Our first "graduate"

We had our last Bible study for the spring a week or so ago. It was very bittersweet. This group of young adults is now a part of our family!! We are taking five weeks off and will start back on Tuesday, July 5 and we are going to read/discuss "Love Wins" by Rob Bell. I'm going to buy the book today so that I can read it all before we begin. I don't usually read ahead but since there has been some controversy surrounding this book, I think I will read the whole thing before we begin. I'm going to come up with some discussion questions (I wish they made study guides for every book like this!!) and look up all the scriptures so that we can discuss.

Our last night together was also Holly's last night with us. She got married last weekend (pictures and post to come later) and so as Mark said, "Holly is our first graduate." We are going to miss Holly so much. Of course, we are happy for her BUT we are sad. She and Mark were in a Disciple class a few years ago and she has been a part of this group since the very beginning back in February of 2010 and has probably only missed one or two Tuesday nights. We are sad because she won't be with us on Tuesday nights but we are even sadder because she will be living in Florida - far away - so we won't even see her around church.

Holly D.E.T.E.S.T.S. cheese (or as she says, "I'm allergic to cheese") so I always made her a small portion of cheeseless (did you know that cheeseless is not a word???) "whatever." (think chicken enchiladas - no cheese)

We tried to make Holly's last night special in addition to making sure that the last night for the spring was special for everyone. So we had cake . . .Publix . . .tasted good but they didn't do a very good job of decorating the cake.

We had balloons (I know this is crazy but I LOVE balloons - they make me happy).

We bought a wedding present for her. Mark and Laura and I bought a five piece place setting of her china and she was excited to receive it. I think our set made a total of eight place settings received (she is on her way to having enough for a dinner party!!).
And last but certainly not least, we got to meet James!! We've heard about James ever since we met Holly but had never met James. I had emailed with James (remember I work at the church and get in touch with visitors) but had never met him.
Our last night together was fun. We ate and laughed and talked and finished our study. I always buy a couple of boxes/bags of candy and a small gift card (like $10 at Starbucks) for door prizes each week. Everyone takes off their nametag and folds the nametag in half and puts it in a bowl. We then draw for the doorprizes. We've been saving all of our nametags from every week since January in a giant bowl for the grand door prizes. What is really funny is that Holly would win almost every week. Some of the guys started writing their name on their nametag and then they would write Holly's name also. A nametag might have "Holly Ed" written on it . . .and they would win!!!! The door prizes for the last night were fun. We had three "candy" doorprizes. One Grand Prize was a $20 gift card to Rave Theaters and the other Grand Prize was a $25 Outback gift card.

This group means so much to us. I just can't even put it into words. I've always heard that you have enough love to just keep on loving more and more people (like a mom who has many children). We love these young adults. They have impacted our lives in an amazing way. Even though I'll enjoy the "rest" during our five weeks off, I will be so ready to see them all again on July 5.