Homemade Soaps support Adoption

I want to share with you all about a great gift idea for Christmas.   A dormmate of mine from UNC-Greensboro has a homemade soap and lotion company that you should check out at http://www.catiebeth.com/.  Catherine and her family adopted a little boy from Ethiopia earlier this year and now she is donating her profits to other families that God has lead to adopt.

"Friday Field Trip" - The Pumpkin Patch

Today Sara and I met up with some dear friends (Katie, Mason, Garrett, Allison, and Kyle) at Hodges Dairy Pumpkin Patch. Immediately, Sara wanted to pick out a pumpkin from the prepicked ones .....

until she saw the wagons and realized that there was more to come. (with a little prompting from me and her friends). At first she jumped in the wagon and wanted to be pulled..
Well that lasted all of about 2 minutes when she saw all the other kids pulling their wagons. "Miss Independent", as she is being called a lot lately, decided that she needed to "I do it" (as she would say). a.k.a do it herself!

All the kids had a great time in the pumpkin patch trying to find the perfect pumpkin. I think each one of the kids must have picked 3, 4, or maybe 5 pumpkins before the perfect one made the trip in the wagon to go home.

Following the pumpkin patch we were able to 'visit' with some of the animals at the farm. There were cows, horses, chickens, goats, and pigs.

After the pumpkin patch we headed to Don Padro's for lunch. Gotta love those chicken fajitas at lunch for only $6.00. All in all it was a great day, and us mom's had a great time chatting and enjoy each other's company too. Thanks ladies, and I'm looking forward to the next "Friday Field Trip"; where will the next stop be........?????" Anyone else interested in joining us, let me know.

(It was a great day weather wise too, it actually felt like fall. Cool enough to have a jacket to start the day, and warm enough to leave it behind before the day ends. I love fall!)

Home Fellowship Leaders Retreat

This past weekend David and I joined the other Home Fellowship Leaders at our church for a day and half retreat at White Oak Conference Center. We had a great time worshipping the Lord, hearing great teachings and spending time with the other leaders building on current relationships and developing new ones; all while enjoying the beautiful weather that God provided for us.

The topic of the weekend was True Friends. We examined what friendships look like as represented by Jonathan and David in 1 Samuel 18-20; the importance of intimate friendships for accountability, prayer, and encouragement; as well as different types of friendships- from aquaintance, casual friendships, close friendships, and intimiate friendships. This weekend was great- it made me appreciate the friendships I have, reconfirmed the importance of investing in others lives, and challenged me with some relationships I have as to how God changes them for His purposes, and also was reassured that it is okay for friendships to change- because God has a season for all things including our friendships.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends that are faithful and encourage me. God has blessed me beyond imagination.