Thanksgiving Weekend

What a weekend! Five events in four days, all with food and the people we love! Thanksgiving day was the Swartzentruber Thanksgiving with 45 people down the table, it made for in Gage's words, "a real feast"!

Then we went to the Roggio Thanksgiving, which was just as fun! With Uncle David, Aunt Jan, Nate, Benji, Uncle Bill, Aunt Carol, Mom and Dad Roggio, and Matt and I, we made for a lively bunch. Dinner was great and dessert was even better!

Friday was the highlight with the Sommers Family Christmas. We had a beautiful time of sharing together and spiritual encouragement and then generous gift-giving. We played and ate, laughed and cried together. It was so good to see everyone! We loved seeing Nate and Becca and Andy and Wendy! Top gift items were SNOWMAN things!, Ipod!, Games!, Snowshoes - boots, Paint stilts, Books, A GPS!, Clothes, and of course, A Partridge In A Pear Tree...good one, Becca! Oh, and how could I forget...Settlers of Catan. My favorite quote from the game was, "All this horsepower and no room to gallop!" - Andy

Saturday was another fun day with the extended Sommers family. It was bitter-sweet without Grandma. It seemed like we were all just waiting for her to come to make the celebration complete. Grandpa's story about a home brought many tears, mingling with his own. We truely do long for that heavenly home where we will see her face again. Somehow the Sommers family has grown closer together through this time though and it's evident that we care for each other.

So...on to Sunday! The Italian Pasta Feast (a.k.a. Spaghetti Dinner) to raise money for the youth missions trip. What a night, let me tell you. We decorated with candles and ivy and white lights, we all wore black and white with chef hats or flowers. We even had a Miss Italy! After 4 pots of spaghetti and fettucini, Vic's Serenading in the background, a gondola ride, impromptu jokes, a speech by chef Giovanni (spoken in Italian, loosely translated), and lots and lots of sauce, we came home. It was a very successful fundraiser and we are so grateful to the church people for their support. Check out our promo video!

Matt's Musings - Entry II

The School of Obedience: Psalm 119:99-100
Psalm 119:99-100
A. I have more understanding that all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my mediation.
B. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts.

Wisdom begins with God’s revelation – he initiated an invitation to look into his revelation.
Our place is obedience. This is one of the wonderful ways that spiritual growth takes place!
Should I pursue a seminary degree? I have often wondered this.
I really would love to go in the near future. I think I have not gone yet because I do not believe that a seminary degree would necessarily make me more fruitful in and of itself. There are other factors perhaps more important in the spiritual growth equation.
-obedience
-faithfulness in the small things
-pressing into who God is (Jn. 15)

We must remember that our walks with God began with his grace! Our response of obedience (bringing more grace) then cultivates the process of producing fruit. I have determined that seminary would be a wonderful thing, and I hope to go there! First, however, I want to prove myself faithful in being fruitful with what God has given me. Then I know that learning will explode when it is plugged into a life charged by His Spirit.

Matt's Musings - Entry 1

O.K.
This is the start of my first blog. I must confess that I have been TERRIBLE about keeping a regular journal. I am hoping that this will be good training for me.


Exceedingly Broad
I remember the first time that the Grand Canyon took my breath away. I could hardly believe that what I was seeing was reality. It is difficult to behold something of it’s size and beauty and not be moved.
If you’ve seen the canyon, you know what I mean when I say that it is “exceedingly broad.” Many great athletes have been humbled by it’s desert climate, risking dehydration and even death, attempting to reach the canyon floor and return to the rim in a single day. They discover how far away the next horizon really is, and find their own strength reaching it’s limitation. To come up against such greatness is to be reminded of our own smallness.
Psalm 119:96 says “I have seen a limit to all perfection; [but] Your commandment is exceedingly broad!” Like the grand canyon – the more you look into God’s commands, the more minute details you notice, each profound in beauty and perfection. To gaze and gaze and feel that there is no limit brings humility and awe – HIS commands are EXCEEDINGLY broad.
They hold up in all times, and in all circumstances. They can be tested, and they will always prove to be steadfast. This is the comfort of leaning against something that will not move – in any circumstance. It is though we stand on the edge of the canyon of the INFINITE, and then we begin to realize our own small size. Before gazing into that canyon, perhaps we thought that we were the center of the universe. It often takes that glance to take our breath away, and move us to worship. Oh God, let us catch a greater glimpse! You are our Rock – steadfast, unchanging, big enough for each of today’s trials. Forgive us for losing sight of Your magnitude in the passing fad of multiculturalism. Such claims of moral relativity the death of truth are utter foolishness and lunacy.
The world says that God’s word is outdated; it was temporary, and has now passed.
God says that the earth itself will pass away, but that his Word will endure!
In the end, truth will prove itself to have been true!

This is our cat, Amore

This is our cat, Amore. She is playful to a fault, loves to climb trees, fetch rubber bands and be held. We like her because she has the personality of a dog, with all the maintenance of a cat. She can be very funny sometimes and has a glare that is almost scary. She likes milk and kitty snacks and can't stand being out in the rain. She has several meow's and it's funny to hear her and Matt talking. She likes to play with the ornaments on the tree and drink the water under it. She is usually obedient, but has taken to running and hiding when it's time to for us to leave.

Perhaps I should explain...

Jer 17:5-8
5 This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;he will not see prosperity when it comes.He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,in a salt land where no one lives.
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.It does not fear when heat comes;its leaves are always green.It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." NIV

This is the verse of promise from our wedding day about our lives together, that's where the title for this blogspot came from and what we try to do with our lives.