I Get That From My Father.

I was driving home from  So. Cal yesterday and I had a 14 hour drive to debrief  all the thoughts and feelings and memories from the past wedding week.  I was the only adult in the car and the 3 littles were so drained and filled up from their week, that they sat and stared and slept and only got out of the car 1 time.  Some people may call that crazy, I call it God's grace. 

I prayed thru some stuff and gave enormous praise and thanks to God for so many things.  It was fun to have the time to just process it all in detail.

I kept coming back to how incredibly thankful I am that God allowed ALL my kids (on this side of the world) and GRANDS (grand parents and grand kids) to come together at one time.  Not only did all my kids and GRANDS come, but so many cousins and nieces and nephews and friends.  There was representation from every part of our lives.

Every time a car load arrived, we all ran out of the house to greet the new comers.  There were hugs and news to share, even though we all keep in touch with technology, some things are just better shared face to face.

One of the car loads arrived and we of course all ran out to greet, and we returned to a *not so small* BBQ fire.  It only cost some arm hair on Justin, and it provided a  new moon view on the shade canopy over the BBQ, but it was totally worth it.  (right Justin and Shauna?)

I went over and over my favorite parts of the week and it always came back to how amazing it was that each person came and brought all their gifts and talents to use and share.

  It ranged from the boys using their muscles to move stuff and driving everyone and everything  everywhere they needed to go.  The girls made everything and everyone look so pretty. 

 We all shared in the set up and clean up over and over and over.  The cycle is, set up, eat up, and clean up...repeat.

  The relationship happened as much in the working together as it did in the celebrating.  

 When it was set up and clean up, it was all hands on deck, when it was celebration time, it was all feet on the floor. 

When we worked, we worked alongside one another, everyone giving what they could. 

 When we ate, we ate a lot of excellent food together

 and when we danced, 

 we danced with all our might.

There is a lot of people in this family, and we come with a lot of 

"baggage"
  and we bring a lot of luggage too

 (wink). 

 The beautiful thing is this family is messy and wild and we can pack a lot into a few days, but when this mess comes together, Christ is the center, and He makes us and our stuff into something He can use.

 We help each other sort through some of our "baggage" and we gather in hallways and entryways to pray thru the next step.

After I had prayed and praised thru the stuff on my heart, I thought,

"I wonder what God thought of it all?  I wondered what parts brought Him the most joy?"

As soon as I had that thought.....I felt Him respond to me,

"You know your favorite parts, the part about your family coming together and enjoying each other; the relationships that were worked thru and enjoyed and celebrated? 

 YOU GET THAT FROM YOUR FATHER."

Not only did God provide for all my favorite parts, but those were His favorite parts too.