Proclamation:

 Last night, we declared an evening of celebration: 

In the midst of difficult times, it can be so important to pause and reflect on all the prayers that the Lord has answered and the many good things that He has done.

I think so often "we" (Christ-followers in general) will reserve praise until we're "in the clear".

It's all too easy to focus on the hard road ahead rather than looking back and praising God for what He's done along the way.

Well, we've seen our God accomplish some amazing things in our family in the last couple of months. 

And while this blog is not the place to detail them for you, it is an excellent place to point out that He is fully able to do what seems impossible...

  Not only that, but I am so thankful for the faithfulness of people who have given of themselves in so many ways, and for those who have chosen to bear the burdens of others.

It's truly been a privilege to see God's hand at work.

And so...

We celebrated!

We had a pizza party...

Holly made the most amazing homemade donut holes--they were still warm.  Mmm...

And my husband's photography skills never cease to amaze me:

Pretty much every person in this picture looks simply awful!

It's only fair posting this because I'm in the picture.  ;-)  Ha!

Even Gabe looks bad in this picture--and it's hard to get a bad picture of Gabe!

Well, for those who weren't in this picture, be thankful...

Here's a much better picture of a couple of peanuts that I love:

After the pizza party, we headed off to dollar bowling in Pine Island.  

We had 14 people on 2 lanes...

It took 3 hours for everyone to bowl 2 games!

(Note to self: 1 game is probably good.)

I don't know if Stepher's got a strike here, or just an impressive spare...or if everybody just loves Stephers...but they appear to be celebrating:

 

We were joined by a couple of Rowe girls--Missy and Amy (pictured with Holly and Stephany):

The Rowe family...  Wow...they're such a blessing.

I could say so much more, but their praise will be in heaven.

I'm glad they could join us!

And I'll leave you with a sweet picture of 3 of my favorite little girls:

Cousins and friends...

So, it was a good night.

Oh, and Ben, we missed you!!