bobby and asked him what he thought about going to get Faith. Pastor always reminds us that the Bible tells us that the eunuch, after he'd heard the Gospel and understood the command to be baptized, obeyed that command as soon as the opportunity presented itself. He didn't wait for his family to get there to see him get baptized. Nor did he wait until an artist was available to capture the moment in a painting. The Bible just tells us to be baptized. Since we're rarely there for any weekend service let alone a baptism weekend, we decided to get Faith. I talked to the children's pastor first and he was all for it. Faith was all for it but kept asking questions. I tried to explain to her what we were doing and I believe she got it. For those of you reading this and feeling concern for the lack of discipleship, don't worry, the children's pastor gave us a packet that night of devotionals for Faith and I to work on together over several week's time to help her better understand what baptism was and what it meant. Fortunately, a there was another mom with her camera and she took a couple of pictures of Faith for me. I wish a picture could have been taken of Faith's feet as they were straight up in the air when her head was dunked under. So cute.
Mr. Pat Johnson joined us in Lyles at Wrigley Church of God of Prophecy the next morning and we had a great service there and we were able to spend our Sunday evening at home. Well, kinda of. We did go to Bethel to see the Christmas Program put on by Faith and her fellow Parents' Day Out classmates at Bethel Baptist Church that evening. She was one of the millions of angels...and a very adorable angel she was.
The following weekend we drove to Michigan. Dad's friend, Joann, invited us (Dad too) to stay at her home on Cory Lake west of Three Rivers. Joann has a beautiful home with a finished basement. We were able to have our own apartment, and a large one at that. We had a stocked kitchen, living room, pool table, 2 bedrooms and a large bath! Not to mention a beautiful view of the lake.
Joann's house before ...
...and after.
We arrived on Friday evening and again, enjoyed playing Farkle with Dad and Joann. And then on Saturday we joined my mother's family for a Christmas gathering in the fellowship hall of a local church. It's hard to believe there's 100 of us now!
On Sunday morning a winter storm was starting to blow in although the brunt of it had not arrived yet. A snowstorm is usually worse as you drive west toward Lake Michigan because of the lake effect but it turned out that they hadn't received much snow in Coloma where we sang Sunday morning at Lake Michigan Beach Community Church. It was a tiny little church and the room was full. After church my kids made a bee line for the snow as to get as much play in as they could. The snow we get in Tennessee is usually very dry and powdery; Michigan snow is much more conducive for building snowmen!
On our way back to Joann's house, it began snowing heavily and blowing. Bobby and I mentioned to each other that it would be nice to go back to Joann's and just stay there the rest of the day where it was warm and dry instead of getting out again in a couple of hours to go sing again. Well, that's what we did as my Uncle Moe Troyer spoke with Bobby on the phone as soon as we got back to the house and they agreed that the evening service should be canceled. So it was an evening of Farkle, movies and chili as the wind blew the snow around outside.
Bobby would have been fine with sitting still on Monday and letting the snow melt just a little but I was pushing to get home. Oh, it was pleasant where we were but I like being home these days and since the sun was shining outside, I didn't see any need to sit around and do nothing. It was soooo cold but my dad got the driveway cleared for us and we finally got ourselves packed and on the road home.
And finally, our last ministry weekend of 2010 was in Arkansas. We drove to Texarkana on Friday or Saturday, the 17th or 18th, and on Sunday morning the 19th, we got in the van and set out for White Hall which was about a 2-hour drive from Bob and Tena's home. However, we had just started out on I-30 when we thought the van was making a strange noise so we turned around and went back to Bob and Tena's. Grace and I stayed there while Bobby and the other 3 children borrowed Bob and Tena's car and left again. The van only had to go 1 block to take Grace and I and Papaw and Mamaw to church. It was a quiet and long afternoon as we waited for Bobby and the kids to return but once they did we only had a short while until we had to be at Rhema Baptist Church for our Christmas concert. Brother Jesse and the folks at Rhema feel like family to us and of course, there was family present. Bob and Tena, Bobby's sister, Judy, her son, Aaron and his son, Layne. I love it when they come and join us and, of course when you're with friends and family, you have to eat! So we enjoyed a lot of good food in the fellowship hall after the service.
It was back to Nashville on Monday where we began getting ready for Christmas!!!
