Honor to Serve

 Today was our turn to serve lunch at the Peoria church. We left at 7:45 am to pick up 10 dozen flips from Casey's then drove to church. After unloading those Mark left for Schnucks to pick up the 5 dozen fried glazed crescents. By the time he got back David and Stephanie had arrived at church along with Amy and Ken. Kathy O arrived right after that. The only real labor to get the food ready was to cut the cucumbers. David started on those then even Israel helped. 

No other pictures were taken while at church. We were all just too busy to think about pictures. Peoria had a visiting minister today, Rick Kaisner's family came and Rick had the morning message.  As we were busy in the kitchen we couldn't really hear it but will for SURE watch that tomorrow. If you would like to watch it too click HERE.  After that came the lunch. We were happy that there was plenty of good food and even some to share for later. We ended up taking home a full tray of the sprout sandwiches from Costco and 3 dozen raspberry flips that didn't even get opened. There were also some left on the trays.  Next time instead of ordering 10 dozen we could cut that down to 6 dozen. The fried glazed crescents were cut in half and we had only a bag of those left, not sure how many. Of the 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies there were maybe 15 left and only 6 of the iced sugar cookies. The cinnamon rolls also went over very well. I think we brought home 8 of those. Craig Stickling had the afternoon message but we had not finished putting everything away and cleaning up until that service was almost over. SO for SURE that is another that I get to watch tomorrow. Click HERE to see that. After leaving church we drove straight to the barn to unload the food. A tray was taken over to mom's house for their supper then the rest made ready for supper. I also cooked 4 pizzas and 12 corn dogs. The leftovers, pizza and corn dogs went over great and by the end of the evening most of the food was gone. Although the 3 dozen flips that had not even been opened were frozen and will be used for the Berean volunteers. The weather was so nice that almost everyone played outside until dark. The grand kids took both of the golf carts out for some fun. Even the volley ball players played outside until dark. I was washing and drying sheets from the guests that stayed the night. There were 18 of them so all of the bedding needed to be washed. They left a great review and I hope they come back. Our youth group came down for a concert and they really had a good time at the Airbnb with the numerous activities. We’re sad that it was only for a short stay but maybe in the future we’ll come back for a longer stay. They even said it would be a good youth retreat getaway. And we liked the Bible verses around the house. Judith was very responsive and gave great direction. We appreciated everything. Thanks! 

At dark the volleyball players left the outdoor court and came inside to finish playing. The kids were all tired from playing outside and crashed on the couch to watch the players from a comfortable warm spot as by nightfall the temperature dropped and it was chilly outside.

Zeke was pretty happy to be here.

And we were thrilled he and his family came. It just so happens they go right past Morton on their way home and offered to take Nancy home tonight. We really appreciate when someone from the other side of the river comes AND has room for Nancy. Oh Nancy was so funny today. It was so nice after church she, mom and Karin were on the deck sunbathing. Nancy saw me and said, " Judy take a picture of my legs."  Those legs were so white they could almost blind someone. Mom's are the other legs in the picture.

The sunshine felt so nice. Everyone has left for home and Mark and I are just feeling so blessed. What an honor to serve.