It's finally public and I don't have to keep the secret anymore! I am going to be an Aunt again!! Little miss Lily is going to be a big sister in October, in fact Megan is due with baby #2 the same week of Lily's (and her own!) birthday. The week of October 15th is going to be a busy one in the Backman household from now on! I am ridiculously excited for them and can't wait to find out if we'll be having a little niece or nephew in a couple months!
We found a delicious little coffee shop about .8 miles from our home--well really we've driven by it multiple times a day but just had never gone in. A few weeks ago we walked down to Pearls and found out they make delicious crepes, which we have now partaken of two different Saturday mornings. My personal favorite is the strawberry, nutella, whipped cream crepe--yup, a very healthy breakfast! They also made a great ham, spinach, cheese crepe that was pretty fantastic.We've been the recipients of a LOT of amazing hospitality these days! We've been invited to share meals with a ton of families from church in the past couple weeks (and have several more lined up for the next month!) and we have been loving it! A couple weeks ago we had a delicious Irish meal with our associate pastor and his wife (who is from Ireland and cooked for us over St. Patrick's week). Last night we enjoyed Mexican food at a great restaurant on the waterfront with a couple who volunteers regularly with the youth, this morning we had brunch at the home of our senior pastor and his wife and spent about 3 1/2 hours sitting around their table sharing stories from our lives. Tonight we got to spend another 5 hours sharing conversation around the dinner table with another family. Next Monday we're having a meal with two of the older couples in our congregation who we think are just delightful--we had actually invited them over to our house to have an opportunity to get to know folks outside the youth program but they felt bad we were inviting them over and flipped the invitation on us! Next Tuesday we have the chance to have a meal with a family who has two middle school students--we are so humbled and honored by all the hospitality and invitations! We felt bad when a family said they wanted to have us over on a Saturday & we had to tell them the first available Saturday we had was at the end of the month! Sharing meals with people, being in each other's homes, hearing their stories, sharing our vision of youth ministry & pieces of our stories--these conversations are so rich for us, and we are so grateful to be in a community that seems to value this as well!
My first of a 12 week Sunday School class on The Good and Beautiful God was yesterday, and I think it went pretty well! I had fun with it at least! I had 22 folks of all ages show up--six of whom were young adults in their early 20s which was what I was hoping would happen--to give them a space they can belong and connect with older adults on Sunday morning that is less intimidating than some of the other adult classes. I'm kind of intimidated at the idea of teaching a 12 week class--that's kind of a long time, but I'm excited too. I really do love the book, and LOVE the people who showed up for conversation, so I am looking forward to a rich spring quarter.
I realized I haven't been to visit my parents in Minnesota since a year ago Christmas, so when I found out my grandparents are going to be out there the weekend of April 15th, I decided to head out there that weekend as well. Charles isn't able to join me, but it will be great spending time with my grandparents and being "home" again (even though I never lived there, "home" for now is wherever mom's garden is blooming!)
Next Tuesday I have the opportunity to guest speak in a class at SPU--my mentor from Bethany Pres, Dianne Ross, who is the children's ministry director there, is teaching a class on children's ministry at SPU for the spring. She's asked me to come in and talk with her students about the theology of children in the context of a family. Most of my thoughts will be coming straight from Chap Clark's Intro to Family Ministry class that I've now sat through multiple times as a TA, but still, teaching it and listening to it are two different things!
I've discovered an amazing new book that I'm reading--One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It really is worth it, if anyone needs a new book to savor. Last week I spent quite a bit of time reading, one night Charles didn't come home til 11, so I had several hours to sit in the quiet of my living room with candles lit and enjoy her words. Saturday we had the chance to celebrate Darbee at her bridal shower, which was very fun and held in a gorgeous home up in Edmonds overlooking the water. Saturday night we spent the evening at our neighbor's house playing games (a new one, 7 Wonders--it was a great game!) with some of their friends from college--gotta be honest, it was really fun being with people who weren't Christians, who aren't connected to the church--it was quite refreshing!
Anyways, I think that's enough ramblings for one sitting :)
