Celebrations!!!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY

PARKER OWEN!!

Yes, this is "little Jeff", our nephew, the son of Jeff and Denise Owen. He was born 13 days after Haven. Aren't they sweet!! It's unbelievable that 3 years has past since their birth. Parker is 100% boy! We hope your birthday is awesome!

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to Heather, Todd, and Nevaeh Green on their new little addition 'Nason Brae' who was born on November 14th! God has blessed you guys abundently!! It's hard to believe that Nevaeh is a big sister now!! Send pictures ASAP!

How did we celebrate Mike's birthday? Well, I would say he got off pretty easy on his 40th living here compared to how it would have been if we were
still at Grace! On his actual birthday, we got him a normal little cake and celebrated at home with the kids. On Friday night, Mike and I went out to eat at a place called Sweeny's that was a neat little place but had horrible service. Anyway, today most of the church dressed up in black (you know, over the hill!) and they threw him a surprise party after church. He said he didn't think anything about the fact that everyone was in black (men are so unobservant!) and was pleasantly surprised. The cake was too cute as it said "Older than dirt."

A few more things to celebrate is that we had a new family to visit the church today and Donnie and dad finally came to church!! Also, some of the church members have ordered us plane tickets back to Alabama for Christmas! We leave Christmas day and return New Years Day. Praise GOD!! He is Jehovah-Jirah....MY PROVIDER!!

On that note, let me share a lesson God gave me yesterday. Donnie and his dad were playing ball in the church yard yesterday so Mike went out to talk to Kirk who shared humbly that he has not found work and he had no food in his house presently. Mike came in and told me and we started gathering what we could from our pantry and refrigerator to take to his home later. An hour or so later, Earl and Cathy from the church (who had just babysat for us the night before) came in with tons of food from the grocery store and said that they missed out on the pounding (because they were in the Cayman Islands). They brought 5lbs of bacon, 10 lbs of frozen chicken, sandwich meat, cheeses, filet mignon, a whole brisket, lettuce, crackers, 3 dozen eggs, etc, etc, etc. It had to be around $200 worth of food! WOW! It was humbling, to know that we had just given up part of our food and in comes three times as much as we gave! This fulfills the following scripture:

"Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." LUKE 6:38

Now, it is not always given back in the same manner that it was given, like food for food or money for money....but it will be given back in some way and it is up to us to look for what that way was and then GLORIFY GOD FOR IT! HE IS SUCH A GOOD GOD!!

By the way, I would love to recognize your birthday or anniversary so email me and let me know when your big day is!

Lori