Out and In

Sorry for the blogging hiatus last week. Life has been so busy since moving to Oklahoma. It is hard to find a block of time to update the ol' blog. I am getting behind again so I'm going to try to catch up.

April 1st was our one year anniversary of starting our work with the church here. When we moved here, the deal was that Russ would work alongside of the minister (Vance) who was already here as a mentor/associate minister type position. Vance would stay on for a year to "pass on the reigns" and then retire. Vance has worked with this congregation for over 30 years so a new preacher/the old preacher retiring was a very big deal for this congregation.

At the end of March we put together a retirement reception for Vance and his wife, Darla. The reception was for people from the area and the members of our congregation to honor them for the years of service they have put in. We ended up having a huge crowd and it turned out to be a great success!

The ladies here decided to do a "spring" theme which was ironic because we got a bit of snow that day!

The cake table. We decided to serve people so the table is pulled out from the wall. We almost didn't have a big enough facility for all of the people who came!

We have 2 bulletin boards in our multi-purpose room that we decorated in a spring theme.

Of course, we had to have flowers on the tables.

This is the card basket. We asked for only cards, but then the congregation also gave them each a lap robe made by the ladies.

The best thing about the day was that many people came for Sunday morning service and many more stayed for our Sunday evening service. The auditorium was packed and the singing was so amazing. Vance very much passed the reigns to Russ in his last sermon as the preacher here. It was a lovely day.

Russ, Chloe Jo and I are so blessed to be a part of a loving and working congregation!