I'm sorry, I had this post ready over a week ago...
"Keep thyself pure! Christ's soldier, hear, thro' life's loud strife, the call rings clear. Thy Captain speaks: His words obey; so shall thy strength be as thy day."
This was the cry of everyone's heart (if I'm not mistaken) this weekend.
Friday evening was our first meeting with Larry Zook preaching on "The High Calling of Purity."
Saturday was a full day of teachings and discussion. Dad preached on "Purity in Personal Life" in the morning, then we broke for segregated discussion groups. Mom and Rachel led the girls' group out, while Dad and Don led the boys' group.
After lunch, Larry spoke on "Purity in Relationships." Later. Leon spoke on "Purity in Singlehood and Courtship." Right on the tail of Leon's message, Nate shared a testimony of "Joyful Singlehood." His testimony was just about my favorite from the weekend. :) And, no, it's not because I'm biased! :) We finished the day out with supper, then all went home for some much needed rest. :)
Sunday morning's service was very encouraging! Edward gave the opening and Larry the main. Larry preached on why we would believe a "hands off" courtship is best. I would recommend it to anyone!
After lunch, the parents met upstairs for a "Partners in Purity" (not crime) meeting. They discussed all the aspects of the weekend and things that they can do to help us stay pure for Christ.
Most of us youth practiced our Sacrifice of Praise songs and of course, talked in between. I usually ended up on the outskirts of the group, so I wasn't really involved in any conversations, but from the little I heard, they sounded interesting!
Clean up is usually one of my favorite parts of a weekend. I love when we all work together to get the place back in order. It just seems to bond us all even closer as brothers and sisters in Christ, and even just as friends.
Abi and I ended up in the kitchen by ourselves, so, we enlisted the boys' help. From Ben down to Jason helped us out. The boys just crack me up when they do "girl" things. :) But, they really did a great job! Thanks guys, you sure got us out of a big hole (or, shall we say pile since it was a huge stack of dishes and other cleaning). :) Feel free to help any other time!
Ok, now for the pictures. I didn't get very many, but you're welcome to them! :)
Chupps provided a couple flavors of juice for those that were fasting.
The girls' discussion group was upstairs...
Mom got a bunch of flowers and potted them for all the girls that were participating. We (Mom and I) went to church Thursday and cleaned. I ended up cleaning five bathrooms that day! Ugh! :) It was fun though.
Ryan put this up on the white board in the dining room.
Ry, drawing an object lesson on the board for Leon.
Thanks, Aunt Carol, for taking pictures for me! :)
Later that Saturday night, we invited Ry and Kels over to our house. Larry's were staying with us, so it was fun to add more people to the mix!
Ataley played the guitar as we all stood around, some talking and some singing.
After Ry and Kels left that night, Nate, Delwyn, Danae and I stayed up talking till midnight or so. We had some very interesting conversations! :)
:)
Nate had children's activities Sunday afternoon. He played a multitude of games with them! Here, he's playing occupation with them. Since there was some pretty little children playing, he set up a "conference room" in the hallway. When he was finished writing one's choice down, he'd dismiss them, then call "Next!" :) It was pretty funny.
It ened up being a mess in the sanctuary, but, what can you say when there's nearly 30 little people cooped up indoors because of rain?
It seemed like Michael slept for nearly the whole day! He must've been worn out. :)
Singing
Amy had some cake that Rhoda kept helping herself to. Needless to say, Amy was not amused. :)
This little boy doesn't look amused either...
Hm... Can't seem to keep those little kids out of the food...
My daddy :)
Poor baby had a rough weekend. With the addition of more aunties, she got pretty over stimulated. When people started to leave, she really started to be herself again. Oh boy, but she was even cuter when we took her to our house that evening! :)
How many boys does it take to change a flat tire?
Obviously a lot, not to mention supervisors! :)
