Good Samaritans

We had quite a productive weekend! We dogsat Bella (Seth and Joy's shih-tzu) on Friday and Saturday, which was lots of fun. We even took the dogs to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather. They weren't as excited about it as we were, but they were both troopers and made it around the park one whole time before we headed home so that they could recover.

Our community group had planned to prepare and serve breakfast on Sunday at the Samaritan Community Center - a program where volunteers provide breakfast for impoverished families before an informal church service - so I spent much of Saturday afternoon making cranberry orange muffins and egg casseroles. The Primms were on their way back from Branson and invited us to a slumber party at their house so that we wouldn't have to drive so far in the morning. We jumped at the opportunity to spend time with our dear friends (and to sleep in a little, to boot). As usual, it was tons of fun to hang out with them. Way to be awesome, guys!

We got up early Sunday morning and headed to the SCC, with muffins, casseroles, and Oliver in tow. We met up with the rest of our group and invaded the kitchen. The girls heated up the food and made things look pretty (like themselves, for example). The boys brewed coffee and made things look pretty (like the muffin trays, for example).

We ended up serving more than 80 people - it was such an amazing experience and we were so happy to be able to spend that time in service and fellowship.

We had good intentions to continue our Community Group lesson at Ryan's Grill (for those unfamiliar with Ryan's, imagine if Ponderosa Steakhouse and Old Country Buffet had an illegitimate love child). However, the hostess "lost" our reservations for the private dining room, so instead, we ended up rubbing elbows with octogenarians and suffing ourselves with heart attack-inducing mac and cheese and tasty sausages made of indescribable pig parts. We had great conversation and gut-busting laughs - many at poor Oliver's expense. Suffice it to say that the list of embarrassing stories to tell Oliver's girlfriends when he's sixteen has grown by one.


After lunch, we headed to the hospital to visit Derrick and Emily, who had just given birth to baby girl Quinn the night before. Our entire Community Group invaded their room to congratulate the newly expanded family and to ooh and aah over the beautiful new baby. This was my first post-partum experience since being pregnant, so I definitely was viewing things from a different perspective than during previous visits. Seeing Emily in bed with hubby Derrick by her side and little Quinn being passed from hand to hand gave me a sudden glimpse into the future. Yikes, we will be here soon!