The Joy of Friends

Eric, Gabriel and I were invited to dinner at Tony and May's tonight (thank you guys! :) ) and it was really nice to be able to sit and talk with friends and just be able to fellowship with a good Christian couple. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends, and I am just so thankful for them. After we got home I started thinking about what to blog about tonight, and I was going to blog on another subject, but this one really hit me hard, so I figured I would share :)

Sometimes I think we all take our friends and family for granted. I personally thank God everynight for my family, and alot of nights I thank Him for my friends as well, but when I really, really think about it, I feel that I don't thank Him enough for them. Coming from the place where we were, having no friends in California, being pretty much completely cut off from other people, to here where we have friends and people that we can just turn to and say, "Do you have a minute? I need to talk." is amazing.

Tonight I also started to think about some projects that I want to get done when we have a little extra money. I figure if I have them well enough planned out now, I won't have to try to come up with something later.
I think our first project will be to refinish our dining room table and chairs. We got our set from a couple that was going away on missions for a year and needed to get rid of alot of their furniture, as they didn't want to store it for a year and they knew we were in need. Isn't it amazing how God provides for us? A week before we moved into our apartment, we have no furniture. None at all. When we moved in, we had everything we could really use, even a changing table and a rocking chair for the baby! God is so good to us, He really is.
Anyway, this table and chairs set was used on a screened in porch, and has a bit of weather damage, but nothing that a good sanding and some paint and stain can't fix. I figure I will have Eric sand and stain, while I paint (he has already said he will do this, I'm not pushing him into it, I promise! :P ) But I decided that I want to get a small can of colored paint (meaning, something other than the white that will be for the backs and legs of the chairs and table) and hand paint bible verses and maybe a little viney pattern on them. I love to paint and I think this would really personalize them, as well as remind us that we need to always have God in our minds.

I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart. And will glorify Your name forever. - Psalm 86:12