Whoosh!

What a crazy few weeks this has been! We just noticed this morning that it had been several weeks since we entered a blog report so here goes a brief synopsis of the events of November since the previous entry of the 5th...

The week of the 11th - the week began with two great worship services and faith formation classes for all ages at the church. The afternoon was given to putting the final preparations on the Community Thanksgiving Sing that was hosted by FUMC. We had over 300 people turn out to enjoy singing and bells from 10 churches. Afterwards, the FUMC youth hosted a soup supper that by all accounts was the best ever. They raised over $450 for next year's mission project.

The week of the 18th - this past week has been a real push to get a lot done before Thanksgiving. Belinda put in a lot of time to get the newsletter finished before the holiday and the result is a resounding success. Charles in the meanwhile focused on getting the Church Conference report tweaked and polished and is finally done! Next year will be much easier, he promises!!!

Monday was so pleasant with temps in the low 70's! The next day saw the arrival of winter and about an inch of snow and the temps barely reached 30 the rest of the week.

Thanksgiving Day, well, we enjoyed a turkey dinner at home, enjoyed the quiet and watched some of the parades back east. In the evening, we journeyed out and visited with three families in the parish, sampling some of the family life and festivities that makes living in western Nebraska so much fun.

On Friday evening this week, we enjoyed the arrival of Santa in Sidney aboard a old fire engine bedecked with lights. We ran into one of the church members Marge Sabin. She was enjoying all the festivities with her daughter and her grandchildren. The grandchildren really enjoyed shaking hands with Santa! The town tree by the post office was turned on, and then a chili supper was enjoyed at a nearby business establishment.

Praise God for small-town living!!!

Today is clear and cold, 16F when we got up. We hope to get the tree up in the parsonage and get those Christmas cards started! Hope your weekend is enjoyable, wherever you are!

10 years in the making!

Today marks the tenth year that Belinda and Charles have been married and what an amazing time it has been! We were marveling last night about all the places we've celebrated an anniversary over the years:

Osmond, NE 1998, Iwakuni, Japan 1999 & 2000, Jacksonville, NC 2001 & 2003, Williamsburg, VA 2002, Newquay, Cornwall, UK 2004 & 2005, Vienna, Austria 2006, Sidney, NE 2007.

We have so much to be thankful for over the years. We've had a few speed bumps and like most couples we've had our moments of frustration, but we are blessed that we have each other and are excited about the next ten years!

Yesterday was Another Great Day of Church!

We had a busy morning at church yesterday. What a great church family we have! To see what is happening at our church, check out the blog at
http://sidneyfirstumc.blogspot.com/.

Afterwards, we were treated to lunch at Perkins. It was fun to relax and get to know some of our church family members a little bit better!

The nap we took this afternoon was fabulous!

The Current Events Bible Study was very interesting last night. A spirited discussion took place! Afterwards we were invited to parishioners' home for coffee, tea and birthday cake. It was an impromptu birthday party. Again, it was so wonderful to be able to relax and enjoy getting to know other church members, hearing some of their stories.

We have been here four months, and we realized today that there is a sweet rhythm that is unfolding here in this parish. God is so good to have brought us here to Sidney! Yea, God!!!

A Week of Birthday Celebrations!

We have celebrated birthdays this week! Belinda's was on Tuesday, the 30th. The first picture shows the gorgeous flowers that her brother and his wife sent. I just love the autumnal colors! Everytime I look at it, I smile. I so love this time of year! The arrival of the flowers really added a festive feel to the parsonage!

After Bible study on Thursday night, Charles drove 3 hours east, to Camp Comica, where he attended a covenant group meeting of the folks who have attended an "Upper Room" affiliated 5-Day Academy. It is a 24-hour "spiritual renewal academy" meeting they have once a quarter.

This morning, he drove to Ogallala, where he attended a United Methodist Church (UMC) training on church records management. On his way home, he dropped off some paperwork to the UMC pastor located in the nearby village called Chappel.

After about a half-hour reunion at home, we went to two different locations to celebrate the 80th birthday parties of two church members! It was great fun to experience the celebratory atmosphere in honor of Warren Johnson and Eleanor Gordon's birthdays.

Praise God that we get to live in communities where folks make the time to get to know one another and develop long-lasting friendships that stand the test of time!