Birthday/Going Away Shindig

These people in these photos and some that are not in these photos are the ones I miss dearly.  These lovely people became our family.  These are not all of the photos from that night but we had a great time fellowshiping and loving on each other before Sean and I left.

I hope to share more about each of these families who have impacted our life and I can't wait to see them again.

I'm so thankful for Angela and her husband, Jim, for letting us always party at their home.  They have an amazing home and peace permeates it.

the best group photo we could get :)

My dear sister, Ana, & her little one, Micaela

We love this family! 

Global Esther's Ministries family. This group right here.. I will always be thankful for them.  They have helped mold me, they invested in our marriage, & I will never forget that.  God has brought this family to us forever.

Inheritance

Last Friday was Sean's birthday! He is now 30!  We went to Ruth's Chris for dinner and enjoyed some amazing food!  They also gave him free dessert for his birthday.

On Saturday, we went to a friend's house and celebrated his birthday with some of our closest friends here in Fort Myers.  These people have truly become our family and it was a beautiful day to celebrate Sean's life with them.  I found this idea for his cake online.  Sean's favorite cake is Red Velvet.  So our friend Robyn, who owns Heavenly Sweetz by Robyn, made his favorite cake and added regular M&M's in the center.  It was delicious!  Make sure to get her for your next party!

One thing Sean truly wanted for his birthday was to have those who pour into him on a regular basis pray over him.  On Sunday, we were able to do that.  It was such a sweet, sweet blessing.  This year is going to be an incredible year for him and I am so honored to stand along side of him as his wife.

The reason why this post is titled "Inheritance" is because in the Jewish culture when Jesus was walking the earth, at the age of 30 is when the first born receives his inheritance from his father.  The time comes for the son to take over the family business/inherit the trade of his father.  We strongly believe that Sean is receiving his inheritance this year.  We can't wait to see what will happen in our lives!

Last but NOT least!!  My little brother and Sean share the same birthday.  This guy turned 12!!  It's crazy to see how much he has grown!  He also loves his long hair!  I'm so proud of this kid.  He is so smart and I know he is going to do some amazing things with the knowledge that God has given him.

Appreciation Dinner

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Light at Fort Myers had an Appreciation Dinner/Thanksgiving dinner.  There was a committee of ladies who put this together and I was honored to be a part of this committee.  The idea of an "Appreciation Dinner" is to buy someone's meal that you appreciate.  It's that simple.  With the short time of planning this event, we did not do it the way we had originally planned but we still had a great turn out for our first one.  The meal for adults was 3 bucks!  And for kids, it was one dollar.  You can't beat this price for a Thanksgiving meal.  This will be annual event at Light. 

The committee consisted of about 10 or so ladies.  We all cooked a turkey (if not more than one) & dressing, some of us cooked a ham, some did desserts, some did the mashed potatoes & green beans.  We asked the congregation to bring dessert as well.  Some of the ladies decorated the fellowship hall.

This is us meeting a week before the event to make sure we all know what we are doing.  We had a great time planning this event for the church.

The four pictures below are what I made for the dinner: brownies, cupcakes, ham & turkey.

     

 This is my TURKEY recipe that I used.  It turned out great!!  Well, I actually did not try it but Sean did and said it was great, so I will be doing this again.  I did it in a crockpot because I have never cooked a turkey and you can never go wrong with a slow cook meal.  Plus, this was easy & recommended by one of the ladies for me to do.

Below are some random photos of the event.  Please disregard the alignment of them, I am having some issues with the photos aligning properly.  I hope you enjoy them!

   

The ladies above are amazing.  Deanna (left) made the fellowship hall look wonderful!  & Gaila (right) was our wonderful director of this whole event!

                                                

        

    

      

This is my plate of food.  It was delicious!  Sorry but I prefer ham instead of turkey on Thanksgiving.

       

We had over 200 hundred people come to eat & fellowship with us!  We were so thankful to have guests and family to come to this event.  We cannot wait for next year's dinner!  We also had entertainment throughout the meal.  Thanks to all who performed!  You all did a great job!!