Long Weekend Activities

I have had a 4 day weekend this weekend. Of course, today (Memorial Day) is a holiday for obvious reasons; but we also had Friday off as a "bad weather" day which we never needed. I packed this weekend full of fun. On Friday, Taylor and I headed off to Nacogdoches for a wedding. We spent Friday afternoon around the campus of SFA while Taylor showed off all his favorite spots and took a stroll down memory lane with me by his side. It was so much fun! We both felt like young college kids again as we walked hand in hand around the campus. I'd never been to SFA, and I loved it! It's a beautiful campus, and it was so much fun to see where Taylor spent his collegiate years growing as a musician and a man! I cannot wait to take him to Harding next month and do the same thing on my end!

On Saturday afternoon we sang in his friends' wedding. It was our first time to sing together publicly, and it was a BLAST! We had several kinks to work out the night before (including completely transposing the part of the song I sang up 2 1/2 steps just so I could sing it without sounding like a man!). But...for the wedding day everything went off without a hitch. It was such an honor to sing for them and such a blessing to sing together. I look forward to singing many more songs by Taylor's side. We headed out of town as soon as the wedding was over to head to Royse City outside of Dallas for Taylor's family reunion. I'd met a few family members, but there was a big ole crew I hadn't met yet. Everyone had heard about me, so it was funny to see the looks on everyone's faces when we walked in and hear all the "Oh, so you're Kristi!" On Saturday night at their family reunion they have a concert where different groups of people and different portions of the family get up and share songs with the rest of the group. Taylor and I sang "The Love of God" with his brother Jordan. All of the cousins in Taylor's generation got up to sing a song and they let me join them. The Belt portion of the family got up to sing a song as well ("Gentle Shepherd"), and they asked me to jump up there with them! It was so much fun!! The whole evening was a blessing.

Taylor and I drove back into town late Saturday night in order to go Highland Oaks on Sunday morning. This was the difficult part of the weekend. After a long, emotional week for the staff and elders at HOCC our senior minister has decided to resign. It was a very emotional morning. I have been blessed to have a friendship with our minister and his wife outside of the minister/church member relationship that always exists. I've had long "figuring out life" conversations with them. I've babysat their kids. I've had game nights with a whole group of people that they were apart of. It is going to be very hard to see them go. It's is going to be a time of healing and transition for HOCC. Please pray that the pain will reside, and that the Lord will guide and lead the elders and ministry staff at HOCC. Pray for the transition time and the eventual hiring process that will take place to bring a new senior minister on board.

Today is Monday. It's the last day of this 4 day weekend. Aside from the emotional exhaustion of yesterday morning, the weekend was such fun! Taylor left last night again to go back to Midland. We have only 6 days left in this long-distance portion of our relationship. It was much easier to say goodbye last night knowing that very soon he will be coming home for good! I am SO excited for him to get here and for us to start our summer! We have a TON of fun things planned, and I'm looking forward to each one of them!!

I hope your long weekend was fun and exciting as well! May God bless you and your family and friends. May God guide you and shower you with grace through whatever type of transition you may be experiencing in your life. God bless!