Small Group Friends

We just love our church small group!  We meet each week with four families and share a meal and share God's Word and share life together.  It is so good to go through life with other couples who are in the same stage of life as you.  And by same stage of life, I truly mean the exact same stage of life.  Between the four couples, we have 7 little girls all two and under!  No boys, just girls!  Anyway, the week before Thanksgiving, we got all the little girls together for a princess tea party.  No big occasion, just a fun thing to do.  And the girls LOVED it!  6 out of the 7 girls were able to attend.  Here they are in their pretty outfits enjoying their tea.

Clockwise around the table (starting at the bottom left), we have Nora, Alice, Anna Kate, Caroline, and Annie.  And of course Ava is the baby in the bouncy seat!

 

 

After the tea party, we had the girls pack their shoeboxes together to send off to Operation Christmas Child.  Unfortunately, I was too busy sorting and packing (and keeping little hands off the candy!) to take any pictures.  But I did take a couple on Sunday morning when we dedicated and prayed over the boxes.  It was so neat to involve our little ones in making a difference in other children's lives...not just by giving them a material gift, but because every child who receives an OCC shoebox is given the gift of the gospel.  Our church packed and sent 185 boxes...more than double what we've ever collected before!

Alice and AK with their shoeboxes

 

Caroline, Anna Kate, and Alice with ALL the boxes!

 

On a bittersweet note, we are a little sad this week because one of the families in our small group is going to be moving a few hours away.  Anna Kate's "Friend Alice" as she calls her (as if it's a title!) and her baby sister Heidi, will be moving to where their daddy just got a new job.  We are excited that God has provided a great job for him, but we are so sad to see them go! 

Anna Kate and Alice have been friends for a long time.  Here they are at AK's first birthday party.  Sweet baby girls!