10May 07
5 days of Joyful fellowship!
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What a blessed time we had with the Staddon family!
We packed these 5 days from sun rise to sun set with lots of exciting activities. Bird watching was a huge highlight at Huntley Meadows, a near by 1500 acre park! Some went and visited a petting farm, as well as a horse riding competition.
Walking our 90 acres with the Staddons out in Culpepper was a wonderful time of sharing our vision for the land and talking about possible ideas of things we could do. Their insights were much appreciated! The Klawa family, who we have not seen in a while, was able to join us out there as well which added to the delight of the afternoon.
It worked out that we were able to combined the Staddon’s visit with a bi-monthly hymn sing that goes on in our area. This was a very encouraging evening of singing wonderful hymns of the faith and listening to music specials ranging from piano and string instuments to vocal pieces. I wish every family could be apart of something like this. It is such an encouraging and an uplifting experience!
Having families around you who are putting Christ first in their lives is vitaly important. We live in a world where the majority of people are seeking earthly and moment by moment pleasures. Multi-generational views, heavenly mindsets, and the willingness to take the time and count the cost of your actions, thoughts, and words before you act is not even considered in this day and age. By God’s grace may we make a difference! We are so grateful to know and have a relationship with such a family! The Staddons consistent encouragment to seek those thing which will last for eternity has made such an impact on our family. One of the many ways they encourage us, is how they look for opportunities to invest in the lives of others as a family.
Last time we were up visiting them in West Virginia, they invited us to join them as they went and lead an evening service at a church. Blessed by the way they allowed God to use them as a family to minister to other families, we began to pray that the Lord would open some doors of opportunities for us to work together as a family in our area.
The Lord did not wait long in answering our prayer! He opened up a wonderful opportunity to lead a Sunday evening service at a near by retirement home! When we heard about it our first thought was, maybe the Staddons could come down and we could do it together! The Lord answered that prayer as well! The Staddon familiy was a huge help in making our first major ministry attempt a success. Thank you Staddon family for coming and shinning your lights with us.
The hand of the Lord was constantly upon us through our time together and we are looking forward to future visits and ministry opportunities together!
Jenny, I enjoyed reading about your family’s time of ministering at a retirement home. May God continue to bless your family as you minister together!
What a joy to hear from you Ana Marie! It was a wonderful experience. God is so good!
That was a blessed time, Jenny. We were just as encouraged as you all, I think! One thing we were pondering on our way home in the car was how many of the activities we did with you all over the weekend could have turned out to be totally boring and unexciting if just a few people had chosen to be energy-takers instead of energy-givers! Who would have thought watering an orchard in the heat, building bee hives, or singing to a bunch of old people could have been enjoyable! I think God enabled us to see each situation from his perspective, and as a result each situation took on a whole new excitement. In fact, I think ministering at the retirement center to all those precious elderly people was one of the main highlights of the trip! Praise the Lord.
Dear Wilkes Team,
We like the new look of your family website; we had visited it back in March. May God be glorified through it.
It was such a joy having you over to our home and fellowshipping with you yesterday. Your family is such a blessing to us! We missed you, Jenny. We pray that you were able to rest and that the Lord has restored you.
We praise the Lord for answering your prayers and giving the Wilkes Team and Staddon family an opportunity to minister to the elderly at a retirement home. Your love for the Lord and others is such an encouragement to us!
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Thrash Family
Steve & Michelle
Niko, Mia, Luke, and Ian
Hey there Thrash family. Great to hear from you all. We definitely enjoyed our visit with each one.
Excellent post Jennifer. It was so neat to see Mrs. Paganelli after so many years. Isn’t it a strange, but wonderful phenomena that when we go to bless others how they often end up blessing us more?
Give, and it shall be given unto you…For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38
Wow Jennifer what a great post, I really enjoyed playing in the orchestra as a family.I think the elderly people were very blessed.
Wow, that was a great, God-glorifying, summery of our visit. I appriciate both our Dad and your all’s Dad make the effort to get together. The Lord truly did bless the trip.
I was so encouraged to talk with the rest of my family and hear what a meaningful time they had visiting with you all! The vibrancy of your family’s unity in the Lord makes for a dynamic family ministry!
That “Wilkes Team orchestra” is looking really impressive! One of these days you all will have to make a CD.
By the way, I thought the picture “Markie enjoys a flower that Michael said was edible” was absolutely hilarious!
That was a very fun vacation. Thanks so much for letting us come. I really enjoyed playing capture the flag! I’m sure God really blessed the time at the retirement home.