Monday, January 6, 2020

~Our New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Warren and Megan's wedding...~

~HAPPY 2020!!!~
~On Thursday, Dec. 26th, Phillip got the privilege to preach at our church, then we had a wonderful time with our Dickinson family on the weekend of December 27th and 28th.  

~We hurried home late Saturday night and Phillip preached at our church on Sunday AM Dec. 29th.

~Phillip was asked to perform the ceremony for our Megan Harris from our church who was marrying our long time friend Warren Shirk.  
(Warren's parents and Phillip and I went to GBS together.)
~So, Sunday afternoon we had them over for Sunday dinner.

~We had a wonderful New Year's Eve and had our friends the Stampers over for supper, games, snacks and to ring in the New Year! We had a blast together!

~New Year's day, we got invited to spend the day at Daryl and Laura's house, and had so much Fun being with them, Lucas and Natasha, and Daddy and Moma!

~Thursday was the rehearsal and dinner,

~Friday we set up for the reception
and Saturday, Jan. 4th. Warren and Megan had a beautiful wedding! 

Here's LOTS of pics to document it all!!!!
Hang on for the ride....
HERE WE GO!!!
~Christmas Pics from Kimberly and Sarah's room.~




 ~DICKINSON CHRISTMAS AT DAD AND MOM'S HOUSE.~

 ~We did a fun puzzle together~
 ~Michael did a great job on the turkey~
 ~Ava and Abigail~
~Kimberly and I made 2 pumpkin pies~
 ~Beth brought the fun candy puzzle and we all enjoyed putting it together.~
 ~Poor Mom's lip was still SORE from her fall earlier.~
~Phillip preached at our church on Sunday, Dec. 29th~
 ~Afterward we enjoyed having Warren and Megan over for Sunday dinner.~
~SINGSPIRATION AT OUR CHURCH ON 
SUNDAY NIGHT~
 ~The girl's piano teacher Martha Miller suggested that Kimberly, Sarah, Mary, and Abigail play a Christmas piano quartet.  They played it for our Singspiration on Sunday night, the 29th, 
and did a great job.  
Abigail was HAPPY to get to play with them, and to play the VERY LAST NOTE BY HERSELF. :-) 
 ~Sarah singing and playing her ukulele 
 ~Our family singing~
~Noah played Silent Night on the guitar.~


~NEW YEAR'S EVE~
We invited our dear friends David and Kelly Stamper and their family over for New Year's Eve.  
We served them supper...then later we played games, Kelly brought lots of yummy snacks which we enjoyed, and then we rang in the New Year together!~
 ~I LOVED finding these Pretty Plaid paper plates 50% off at Hobby Lobby~

 ~The men flying Josh's drone~
 ~We served Carnitas...one of our favorite meals!!~
~Game Time
We had so much Fun playing games, and laughed and laughed.~
(Kelsey did a great job taking this pic.)
~Sarah made our Christmas Mice.  (Thank you, Lila Kemp, for this idea YEARS ago. :-) ~
 ~Pretzel, Rollos, and Pecans~
 ~Oreo Cookie balls the kids helped me make.~
~Kelly brought yummy cheese and crackers, BBQ sausages, and peppermint Oreo Cookies which went great with our sweet treats that the kids and I made...and with my cappuccino punch.~


 ~NEW YEAR'S DAY~
Our Dear Family Daryl and Laura invited our family over to join them, Lucas and Natasha, and Daddy and Moma for pizza and snacks.  We had so much Fun playing games, sitting around the fire pit, and just being together.  
As you may remember God gave us the desires of our hearts and let us live on the very same street with Daryl and Laura from 2010 until this past June.  
(Obviously during those years we were on the mission field, but LOVED having them as our neighbors when we were home from the mission field on deputation or to have a baby.)
We MISS THEM being our neighbors and have so many WONDERFUL memories of our years together in Cinci!~
Abigail wearing the 2020 glasses on the way to their house.~
  ~My Precious Daddy and Moma~
~Our girls LOVE their cousin Darla~
 ~Hilarious Game Times~

 ~Laura served us all kinds of yummies!!~
 ~All of us went out and enjoyed their back yard and fire pit.
New Cousin Lucas showing Abigail and Mary something on his phone.~


~My niece Kate Cragun and Matt had this adorable baby Mav, whom we are all in love with.  Dear Keith and Natalie have made me a great aunt 3 times with such cuties...and now Matt and Kate have baby Mav, and Drew and Hannah are soon to have their baby boy as well.  
SUCH CUTENESS OVERLOAD!!!!!!
WE SQUEAL EACH TIME WE SEE PICS OF ANY OF THESE BABIES THAT LIVE ALL THE WAY IN VA AND WE NEVER GET TO SEE. 
 ~Warren Shirk and Megan Harris' rehearsal and wedding!
Donald and Melinda and Phillip and I went to school together at God's Bible School back in 1992.  
We got married the same summer and afterwards through the years we had lots of couple gatherings together...
camping, New Year's Eve parties, etc.  
So,  we felt honored that Phillip got the privilege of marrying their son Warren, and that our family got to help with the wedding and reception.~
~THE HOT CHOCOLATE BAR~ 
~Our family provided the ~Hot chocolate bar~ at the reception as our gift to the Bride and Groom.
Our Sarah is a lefty just like Megan,  the Bride, so when Sarah drew this chalkboard for my hot Chocolate bar she drew a LEFT-HANDED MUG.~
~Kristin R. took this pic of my table and me the night before.  
(This is before Gareth and Susan Carter 
thought of and hung the fun icicle lights that made everything more magical. ) 

