The past few days I've started to feel a bit homesick. Homesick for family, the known, for history with people. Bam, God is so kind with his timing! Thursday I met up with Julia, Gigi, Bram, and Deborah at the airport and we welcomed the Nashes to Holland! I can't describe how happy I was/am!!.. (and there was the added bonus of Starbucks in the airport, yippeee!) They didn't look at all like they'd been up all night. What studs.
We got them home in two cars, had some breakfast and coffee with everyone. At that point John and Amanda started to droop so the party left and they slept (Allie and I played with Gray until he finally crashed out on my bed nestled between pillows). Later that night everyone came back for dinner! Rachel B. (who'd arrived the same day) and the Pickerill gang made it through the driving rain. Our dryer was working overtime! We ate yummy food, toasted, and laughed and talked... and missed the Larsens (can't wait for you to be here!) At one point I was laughing so hard I started to choke and it felt so good! (the laughing part!) It's been a while since I've laughed like that... it was so good being with "old" friends that have known me for longer than 2 months!
Friday was also a treat! We attended our first ever Vineyard Beleux conference (the region we're a part of). And guess who was there? Don Williams! It was so good to worship, really worship and then hear from Don. The theme was Kingdom Journey... all about who we are as the Vineyard. What distinguishes the Vineyard? The emphasis on the Kingdom of God. He started with the large scope... in the Old Testament and then slowly moved to the NT. For maybe the first time I really got it in a whole new way! I felt like he was speaking straight to me! There were only 50 of us there (leaders from the near by Vineyards in Lithuania, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, Sweden, etc..) so it was very free and Don really preached it!... and told lots of wonderful stories (my favorite part!) And in lovely Dutch fashion every hour we had a break for coffee and cookies/ lunch or dinner... so we had lots of time to meet people from all over Europe and share stories! I even got to practice some of my Dutch with some from Utrecht.
So, things are going well! It's wonderful having the Nashes staying here... seeing Gray's toys everywhere and doing life! It's one of my favorite things! It's now Saturday and we're going to maybe take Amanda and Gray exploring after his nap.
little Grayson playing in the kitchen
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