Officially Official

Well, today was the day! We said good-bye, no...let me rephrase that, we said....farewell to my parents. We said our "farewells" today because next Sunday we will be at Family Camp, including them. They will be at church Wednesday night but after that......boy, how things will be different. Not bad different, just different.

I want to share how the service went today.

Lynn is the pastor's support chairman so she opened the service with a little piece about a shepherd and sheep. Mom & Dad were both sitting in a chair facing the congregation. Morgan, Kaite and Emily sang the song...."Trust in the Lord". (they did a great job). After their song, whoever wanted to say something to mom & dad came up to the microphone and shared. We had funny stories which made us laugh and we had emotional stories that made us cry. What an impact my parents have made in so many people's lives. It was evident today.

After the last person that spoke was finished, we watched a slide show of many different pictures of our church family together over the past 15 years. As the slide show was going, the song..."Thank you for giving to the Lord" was being played. This is when I pretty much lost it. Just the memories that we have together as a church family, well, there's no way to describe it.

We had a dinner after the service. The Lord gave the cutest inspiration for the center pieces of each table. There was a different object on each table that reminded us of daddy. And then a card beside the object explaining what it meant with a scripture. I'll try to remember each one:

1. cell phone - for always being available
2. Bible - for never compromising the truth
3. whistle - for bringing us encouragement (my dad is ALWAYS whistling, he is known for it)
4. shepherd - for being our shepherd
5. box of kleenex - for all the tears of joy and the tears of sorrow we've shared
6. coffee - for providing hospitality
7. band-aids - for helping cover our wounds
8. hammer - for building, repairing, remodeling and planting (physically & spiritually)

Daddy was asked to share to the congregation who our new pastor will be.

Bro. Bobby Sutton and Sis. Annette will be coming to Antioch. And, the Shaw family will be going to pastor the Portland church.

I have great peace about this. Sis. Annette....we can for sure go see some plays now, huh?! I know they are going to be great for Antioch, just great! They definitely are welcomed with open arms!!!!!!! I can't wait to see what all God has in store.

I am sad though about the Shaw's leaving us. I have truly enjoyed getting to know them. They are a great family. Morgan is totally bummed about Brandon leaving.....TOTALLY bummed. She came to me after the announcement crying and said....."Momma......Nanny & Grandad and now the Shaw's". Morgan and Brandon had gotten to be good friends so, she is sick! But, we are still in the same district so hopefully this will allow the youth in the district to come together even more. That would be great.

Things certainly are going to be different. But, we are all on this journey together, right? I know that God has great things everywhere just ahead....how exciting!!!!!!!