This past weekend has been one of the busiest weekends we've had in a long time! It started Friday, with Joel, Jaden and I traveling up to Princeton to work on our RV camper that we're gutting and completely redoing. We left later than we had hoped (what's new with the Kautts?!), and had several errands to run on the way down, including Lowe's to pick up materials. So, we didn't arrive on location until after 5pm, with the daylight fading fast. Thankfully we had electricity available, so we also had lights set up once it got dark. We worked on organizing the stuff that was in there and repairing the sheet metal that is on the bottom, underneath the wood floor. The work is time consuming, so you don't get a lot done at once, compared to what needs to be done overall. We worked until 9pm or so, and then had to drive over to Frisco to pick-up Abby from her nanny job. So, I didn't end up getting in bed until past 1:30am.
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| The floor in the process of replacing. |
Friday evening Mom and Dad left to attend a Weekend to Remember marriage conference put on by Family Life Today. They said they had a wonderful and very blessed time together! I'm so glad they were able to attend it, with God providing a full scholarship for them. :)
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| Abby on the way to the wedding. She was trying to keep her hair intact! |
Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to attend the beautiful wedding of our friends Beth & Erich, up in the Greenville area. The wedding started around 2pm, so we drove up to McKinney and picked up Caleb from his abode. We then drove on over to the church where the wedding was being held, and arrived just as the service was starting (yes, we were late again!). It was wonderful to behold the union of two Godly young people who loved the Lord!
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| The beginning of the ceremony. |
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| Erich and Beth, the Bride and Groom. |
After the ceremony was the reception. The cake was so unique but really beautiful, I thought! Beth's theme was citrus, which I thought was a really neat idea.
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| I loved the idea of having the citrus fruit on the top! |
We saw several friends during the reception and visited with them, as well as several acquaintances who we got to know a little better. After the bride and groom departed, and everything was cleaned up, we and about 150 of the wedding attendees went over to the bride's family's home where a huge party was being held. Lots of food, people and a great time of visiting new and old friends. We stayed until around 8:30pm and then headed home, for another late night! (The story of our life!)
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| Abby listens into a conversation. |
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| Ali and Johanna. There's a funny story behind our meeting her and her sister. :) |
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| Getting to know Ali and her sister Katrina, at the after-the-wedding party. |
Sunday morning we attended the church of some friends in downtown Dallas. They were holding a missions conference, so we got to hear a man from Pakistan speak about his evangelistic endeavors and an Indian man from New Zealand who is a missionary to India. Both were intriguing and inspiring; to see the work of the Lord and the spread of the Gospel around the world is awesome!
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| Pastor Bala delivering the message, from Colossians 1:23. He is of Indian (the country of India) descent, but was born in New Zealand, and is now a missionary to India. |
After the service there was a potlock meal, with lots of different delicious food. We ate and visited with our good friend/"adopted" brother, Isaac, and with a new friend, Jake. Jake is from Michigan, just moved down here to Texas, and was telling us his thoughts on living in Texas and what it's like in Michigan. It was very interesting hearing from an 'outsider' (ha!). :)
Once the meal was finished, we headed up to McKinney once again, this time to participate in a Bible Study with three other families, some of our very favorite families. :) We talked and discussed the topic of "What is Truth?". Then we had a delightful time of just conversing with our dear friends. This time we thought better than to stay out late, so we headed home around 7pm. Got home, and ate dinner, visited with Grandma, Jason and Jessica, and then had some delicious Alden's ice cream for a late night snack.
Monday morning we kids left once more for Princeton to continue our renovation on our RV camper trailer. We got there even earlier this time (what a record!), around noon. I worked mainly on patching the sheet metal below the [rotten] wood flooring, which entailed drilling holes, caulking with sealant and then riveting.
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| Drilling holes for the sheet metal patch work. |
Abby and Jaden worked on ripping out more of the old floor, and Joel worked on framing around the wheel wells, with all of us helping each other out at various times. Good sibling work spirit going on there. :)
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| The framing of one of the wheel wells, in progress. |
The Lord graciously held off most of the rain, but He sent us the cooler weather, which was a big blessing! Jaden also enjoyed playing with his friend, Jadon. They did many fun activities, including wading in their pond, exploring in the woods, jumping on the trampoline and walking down to the neighbors. He also got to see his chickens, which are graciously being housed at a friend's small 'farm'.
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| Jaden and Jadon - they have lots of fun together! They're full of energy and life! |
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| The chickens! |
After working for five or six hours, and getting completely filthy, dirty, and sweaty (well, not quite), we decided to stop in to play Ultimate with a group that plays weekly, on our way home.
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| The beautiful sunset and cloud cover on our way to Ultimate. |
Got there just as it was getting dark, and just as the fun was beginning, and played a well-balanced game of Ultimate. (Sorry, it was too dark to take any photos, and I don't think anyone would have anyway; we were too busy playing!) Then, most of the folks left, and the rest of us who were still there played a hilariously crazy and epic game of volleyball, mainly for fun. Did that until after 9pm, and then we headed home, ready to take and shower and head to bed!
I'd say this was one of the funnest weekends I've ever experienced! I'm thankful to the Lord for allowing us another weekend to serve Him and have lots of fun while doing it.
"Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!"
Psalm 105:1-3
