change is in the air

we had our last sunday at southcrest (for a while) this morning and it was a little sad-okay, a lot sad. southcrest, for the most part, is an embodiment of what church family is supposed to be like, i think. there are people there that are not related to ryan or i, but feel more like family than some parts of our actual families. i have been there for like 10 years now, which is a LONG time...our dear pastor motioned to us (way up in the balcony) to come down during the middle of the invitation...ryan, at first, was like "surely he's not meaning us." but, he made some more gestures, and though ryan somehow missed all of them, i convinced him to go down with me...and what a sweet thing it was. brother (dr.) scott prayed over us and then took us to the back of the church with him at the end of the service-so we could speak with everyone as they left. it was really a sweet time of getting blessings from our church family and remembering how dearly we are loved! there's a group of ladies, whom are referred to as the "filling station friends" (long story on the name)...and i just don't know what i will do so far from them. they truly are like sisters/other mothers to me! what a blessing it is-the body of Christ!

on another note, we went to my sisters' ballet last night-this is hannah's last year, she's been dancing since she was TWO YEARS OLD! of course, hannah and fufster were the best dancers out there and they weren't on stage near enough, if you ask me (i would think they should be in EVERY dance)! anyway, it was very nice! i was impressed by the power of story last night, once again. the ballet was a beautiful story of redemption, though told in a different way. basically, it was about a toymaker who was not happy with all of the lifeless dolls he had created, so he made these two dolls and gave them life. at first they were perfectly happy and satisfied basking in the love of their maker, but after sometime, they became enticed with the jester-believing the lies he told them about the toymaker and eventually, losing their lives because of their bad decisions. the toymaker finds them lifeless in a junk shop and has to give the owner of the shop his own heart in order to buy back the lives of the two dolls that he loved so dearly. that's the short version-obviously, last night, that was stretched out in about 2 hours of FUN! ;) anyway, as much as i'm not a huge fan of the ballet, i found my heart touched by the story of redemption shown in such a powerful way... anyway, just thought i'd share. i'm thankful for such a wonderful Maker who has given us life!