On Friday evening, we joined some friends from church at a local vineyard for a picnic and music. The vineyard itself was out in the country, lots of open space with just enough trees for shade, and the weather was warm with lower humidity. We grabbed a pizza from Little Cesar's for the kids, and packed some food for ourselves. The kids had a blast running around, and us adults shared a giant slice of strawberry shortcake from one of the food trucks. As we left, we saw the beginnings of a beautiful sunset! Definitely a place we want to come back to!
Saturday morning, I took the three kids to Leiper's Fork to visit with some MD friends who were down in TN for a family member's graduation. Noelle and Jonah jumped right in to playing with their three little girls, and my friend and I had a little bit of time to catch up on life. It was SO good to see them, and makes me long for our first trip back to MD (most likely not until Christmas!) I miss those friends and seeing their little ones grow up!
The rest of Saturday afternoon was pretty quiet, and Luke and I were able to prep for that evening. We invited over a bunch of neighbors for a little ice cream party! We really want to be proactive about getting to know people, and building community. It stretches us way out of our comfort zones, but we firmly believe that God has us here for a reason, and who lives around us is part of that! In total we had 12 adults and 17 kids. There were three babies 13 months and younger, and the other 14 kids ranged in age from 3 years to 12 (maybe 13 years) old, and at one point, ALL of them were just running around playing with each other. It was so sweet (and loud), especially seeing the two oldest boys running around with the little kids and letting the smaller ones tackle them. Now we just need to continue to push ourselves to continue those friendships!
Sunday was a special day for our church. It is a church plant, and they were celebrating two years! They had four baptisms, and a lunch afterwards for some great fellowship and celebration time. We chatted with friends, and made new friends with people who were visiting. Even though we've only been there for a short while, we feel right at home with our church family. We're so thankful for our pastor, Luke and I are each being mentored in small groups, and there is a strong (though small) group of moms that have regularly scheduled get-togethers. Bible study will be starting up again next Friday, and I can't wait!
Noelle started school today, and Jonah will start at the beginning of September. Back to early mornings, packed lunches, and waiting in car-line! (Also, it feels SO weird that it's the beginning of August! My entire life school has started the last week of August, or later, and so it feels like September is so much closer than it is!)
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