Remembering the weekend with gratitude

My heart is full of gratitude as I reflect on this past weekend.  To begin with, on Saturday morning we had our "Backyard Bible Club" team over to our house.  The children were so excited to have the house full of guests and we were excited too.  

Lots of smiles, encouraging words and laughter as we spent time together.  Nothing compares to Christian fellowship.  Especially when you're gearing up to serve Christ together.  It's wonderful.

Amera went with Josh and Amanda to invite the "Good News Club" kids, who were very excited to see them come to their houses.  Everyone else went around our neighborhood.  Except for me, a handful of kiddos (the youngest) and a sweet young lady who kept me company in the kitchen.  I baked oatmeal cookies and then overcame my slight intimidation with the charcoal grill and grilled some hot dogs.  It went really well (eventually) and the results were very rewarding. ;)  Nothing like charcoal grilled hot dogs!

We had some time of prayer and a sweet time of practicing our songs as Josh played guitar.  I loved it all!  Ok, maybe not the slightly panicked feelings I had as I questioned if I should have baked the cookies the day before rather than the day of...or when my foil covered grate on our little hibachi kept extinguishing the fire until finally I broke down and scrubbed it to make it fit for use (without foil!)...it all worked out in the end.  Do you ever question your timing on things and get in an internal tizzy?  Yup, I do that.  I'm much more relaxed than I used to be though, so there's always hope for improvement. :)

Father's Day was very basic at our house.  I think we just extended the same love we always do.  It was a busy Sunday following a busy Saturday so I just kept things simple.  We had a very edifying and encouraging time at church.  We enjoyed our new Sunday school class that consisted of an introduction to Philippians.  We look forward to learning more about "thinking spiritually so that we can live in a manner worthy of the gospel".  I put my reading through the Bible on hold for a while so that I can steep in Philippians.  I've been writing things in my journal, making charts and delighting in my happy discoveries of truth that it contains.

Sunday afternoon I shared with my husband and children how much I appreciate their dad.  That I am so thankful that he loves and fears God.  I am also thankful for how much he loves us and cares deeply for the spiritual welfare of our children.  We went around the table expressing our gratitude for him.  I thank God for his work in my husband's heart and life.  And I also thank God for his work in mine...teaching me that I ought to honor my husband more in the small, every day moments of life.  Being more of an encourager than a complainer and choosing to truly love in a godly way, even when it's hard.  

I am definitely learning to not stew so much about all the things I think my husband needs to change to be better.  Consider how much of an encouragement you can be if you look for the good things to praise and just watch how God uses that to encourage them to do better.  I know that often when I receive praise, I'm often thinking of where I need to improve.  It encourages and motivates me.  It's much more encouraging than simple getting a list of all the things I'm doing wrong.  If that's all we do, it can be oppressive.  Let's not forget to encourage our husbands!  

I found this little note stuck underneath a picture frame in the hallway.  

I nearly cried, the thoughtfulness of it just touched my heart so.