Learning a thing or two... or three...

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."-Matthew 18:20
We went to a church in Vallejo today to go support our friend Michael who was giving the sermon. It was amazing, by the way. Tim, Cedric, Jenell and I drove up to this tiny little building and admittedly, I said, "This is it?" There was one car parked outside and I was sure we had gotten the address wrong. We called Michael just to check- yep. it was the place. :)

We walked in to the tiniest, little rundown building I've seen in a while. We were warmly greeted by all three people that were in the room and then we took our seats. While I was still wondering when everyone would start arriving, the service began. A man who was probably Tim's age went up and started singing a hymn while a woman played a tambourine. I didn't know the song, so I just closed my eyes and listened to the words-- it was something like "God will open up the windows of heaven and poor you out a blessing and (we already have so many blessings) that you won't have room to receive it". After a few songs, the other woman who was at the church stood up and started talking about all God has done in her life and just giving Him praise. She talked for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I thought, "Wow. That's awesome. I wonder if someone stands up and does that every week?" Then, the other woman stood up and began telling us how much she loved God and that even if He cut her off right now, He'd still be worthy of all our praise. Steve said the same thing a few weeks ago. (Yes, I listen, Steve!) Then everyone in the room, stood up in turn to just praise God for what He's doing in their lives. And it didn't seem like anyone just felt pressured because other people were doing it. It seemed like every single person was just so excited to stand up and give Him glory! Tim and Cedric took a turn, too. It was sooo awesome.

More of Michael's family members filed in throughout the service and by the end there were probably about 10 people total. After he spoke, he gave people an opportunity to accept the Lord as their Savior and also to come up for prayer. (Silly me, I thought we thought that up!) I'm just joking, but I was surprised how similar it was to our "usual" church experience even though it was completely different. LOL Figure that one out. A woman went up for prayer and sat on a folding chair and everyone in the church made a circle around her and prayed over her. God was present with us. I knew for sure.

The people we met today had such a genuine, out loud love for God, I was blown away. One, by my own assumptions being absolutely totally wrong- and two- by the way they treated us as their brothers and sisters in Christ from the moment we walked in the door- no questions asked.
So much of what I experienced today was the same stuff I love about FCC. Genuine people just loving God and loving you. I just really underestimated God and He showed be how BIG He is even in tiny places.

Dinner

Messy Fun!

Jenell experimented with feeding herself today. So funny and soooo messy! Of course, I chose orange food. Ha. We're looking forward to trying again with applesauce or something..

Pretty blue eyes.

Kyle's Birthday Party

My sister-in-law Emily threw my brother a surprise party at our house on Saturday. We enjoyed spending time with our family and lots of yummy food!!

Jenell's favorite. ;)

My brother and Kevin.

My cousin Eric, Jenell and Tim!

Mommy, Jenell, Auntie Em and Cousin Peanut!

Going to visit Auntie Em

V-Day Fun

Grandma Marnee and Great-Grandma Puff sent Jenell some Valentine's Day gifts. She had so much fun opening them! I had more fun watching her, probably. :) I didn't help her with any of them until the last one! She just pulled and shook each one until she got whatever was inside!

Getting creative.

My favorite one.

See her smiling?

The onesie was a gag-gift from Grandma Marnee.

Yay! Presents!

Farmington Part 2

We're back! We're trying to adjust back to reality and get out of vacation mode.. Easier said than done.

We're still not convinced this is "our car". :) We call it Grandpa Ben's car and we love it! As soon as I get done with this blog, I am on my way outside to undo the damage our 22 hour drive home caused. :) It was supposed to be a 17 hour drive... I am so clueless... I didn't really factor in the whole "baby" thing. We stopped in Laughlin, Nevada the first night and finished driving the next day. It was actually kind of hard to come home, too. Weird.

Normally we are ready to get home halfway through the vacation but we both realized when we got home we hadn't missed it or thought about "life" stuff once! So awesome. Here are the rest of the pictures from our trip. Make sure to check out the blog before this, too. It is the video of Jenell honking the horn. :)

Taking a break from the carseat. :) See the video on the blog before this.

Honking the horn



New Mexico

My sister Alison's 14th birthday

Ali and all the kiddos opening her gifts

Jenell helping Aunt Alison open presents!

All decked out in our Steelers gear.

Visiting Grandpa

Jenell and Daddy

Getting her blanket from Kay at the Red Cross in Farmington who helped us so much when my dad passed away.

Her cool chair at Grandma Sandy's

Me, my daughter and my sister! See the resemblance? :)

Aunt Kaley reading to Jenell

Aunt Ali reading to Jenell

Her favorite part of bath/bedtime is holding the lotion for mom!

Aunt Ali helping with the bath

Jenell and Frau Kreyke (my highschool German teacher)

Jenell meeting her Great-Great-Great Aunt Henrietta. No joke! :)