It is the end of another Lord's Day. Actually, it is early Monday morning, and I am in the mood to write a little bit before I go to sleep. I have some catching up to do, as it has been awhile since I've written anything.
Church went well today. It was good to have our worship leaders, Marc & Staci, back after a month away (adopting their daughter in Nepal). I preached the shortest sermon I've preached in years today (15 min?), and would you believe not one person complained? Ha!
It is such an exciting time to be a part of Selmore. We had 35 children in our preschool Sunday School classes today. In fact, we've been over the 140 mark in Sunday School every week this month. That's a big increase for us, and it's a good sign that our small groups are doing well. Tonight was our "Life Group night," when our Sunday School classes meet in homes for fellowship & Bible study. Would you believe that Rachel and I hosted 50 people from the 25-40 class (counting kids) in our little house tonight? We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixin's. It was a blast. The people in our age group at Selmore have become like family to us these last six and a half years. We love them.
Next Sunday I get to baptize five people, and we will have (yet another) baby shower at Selmore. (We have had seven new babies in our church this year, and we have five more on the way.) We have had 25 additions to our church family the last four months. God's hand of blessing is on our church right now in a powerful way, and we thank Him for it.
As for life at home, this week will be Rachel's last week of maternity leave before heading back to work. I think she has mixed feelings about this. She's ready to get back to school, but she's grown pretty attached to Jackson (understatement). Jackson is still not sleeping well. Rachel gets up with him every night, and usually spends 2-3 hours on the couch with him. Once she starts back to work, Dad will need to help pick up the slack with this... Later this week, for Thanksgiving, we will go to St. Charles to be with our Reynolds family. That will be fun.
This probably falls under the category "too much information" so stop reading NOW if you don't want to know... but tomorrow I have a consultation with a doctor to discuss a certain procedure that starts with 'V.' Like most men, I am a baby when it comes to going to the doctor. I am really dreading the procedure, but I am finding that a woman who has had four children has very little sympathy for such things.
As for miscellaneous stuff... Hannah's basketball team is now 4-1. Hannah is still very aggressive on defense (although the teenage refs know to watch her now, and are telling her to take it easy, which Dad does NOT like). Hannah is still pretty passive on offense. We've been working at home on having "strong hands," which basically means not being knocked over by the ball when it's passed to you. She's getting better all the time.
The Missouri State Bears are off to a good start too, at 4-0. After beating Auburn in the first game, they won all three games in their tournament this past weekend. (Yes, I went to all of them. Yes, I am still married-barely.) A really talented Tulsa team comes to town Saturday, so we will see how good the Bears really are.
Still doing a good job of exercising, and still "fried food free" (22 days). I really don't miss the fried foods that much, but I need to do a much better job of cutting my overall calories. The weight loss is going slow.
I guess that's it for now. I'm just feeling really thankful these days. Rachel and I like where we're at in life, and our blessings are many. God is good.
