Doing Life Together

Acts 2:42

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

This wasn’t going to be my blog for today but after this weekend I had to write about it.  We were blessed this past weekend to have some special friends come visit us, the VanZwieten family.  They are special to us not only because they are our good friends but also because our children have known each other since birth.  When we moved from Florida to Tennessee we were told we would be expecting a visit very soon :)

The kids could hardly stand it, waiting by the door in expectation of their friends to come.  There were big hugs and giggles and laughter when they arrived.  Even the 2 year olds were excited to see one another and it showed.  The days were packed with exploration of the outdoors, lots of bouncing on the trampoline, hide and seek, crafts, a girly lunch, boys morning coffee, fire pit, smores, cuddling for bible stories, and late night movie watching.  

Unfortunately we also had some sickness.  This yucky bug managed to hit 5 of the 11 of us and it hit hard.  Thankfully our two families worked well together figuring out what needed to happen to make things run as smoothly as possibly.  I must give credit to our husbands who sacrificially had one day keeping our children busy and out of the house to help Franci and I recover.  

Lastly, I would love to say that there was no arguing, no whining, and no melt downs with all the children behaving beautifully, but that was not the case.  If you have children you already know that growing little disciples isn’t easy and it takes time.  Especially when you have 7 children all 6 years old and under.  We had some of what I like to call "teachable moments" not only for the children, but after some reflection, for my husband and I as well.  I say this with a smile on my face because this is life.   The laughter and sadness, the sickness and the joy, the hard times and the fun times all blessings from our Lord.  That is exactly what the body of Christ consists of, imperfect people, doing life together with a common chord, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.    

   

My prayer is that we continue to do this life well together.  Lord help us to be men and woman who fellowship well together in your name allowing our children to see that our commonality and purpose, is YOU.  Amen.  

Matthew 18:20

For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.

1 Corinthians 12:12 

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.