The ~Hot Chocolate toppings were~: 
spray cool whip, 
chocolate syrup, 
caramel, 
peppermint sprinkles, 
and marshmallows, ~






 ~The Reception Hall~
~Debbie Harris' sister Carmen and all her helpers did a great job decorating the reception hall.  Debbie, some of the bridesmaids, Grandma Jan, Debbie's family members, our Kimberly, the Ryans, the Shirks, and myself were among her helpers.~

 ~Debbie was so HAPPY to get all the live trees FREE from Home Depot!  Praise Jesus!!~



 ~Melinda's aunt Beverly did a Great job on all the cakes!  
They were beautiful and yummy!~


~Debbie decorated the gift table.~
 ~I am so glad that Aunt Nesi got this pic of the winter wonderland....
the bridal party table, the cake table and my hot chocolate bar.~
~AT WARREN AND MEGAN'S WEDDING~
 ~Debbie and Melinda holding hands and walking back after they lit the unity candles.
Aunt Nesi (Denise Truesdale) did a beautiful job decorating the church.~
~HERE COMES THE BEAUTIFUL BRIDE~
 Donald did a great job giving a sweet Fatherly talk and prayer that made us all cry.~
~Warren's baby sister Bethany did a great job singing.~
 ~My Phillip was privileged to get to marry Warren and Megan.  
Jesus helped him.~
 ~The wedding was SHORT AND SWEET!
It started somewhere around 2:30 and finished around 2:51 or so.~

 ~Megan wanted a wintery day...and it started SNOWING during their ceremony.~
 ~Phillip announcing the Handsome Groom and Beautiful Bride at the reception.~
(Note Megan's cute little red tennis shoes.)



 ~I was so HAPPY to snap this pic while Megan was showing our girls her shoes.
We LOVE Megan's face in this pic.~

 ~We all enjoyed helping at Megan's reception.
In this pic we are missing Kristal Becker, Gareth and Susan Carter, Miranda Cox, Janie Eisenhart, and Jenny Paytes.~

 ~Our Kimberly and Sarah LOVE their friend Megan and have missed her so badly 
since she went to Hobe Sound.~

 ~Our Little Abigail ran over to get a pic with the Bride.~

 ~Melinda snapped this fun pic of her son and mine.~
~I snapped this fun pic of Risa, Raegan, and Abigail on Sunday.~
And there you have it...Our BUSY FUN days between Christmas and now.  
~MAY JESUS HELP US TO LIVE CLOSER TO HIM DURING 2020 
THAN WE EVER HAVE BEFORE!!!~
~HEATHER~

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The pictures, stories, etc. are lovely, but, my heart aches for the missionaries that are on the field today and do not get to be with their families for holidays, birthdays, weddings and other special occasions. They don't have the finer things of life and sacrifice everything to do the work the Lord has called them to do. May God give special blessings today to those that are laboring in this manner for HIM. They may not have the "things" that others enjoy, but, I pray that today they will know that they are staying in the center of God's will and none of these other "things" really matter in light of the souls they are reaching.

The Dickinsons said...

I totally understand. I have been on both sides. I pray for those missionaries as well.
We sold nearly all we had when we went to the mission field. The things I enjoy now are because God has paid back what we gave up. Our house, our car, etc. were literally GIVEN to us. All God has given us, we use for Him.
God has promised to pay each missionary back 100 fold, Jesus said in this world and the world to come.
God gave us that promise when we left All to go to the mission field.
We have no sob stories, we are happy that we did that for Jesus.
We came home in obedience to God's voice for this stage in our family life. Our kids are our first mission field and we need to be here for them as they make life's big decisions and prepare for their spiritual callings.
We know of other MK's that came home on their own and CRASHED AND BURNED. They are FAR from God today!!
We continue to serve our mission fields, and help out in our local church.
(Most of our ministry is hidden from public view, as we serve our people on the field, etc. but we stay very involved serving Jesus!!!)
Jim Elliot, who gave his life for Christ said, "Wherever you are, be all there."
Right now God has us in the USA.
The Wedding pics were to show the work that our family put in helping long time family friends. We helped with the ceremony, rehearsal, reception, tear down, etc. and were happy to help serve. The Groom's family has done so much for us in the past.
Yes, I pray that God will encourage each missionary.

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