My Weekend in Bend

I had another great weekend in Bend with my friend Megan. Its always nice when we are able to go solo...not that we dont love our boys, but girl time is so rare with us it feels so nice when we finally get it!

I got over there around 3:00 and had a newborn shoot for her neighbors at 5:00. We had a yummy dinner, as usual, than went over to JoAnne's to get fabric for a project Megan had planned for us. We spent the first part of Saturday doing some family pics down at Drake Park...than the REST of the day working on these stinkin purses! I had brought my sewing machine so we could both be working together...but of course I left the presser foot at home:( So it took that much longer sharing one machine! But, in the end, they turned out really cute! (Megs is purple, mine is the brown one.)

Sunday morning we went to church, which is always one of the highlights of my trip over there. Their is church is AMAZING. They believe that the bible is the LIVING WORD and the teach from it EVERY SUNDAY. No topical sermons with supplemented material or outside sources. They teach the Word. The history, the meaning, the transaltion, the implication, the truth. I always leave challenged and educated. Their worship is simple but AMAZING. Their preacher holds your attention for the full HOUR that he usually speaks. If it wasnt a 3 hour drive, Id go every Sunday:) This Sunday was heartbreaking though. When we got there the first announcement the pastor made was that a family of their congregation (maybe 200 people?) had experienced a tragedy that morning. When they had gone to get their little girls up to go to church (like 7 yrs and 10 I think) they were not in their beds. They had been abducted and there was no more information. The congregation broke into small groups of 6 or so and started praying. Tears were flowing from everyone. It made my heart stop. How terrifying. It just shook me the rest of the day. It made me realize how LUCKY I am. I mean truly. There has been trumoil boiling in the lives of so many of our close friends lately. And we have stayed afloat through it all. We havent had any real struggles or heartache of our own. How BLESSED is that? I just thought... I need to fall to my KNEES and WORSHIP the God who has been and is still protecting us. It is amazing the love he has poured over us. I immediatly prayed for those girls, for my friends who have faced cancer and miscarriage in one month, for my friends who battle unemployment, for my friends who are enable to get pregnant, for my friends who face uncertainty ahead and lack clarity if the will of their life, for the people in my life who feel depressed or discouraged, for the people who have been cheated on and for the people who face temptation of cheating. For those who's faith in the Alpha and Omega is being doubted and who's is being persecuted. I just prayed...my whole drive home.

I want to scream from a mountian top: MY GOD IS AMAZING! HE LOVES US AND WANTS TO SHOWER US WITH BLESSINGS! The road will have turns and bumps and heartache and doubt...BUT GOD WILL REIGN and HE IS GOOD!

How good you may ask?......those little girls were found alive later that afternoon!