the-owens-family: Attitude of Gratitude

Here are the party pics I promised! It has been just the best week. Tempered by a sobering reality check though. Our much beloved babysitter and daughter of our dear friends the B. Family, Miss A., lost her best friend from high school Friday afternoon in a car accident. Miss A. also lost another dear friend from high school in the same accident, and yet another friend is in the hospital still fighting for her life.

I struggle so much with gratitude for what I have. I do know that I have so much to be thankful for, but sometimes my deep rooted selfishness just comes flying to the top and I begin to think of all the things I don't have, instead of praising God for all the things I do have - and I don't like it. Not one bit. It was like God overwhelmed me yesterday with all the things I take for granted - "I keep you safe as you travel. When was the last time you thanked Me for that?" "I give your children health. When was the last time you thanked me for that?" "I give you resources that go way beyond your needs, even way beyond your wants. When was the last time you thanked me for that?" It really knocked the breath out of me - and sent me to my knees in prayer.

(me selfishly trying to hold onto my dirty Santa gift :-)

The accident reminding me of the fragility of this earthly life and the realization of my deep rooted sin, make me even more eternally grateful for the reason for this season of celebration. Come Lord Jesus, come! I need Thee, how I need Thee, every hour I need Thee.

With that in mind, we celebrated this season with some dear friends this week. Our church is very contemporary and one of the things they do well is to get people out of the church walls and out into the community. Instead of traditional Sunday School, we do the whole community group thing, meeting in people's homes. We are members of 2 groups. One group we are just members and one group we lead. We had so much fun hosting both groups this week! I loved being able to do something special for them to show them how much they mean to us!

I went with an aqua and red theme for our dinners, inspired by the giveaway over at Alamode.

ML and I hand dyed the doilies using some water and some food coloring. They turned out to be my favorite things! I used this tutorial. (And FYI - I used a minimal amount of water, about 1 teaspoon of blue food coloring in a pyrex bowl and just turned my doily around in a clockwise motion in the bowl.)

2 different tables: