Sweet day

This morning, our younger 2 kids 'graduated' out of their current Sunday School classes & into the next one.  On their last Sunday in the previous class (today), they have a little graduation ceremony.  It's mostly for the benefit of the older ones who are graduating out into the Youth group, but since all the kids' department is together, they do it as one big thing during the children's church hour.  All the parents are invited to attend.  And so, this morning during our regular worship service hour, I went to the kids' program & was so sweetly blessed.

Our children's pastor (Brandon "Chappy" Gray) gave a message to the ones going into the Youth group that was really touching.  He referenced 1 Tim. 4:12 in his message. [12 Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.]  He talked about how proud he was of this group.  They're so young, but they're on fire for God & have no inhibitions when they worship Him.  He asked them to explain what different components of worship mean to them, so that the adults in the room would know that nothing was ever forced on them or that they were acting in a certain way just to go along w/ the adults.  He asked them why they lift their hands when we are doing praise & worship.  One of the kids answered "to completely surrender ourselves to God".  Why do we close our eyes during praise & worship?  "so that we're not distracted by things going on around us & so we can focus on God alone"  Why do we stand in worship?  "to show Him respect & honor."    Wow.  That's pretty great for a bunch of (new) 6th graders to already "get" that.  I wish I had understood that when I was their age.  He encouraged them not to be pulled in by peer pressure & lose that passion for worshipping God as they moved into the Youth group.  He reminisced with them about all the fun things they have done together as a group over the years since he's been our church's children's pastor.  There were laughs & sighs, cheers and maybe a couple of tears (ok, so maybe that was just me!) as they took a walk down memory lane.  They started the music (Pomp & Circumstance) and handed out certificates to all the kids as they got one last hug from him.  It was a sweet time!

Afterward, all the younger kids 'graduated' too.  Here's a few pictures I took.  This first one is Chappy, while he was doing his sermon for the kids.

Our group of kids moving into the youth group.  (That's the youth pastor on the far right end.)

Here's Sarah with her certificate.

And her whole graduating group.

And here's Samuel with his certificate.

With his group....can you pick him out?  ha ha!  If only we could get him to come out of his shell.

Who me?  I wasn't doing anything.

After church, in dad's office.

Larry had a meeting to go to this afternoon, so the kids & I came home.  After lunch, I watched this movie:

It was a sweet movie about a very young widow who finds peace after her husband's death.  While a little portion of the movie's storyline wasn't exactly something I agree with, the rest was a very sweet story of romance & finding hope after a loss.  If you need a chick flick to watch, go for it.

After turning off the movie, I was standing in the living room just basking in the blessing that is my life.  It was quiet & calm.  Everyone was off doing their own thing.  Everything was peaceful and I was thinking "wow...my life is good".  I stood there & thanked God for my home, my beautiful children, my amazing husband, a day of rest, etc.

All in all, it was a good day.  Larry's home from his meeting now & the kids are in bed.  I am a rich woman.

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