Life's Treasures!

God is so good and so generous! Among the many
wonderful things He provides us are friends!
The day that I was saved, I honestly would tell you that
I had few real friends. Fair weather friends were plentiful
but once I gave my heart and life to Jesus, they all
disappeared.  Little did I know that God had a grand
plan for me and my life. While He was working in me,
He was bringing lots and lots of wonderful people into
my life that I treasure as friends, real friends. This blog
usually focuses on our home team and those friendships
that God has knit together. Today I'd like to introduce
you to some of my other cherished friends from church.
Some have been a part of my monthly prayer group,
several are former students that God reintroduced
into my life. How wonderful that now more than 30 years
later we socialize with each other and serve God side
by side. And there are friends met initially at 'meet
and greet' time during service. How we met doesn't
really matter . That we met and that God is helping
us grow closer together as friends is a real gift that
I treasure. Today we gathered for some great food
and time together. Check it out!

We prepared great food!

My husband Charlie is a great host. Even today,
though he hasn't been feeling very well, he made
an effort to come out to visit and say 'Hello".

Everyone visited!

Laughed!

 Made new friends!

Laughed even more!

And we enjoyed lots of yummy food!

Even our young friends enjoyed getting together!

Well almost everyone did. Why do we always have someone
from the 'witness protection plan' joining us?

Thanks everyone for another great day spent together!
I treasure your friendship and am blessed
beyond measure. God is so good!

Posted by Sally

Kimball Farm

We've been excited about the new Kimball Farm
opening in our 'back yard' since the announcement
was made a few short weeks ago and we were all
ready for fun last night! We didn't give a whole
lot of thought that so many other people had the
same bright idea!

Though the place was packed with happy, hungry
people, we had no trouble finding one another.

I was focused on ice cream and only ice cream
and I sure wasn't disappointed. The ice cream
was delicious and the portions very generous!
Check out Mindy's cone! It's a small! No, I'm
not kidding!  It is a small.

The Ice Cream Sundaes were pretty tasty too, just ask
Melinda and Jay!

Check out the smile on Kim! She is ready to
dive right in to that clam roll and fries!

I think Mike's giving me 'the evil eye' because
I'm distracting him from his yummy burger !

Oh my goodness Brian has quite a plate full!
Do you think he can eat the whole thing? Let's see....

Almost!

Laurie looks really excited. Could it really be
all about the hot dog she just ordered?

When we finished our supper, we wandered
around to check out the place a bit! Check out
some of what we saw and experienced!

The food, fellowship , car show and gift shop were
all great fun. The atmosphere was perfect down to
the music being piped in. Like the classic cars, the
music too brought back great memories and we
actually knew the words and could sing along!  All
in all, we enjoyed a great night!

Watch for next weeks adventure...miniature golf!
Oh my!

In Line With The Word Friends
Posted by Sally

Summer Fun !

It's been a year filled with lots of great times and times
of challenging struggles. I guess if we had a team
charter, it would reflect our commitment to love and serve
God and each other! But with busy family lives ,work
and with a part of our team having been called to serve
and worship at another church, we realized that we
needed to take drastic action to remain connected!
We plan on simply having fun together every Friday
night during the Summer. Not to worry, we'll be back
to our Bible study in the Fall.

Our first excursion brought us to Al Dente, a local eatery!
We did have an ulterior motive at making this our first stop.

Our very own Kristi has taken a job there so we all  decided to
SURPRISE her and we sure did! Can you imagine, she even
let me take this picture of her. She's been the mystery woman
who has covered her face in every photo for the last 18 months.
She's a really good sport and an even better waitress!

Sorry that this picture isn't better but the smiles tell
you the story! Though the pictures don't show it,
because I was trapped in the corner, the entire team
was there for a yummy supper.

I can't speak for anyone else but my meal was delicious and
I have at least two additional meals from what I left on my plate.
My Mom and Dad would be so proud that I didn't waste anything.

Watch for next Friday's posting! We're heading to a favorite
ice cream destination Kimball's. Kimball's original dairy farm
and Ice Cream stand in Westford MA has been around for
over 50 years. Last month they opened at another location
in our own 'back yard'. It's been the buzz all around
the area since the news got out. I'm already dreaming about my
cup of Frozen Pudding! No one does ice cream like Kimball's.
Pray in agreement with us, that next friday, we have perfect
weather for an evening out under the heavens, savoring
our ice cream treats!

The In Line With The Word Team!
posted by Sally

Moving on Up!

Melinda's moving on up! She's moving on up into a third floor
apartment, that is! With that move came a flurry of  activity
in preparation.

