Sunday Fellowship at the Eckersons

The Eckersons invited the whole church over for fellowship one Sunday


Cute Emily

Would you just look at those gorgeous eyes?!

Awww! Such sweeties!

The LePlantes new addition to their family, Issaac.

This little man is one happy-go-lucky little fellow :)

Lol
Discussing the sermon with Mom, looks profound! :)

Sweet, cheerful Malena, always with a smile on her face! ♥

Watching the babies and enjoying their cute sweetness

The LaPlante family, minus little Isaac. Ellie is such a dear one!

Hot topics, no need to worry, Tayla's got this one.
Gotta love these facial expressions.

Laughter, good conversation....

Showing off his floofy, poodle watchdog that he's going to buy to keep guard over his house some day...

Sweet sleep

Momma and Alina

The two precious Mothers

Momma and Tayla

We ended the night very nicely around the campfire and ended up discussing a myriad of topics concluding, on the grace of God and how it protects some, from worldly influences, like those of us who have been given the blessing of being raised in Christian homes (Luke 12:48b), and how the Lord in His Sovereignty allows others to be raised in unbelieving homes and come to the faith later in life with more scars than the rest of us have, though both parties are equally depraved in nature and it is not in accordance with anything they have done to deserve either circumstance. Yet the Lord in His sovereignty places the first in the one circumstance and the second in the second circumstance.

"Scripture's denial that our best works are sufficient in themselves to please God or to compensate for our weaknesses makes our spiritual desperation more acute and, thus, our appreciation of grace becomes more emphatic. Overwhelming gratitude for the spiritual deliverance our Savior alone provides will engender a humble and glad willingness to dedicate the strength of our lives to our Savior's glory." Bryan Chapell 

Nate's art

Mark pulled out his guitar and we ended the night with singing
Thank you to the Eckersons for hosting the church! Sitting around the warm, cozy fire in the coolness of an autumn evening was so pleasant!
We love you Eckerson family!
♥

Breakfast with Eckersons

 Some time ago we invited the Eckerson family over our house to enjoy their wonderful fellowship!

:)

Enjoying a breakfast brunch of muffins and quiche, yum!

We had so much fun laughing with the Eckerson family!

We had so much fun that we forgot we had left the last four muffins in the oven to finish baking, they finished alright! Burnt, black and crispy, coming right up!  lol

The ladies ♥

Aw, Mr. and Mrs. Eckerson are so sweet!

Nate, Ryan and Mark
Some of the Eckerson men

We really enjoyed having you all over and fellow-shipping with you all!
Lord's blessings Eckerson family!
♥

Miara's Visit

We were delighted to host the Maira's for a weekend when they came to visit us in September.
It was a gorgeous day on Saturday, perfect for the beach!

Beautiful Ms. Tayla walking Pebbles, who we were dog-sitting at the time.

 

Alina, your such a cutie! 

 

Hannah, naturally, was the first one to get into the water!

 

The little people playing in the sand,

 

and the little..er..big people playing on the rocks, pretending to be ballerinas...

 

We're flyyying!

 

and posing for pictures, the Maira's are so much fun!

"A cheerful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" Proverbs 17:22
It's so good to have the Maira's over! Their laughter and cheerful spirit of fun is a healing balm to our souls.


 

Dear girls they are, the both of them!

 

Tayla

 

So beautiful, inside and out!

 

Tabitha had tied Pebbles up to a rock for a bit and then started walking off towards the mothers. Hearing a bark she turned around and saw this! Pebbles dragged the rock only so far as she needed in order to catch up to Tabitha and then she was very happy to sit contentedly by as long as her people were near. If you click on the picture you can see the trail she made with the rock! Lol. We got a laugh out of it, this dog is quite an extrovert and loves being with people! She's such a good puppy!



Malena tried capturing an action shot of Alina doing a cartwheel. 

 

Aspiring photographer

 

 ♥ Little Miss Sunshine ♥

 

Tabitha and Malena were sitting on a rock and as the water splashed up around them, a little gleam sprang into their eyes, Tabitha looked at Malena and with a mischievous grin voiced what they both were thinking, "Do you want to jump in?" So into the cold September waves they went! Racing, splashing, this was a special memory that I won't ever forget!

 

The cute dearies who preferred to stay on dry ground :)

 

We're cold and wet, now what?

 

On the ride home the sun was setting, casting its beautiful rays of golden pink, red, and purple sunshine all over and creating this beautiful scenery which we just had to capture!

 

Arriving home we spent some sweet time around the campfire in the evening.

Cozy around the fireplace :)

Along life's paths the Lord will allow difficulties and trials into the Christian's life, but along with those trials the Lord, in His merciful grace, blesses us with friends along the way to help support us, encourage us with their joy and bolster each other's faith together. In the words of Jerry Bridges, 

"Don't just share your struggles, and above all, don't just commiserate with one another. Remember, we are to be ministers of grace to each other. We are to seek to be avenues of the Holy Spirit to help the other person appropriate the grace of God. Praying with and for one another, sharing applicable portions of Scripture, and helping each other submit to God's providential dealings with us, must characterize our times together." 

We thank the Lord for the Maira family whom the Lord has blessed us with just such times of grace and encouragement with.

We love you Mairas! 

♥