God's Comfort

Last Friday night, Billy, Mom, Dad, and I went to a fundraiser benefit event for Sensei Pelletier. It was was awesome! There were so many people there! They had a DJ play music, there was a really cool Karate demo. My pastor and his sons (Kyle, Jason, and Scotty) all take karate. I hope to never get into a fight with them because I'm very sure that I'd lose. Gracie and I got to hold a snake that night! There was some sort of pet store that was at the fundraiser event. They had tame rats, snakes, lizards, and parrots there. It was really cool. The parrot danced! There was one HUGE snake (ball python) that only the guy who worked at the pet store could hold. We got to pet it though. :)

At one point, the snake wrapped around both my wrists like hand cuffs. It was really cool!

Saturday morning, we went sledding with Dan, Nick, Kenan, Linnea, Catherine, Diana, Martin, Tucker, Corrie, and Brenna! Joel was there but he had a pretty bad cold so he stayed in the van. After sledding and racing for awhile, we played Capture the Flag. In order to "tag" some one, we had to either hit them with a snow ball or tackle them. It was a lot of fun! I was on Tucker's team with Kenan, Mr. Stuart, Linnea, Brenna, Catherine, and Diana, I believe. Our team won both rounds. After two rounds of Capture the Flag, Tucker left to go to Hands Around the Capitol and the rest of us went to my house. We all had hot chocolate and ate lunch. We all played some card games or chess and  just hung out for awhile. Everyone was sort of exhausted from sledding. Most everyone left in between 3:30pm and 5pm. It was a fun day!

That night we found out that our friend Caleb (he used to do SMASH) was in a car accident with his good friend Gabe. Gabe died and Caleb was hospitalized. :'( Caleb was in the ICU for awhile but he's doing better now. Please pray for healing and comfort for Caleb and his close friends and family.

Sunday morning was a little rough. On the way to church Dad had us sing It Is Well With My Soul. I started to cry basically as soon as we started singing. My heart goes out to Gabe's family and Caleb's family. I was able to stop crying for awhile until we got to church and Pastor Per closed sermon (which was on Isaiah 40:1-11, by the way) and was naming examples of why we need God's comfort and he mentioned the car accident. He then prayed about it and the other struggles going on around us like Sensei Pelletier and his cancer. After Pastor Per finished praying we sang Rock of Ages, Cleft For Me ("
could my tears forever flow"). That brought me to tears as well. By the end of church, Billy, Shannon, and I were all in tears. I thank God for such a comforting God and comforting church family though. :) I had some good friends send me texts saying they were praying for Caleb and Gabe as well. I'm so blessed. <3

After church, once we stopped crying I talked with some friends for a bit and then once almost everyone left, we had a home group study on Instruments In The Redeemers Hands. When we finished with that, we went home. Casey stopped by before she left back for college. :( I took a long nap, and then Dad and I made Whoopie Pies. Once the Whoopie Pies were done, we drove over to Home Group in Turner. We had good fellowship, ate yummy snacks, updated people on prayer requests, Shannon shared how her week was in NYC, and then we discussed chapter two of Instruments In The Redeemers Hands and then prayed. It was a wonderful evening.

This morning, I woke up early because I had a dentist appointment at 7am. My teeth are "perfect" except one tooth sticks out slightly farther than the other. The Dentist said I could go to the Orthodontist to see how much it would cost to straighten it. I'm not sure if would want braces if I don't need them though.

Just a picture of my hair because I felt like taking a picture of it. :P