A lot has happened in her life over these last few months,
and now that she's 'Sold' her house , we're reporting for
duty to help our friend get a big job done.

It doesn't make any difference if we're getting together to work,
to study or just to have fun, we always start with good food and a
time of fellowship.

After getting fortified for the hard work ahead,
we divided into teams. Some of us sorted and packed....

while the guys loaded our convoy of pickup trucks.

Though the work was hot, heavy and exhausting,
we always manage to find time for some fun.

We even enjoyed a few minutes of rest in her new home.
Melinda and Christine are settling into a nice apartment
in a well established apartment complex. Our challenge
was that there are no elevators and there are chair lifts on
each stair case which made hauling furniture and boxes
upstairs a real challenge.

We celebrated a productive first night of work with
a treat, That's right, we enjoyed some great ice cream.

We spent more time sorting, packing , moving and even some
purging but we got our part of the job done.

Melinda has lots of unpacking still ahead of her but  she's
making progress and we look forward to enjoying a Friday
night home team  get together at her new home soon!

PLEASE READ THIS, PRAY, AND COPY IT TO YOUR BLOG

As many of you know, we love Samaritan's Purse!!! It's the organization that does the Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes and our small group supports this ministry with purchasing, packing, praying, and organizing the shoeboxes from our church.

Anyway, yesterday three Samaritan's Purse staff were abducted by a group of armed men in Sudan. Two men and one woman, who is an American from California. Can you imagine? Please join me in praying for their safety and for their immediate release. My mind just keeps going back to this 36 year old, American woman, who is obviously just trying to minister to the poor and orphaned. We need to specifically pray for her protection.

This won't make the national news....although it should. So please spread the word. God has promised that he hears the prayers of His people. It's time for us to rise up in prayer!

You can read more about this HERE.

Praying for their safe return...we are...
In Line With the Word

Fun Friday!

Every Friday is Fun Friday!  Most of the time
we're getting together for a Bible study, but
we love just having fun together so last night
was party time! We started with our exotic menu
of pizza and salad! Then we went outside to
work off a few calories before dessert.

Everyone got into the action! As you can tell
we weren't dressed for serious competition
but we're not known for being serious. We just
love to have fun with one another and have lots
of laughs.

The games were Melinda's idea so she came dressed
just right and even wore sneakers. Check out Mindy!
Can you tell that she's always ready for work in the kitchen?

Laurie was determined to enjoy her evening out and
since she wasn't on call, when this conversation was
done, she left her phone in her car.  Yippee!

Check out my form. I actually look like I
know what I'm doing and managed to get a few
hits. Though I'm not an athlete, I had a great time.

We tried to convince Melinda to squeeze into Chip's car
so the three of us to get to a brief leaders meeting at church.
That didn't work but we laughed a lot trying to get out
of this low riding baby!

We made sure that we made it back in time to
surprise Mike with a little birthday celebration.
Mike loves all of his bath supplies!

Including his very own Rubber Ducky!

Chip and Jay cheered Mike on as he opened
his many surprise gifts. These guys are really
great sports! Brian had to leave a bit early to see
a sick friend but I know that he'd have cheered
Mike on too!

Mindy and Laurie really took this whole
birthday gift thing very seriously!

We have some BIG plans for our Fun Fridays
this Summer. Be sure to check in with us periodically!
We're looking forward to some Saturday excursions into
Boston for Duck Boat tours, walking the Freedom Trail,
miniature golfing and Ice cream at Kimball's, tubing and lots
more!

We strive to live and celebrate life, In Line With the Word!

The Book of Acts

God's timing and direction is always perfect! So last
night we began our first traditional Bible study and we
started with the Book of Acts.  If you have
followed us through our blog, you know that over
the last year and a half, we have engaged in
many different studies and we have used a variety
of teaching formats and materials including books,
CD's ,and  DVD's . This time we felt moved and
God perfectly set the stage for us to study about the
challenges that faced the early church and those who
spread the word about Jesus Christ and why He
came to earth.

We are using the NIV Life Application Bible
and spent our first session reviewing the Megathemes
that will be covered: Church beginnings, the Holy Spirit,
Church growth, Witnessing and Opposition. Acts
follows the Ministries of Peter and Paul. It looks
like we're in for a great study .

I am confident that God will not only reveal Himself
to us more clearly than ever before, but that He will
reveal lots to us about ourselves . I know that we
will each be challenged in many new and exciting
ways while at the same time may find that we also
should never neglect or forget the basics of our Christian walk.