Special Friends Part 1

What a blessed time our whole family has spent in the rich fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ! God truly worked all the details out and allowed us to spend some neat times together.
We did lots of cooking together - desserts and meals
A somewhat group picture of the girls :)We looked at lots of their pictures while they were here!We felt so much like family that they helped us with our laundry... :) And we played games while we folded. :DOn Sunday morning/afternoon, our church group met at the park and enjoyed our service there. Pictured here are (R-L) Leah, Sam, Rebekah and a little girl from our churchWe even managed to get the piano to play in the park! It was wonderful.And then we went down to the Spokane River to witness two baptisms - one of them was Hannah's.
♥One of the precious S. girls and Amanda
Leah really got into the water... :)Leah... drenched!
Some of us were able to ride in the B.'s vehicle with them on the way to the park
This was a secret project for our other friends that were going to come at the same time the B. Family was going to be here... the surprise was a peanut butter cheesecake... which will be pictured later.When our other company, the M. family, arrived, we played several games of spoons... :)
Hannah with the youngest M. girl. ♥
Luci and Amanda, going down to the barn to milk the goats. ♥
We made breakfast together, and because there was no room at the table, we girls sat together in the family room.A lot of the girls offered to do each others hair, so we had a fun morning trying out new hairstyles.

We set out after breakfast to go take a walk.
A group picture before the walkGoin' up the dirt roads
After a photo-shoot (maybe we'll be able to post pictures of that later), we came back and celebrated our dear friend, Luci's 16th birthday. What a delightful time we had!
The "surprise" completed!!!!


We had a nice "tea party", but instead of tea, we had fruit smoothies ;)That evening, we had wonderful fellowship with our Bible study group and guests. The P. family kindly hosted a last minute dinner at their beautiful home.
Dani and MaryAnna
Before Bible study, we were able to walk around the property and take pictures.
Amanda and Luci
Special friends ♥
Dani and Olivia ♥ Dani and Luci :) ♥
The B. Family was able to spend over a week with us at our home... What wonderful fellowship we had with their family! We adopted the B. girls as extra sisters ~ and we took care of chores, animals, clean-up and just about everything together! What a special time we will never forget!!!
(Love you girls!! ♥)

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! ~Psalm 133:1

P.S. We will be doing a more extensive post on the visit with the M. family. :) We are excited to share the special details and more pictures.

Long Overdue Post

In the month of July, the LORD showered us with abundant fellowship with many brothers and sisters in Christ, and we were so blessed to spend time with all of them! God knows exactly when we need encouragement and reminders that we are not alone!

One of the very special blessings a few weeks ago was with the B. Family.

We helped arrange a way for them to come to where we live and they blessed our small community with a lovely concert.

That night, their whole family came to our home, and we stayed up quite late, enjoying the fellowship of like-minded believers.
In the morning, we all ate breakfast together, talked, cleaned up the kitchen together, then while it was still cool outside, everyone but Dad and Mr. B. went for a walk down our dirt road. (The men enjoyed a quiet 1 1/2-2 hours of fellowship!) We had a splendid time, getting to know this dear family better.
They were able to stay past lunch and after our meal, we enjoyed "putting on" Bible skits until they had to leave. We had a blessed afternoon.

We were so sad to see our company leave that afternoon... but not for long!!
The next week, the B. Family came back to our area, visited our church that morning, we enjoyed a picnic lunch that afternoon at a park, then that evening, we were privileged to join their family in another concert, playing for 15 minutes during the "intermission".

The whole day was a huge blessing, refreshing, and inspiring. The B. Family sings for the LORD alone, and the message their family portrays is a reflection of the love of Christ. We were blessed to spend that evening with them as well.

God is so good to His children. "Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." ~1 Peter 1:3

This morning, He showed me a beautiful verse: "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him." ~ Psalm 103:10-11
Isn't that amazing that He does not deal with us according to our sins? His mercies are great - to those who FEAR HIM!! I have been doing a study on the fear of the LORD these last 2-3 months, and I have found some rich verses and truths. Have any of you ever studied the fear of the LORD? Do you have any idea how many times we are told to fear God? What has the LORD been teaching you?

May the LORD bless you all, as you seek to know Him better, and may He teach you to fear Him alone.

Through Christ Alone,
~Dani

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

What a blessing you are to our family! We love you!!
Happy 9th!
(You're getting so old!!!!!)

If ya'll would like to join with me to wish Hannah a happy birthday, I'm sure she would appreciate it! :)

Lessons

Happy August! :) How quickly the year has been going, and it has been so full of blessings and lessons.

I have shared what the Lord has been teaching me with several of my pen-pals, so I thought I would share it with the rest of you dear ladies who I haven't had the opportunity to correspond with.

Mom and I have been reading a book called The Family Daughter by Sarah Bryant, and most recently, we read about having joy (a quality I am still working on attaining!). The author challenged readers to choose to have a joyful, cheerful attitude, even when things are not going as you want them to, or when you feel like being disgruntled or frustrated. How a day can be spoiled because we choose to be grumpy! We are told in several passages in the Bible to rejoice, and give thanks in everything. In our family devotions this morning, Mom shared this passage: "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." (Colossians 2:6-7) Dad was telling us about his grandmother (who the four of us older ones were privileged to know for a short time before she passed away several years ago) and her incredible testimony of how, even when her body was in great pain, she was always thinking of and doing things for others. What joy it brings when we serve others!

In closing, I would like to share one of my favorite Bible passages~Lamentations 3:22-26: "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD."

Blessings,
Amanda