What a Sunday!

Yesterday was just a terrific day at New Hope Christian Fellowship!

Our church kids did an awesome job with their Christmas Pageant during the morning service. As the director I was frankly amazed at how smooth and calm it all went! I figured the kids would forget lots of details from Saturday morning rehearsal, but they just did great and it was so fun to see them do well.

Of course, the pageant went well because lots of folks helped, and I especially appreciate:
- Rebecca and Ashley for lots of organization help
- Linda Anderson, Karen Roberts and Kelly Janssen for super costumes and props (wow!)
- Glenn & Tommy Janssen, Steve Rotarius and Ben Leslie for the stage platforms and stable
- Meredith Berthot and Kelly Janssen for their invaluable backstage shepherding

Dewey's message about the wisemen was great, and it was also nice singing Christmas carols with everyone. We had between 180-190 folks in the building, which was our second biggest service ever!

THEN yesterday evening about 30 of us had a blast Christmas Caroling through the neighborhood! God was gracious and gave us dry weather (whew!), and Dustin and I accompanied on guitar and ukulele. We gave out Christmas cards to the folks we sang to--we all signed the cards and then inserted candy canes, invitations to our church, and gift cards for the coffee stand in our parking lot. Then we came back for hot cocoa and cider and hanging out together. Honestly, I think I could do this every night.

How fun it is to enjoy the music and spirit of the Christmas season with others who love Christ. If you couldn't join us yesterday, we hope to see you this coming Sunday!

[I'll be adding pictures to this post soon, so check back!]