This week was the annual Tulsa Workshop. I look forward to it every year. It's always a great way to see old friends and get a recharge. This year I was very excited to get to volunteer at Workshop Central, and I thought it would be a great chance to see if some of the other young moms in our Bible class wanted to volunteer with me and we would have a chance to get to know each other better and maybe have lunch together or something. Well, no one signed up with me and Thursday morning I was feeling sorry for myself and missing some of my old friends in Ft. Gibson that would go with me anywhere any time I asked them to. Side note: I went to the doctor the day before and I have a sinus infection so I wasn't really feeling great to begin with.

I decided to suck it up and enjoy the days ahead with or without friends along side me. It turned out to be better than I ever expected it to. Both days that I volunteered I got to visit with some older Christians that I attend church with but have never had the chance to meet or talk with. It made me miss my Grandma Kelley and all the wisdom and quiet faith she had, and how after every visit with her I had such a peaceful feeling. Visiting with these older Christians left me feeling refreshed and new and made me see things from a different perspective.

Jonathan and I were talking about my experiences over the past few days and we got to talking about how much we, as young Christians, need the guidance and wisdom of older generations. Maybe even just the quiet and peacefulness they seem to have. We talked about the way classes are set up these days everyone grouped together by ages we miss out on so much that the older Christians could and should be teaching us. I wonder how we can correct this? I understand the importance of meeting together with others our own age, but I need the guidance from those older and wiser than me. Maybe it's just me, but I feel I would be a much better Christian if I had that.

Our Weekend

This weekend was one of the busiest weekends we've had in quite some time. I had signed up to fix a meal for Celebrate Recovery at our church with my cousin Jenny Friday night, we had a wedding to attend in OKC. Saturday night, our involvement minister at church signed our Bible class up to prepare and serve a meal for Contact Church for 125 people, oh and a birthday party Sunday afternoon at 2:30(normally we would have just skipped a party but this was a special one)! I knew not many in our class had the time or the experience of cooking for such a large group so I decided to head it up. I feel like God has blessed us with so many church experiences in the past and cooking for a large group of people is one of them. I really enjoy the excitement and hospitality involved in it and I think it is something not everyone can do. This weekend was exceptionally hard because I usually really depend on Jonathan for a lot of help when we are involved in so much like this. I knew with how busy and stressed he has been at work I couldn't depend on him much at all. He even had to work all day Saturday! So, organized I had to become. I had a schedule of events down to five minute increments for the weekend. I had every detail taken care of. I felt like my sil Jenny:) Everything went so well and we had no surprises. We really enjoyed the wedding thanks to cousin Annie and Chris who kept Jennah and Joel for us while we attended, and also Aunt Amy and Uncle John for keeping the kids Sunday morning for us while we prepared the meal for Contact. We have such a great family!

Joel has the Snaps

Joel's newest trick is snapping. He said Mr. Will (our children's minister) taught him how. That was last Wednesday night after church and he hasn't stopped since. It's so cute and reminds me of my youngest brother when we were little.

Time with Dad

Since I had Muffins with Mom this morning Jonathan took Joel to work with him. He wasn't real excited about it. He seems to be like his mom with mornings. The only way we enjoy mornings is if we get to sleep through them! Anyway after we finally got him up and around I think he was a little excited. Jonathan had taken his picture the night before and told him he would have it on his computer in the morning so Joel was looking forward to that and of course the sucker that he always gets when we visit Dad at work. He was also very happy to get this clown nose from Jonathan's office. Speaking of the clown nose I need to ask Jonathan where that came from kind of strange thing to have in a bank office. They were so cute together so I snapped a few pictures to share. This second picture is Joel sitting at Jonathan's table playing while Jonathan was trying to get some work done.

Muffins with Mom

This morning we had Muffins with Mom at Jack and Jennah's school. It is during the book fair so they try to get parents up to the school so we can all purchase some books to benefit the school. I guess this is the first time I've been to this event since we moved from Ft. Gibson. I don't know where I was last year for it. It was so much different than our small town Ft. Gibson Muffins with Mom. About a hundred crazy moms were packed in this little room with books everywhere. The muffins were on this tiny little table that looked like a dog had been up on it with muffin pieces strung everywhere, and only four muffins left. Huge contrast to the laid back quiet Muffins with Mom in Ft. Gibson where each kid serves his mother a muffin and does an interview with her while they enjoy a peaceful breakfast snack together. Needless to say I was disappointed and it really made me miss our little peaceful town of Ft. Gibson.