and the rest of the week...

Voila! The finished bookstore. To the left are the registers and the line barriers which you can't see in this picture. The far left of the picture are the "exhibitors" (Master's Seminary, New Attitude, etc. etc.) and the rest is the bookstore...
Our fearless leader (posing with a picture of his 'grill' that he pretty much carried around the entire conference), Drewbie Chew Garfield. We have so enjoyed being able to serve under Drew with conference bookstore the last year or so. T4G was an amazing undertaking and responsibility and the way Drew executed and thought through the entire thing was stunning. It was so much fun to take time at dinner the last night together as a team to honor him and point out the excellent work he had done. (And PS--Yay for Drew having a girlfriend too; he and Mel make such a fun and servant-hearted couple!)And then just as quickly, it was all over. Seriously it felt like we were there for maybe three days total: one day of arriving and unpacking/setting up, one day of chaos running registers etc., and one day of final registers and collapsing in inventory counts. I think each member of the team was uniquely aware of God's grace physically and mentally sustaining them as some of us worked 8/9 am until 2 am. It was possibly the most exhausting week of my life and yet one of the funnest times I've had in a very long time, and what fun to serve alongside some of our favorite people and my beloved.
Dinner on Friday night. Andree eating a cheeeep and Raleigh our new friend from Southern. We're enjoying being his first experience of Sovereign Grace.
One of the highlights/special moments of the week: watching The Office off of Lydia's TIVO via Skype on Andree and Lyd's computers. The technology was overwhelming but pretty cool at the same time. Plus hearing Mrs. Harnett's laugh in the background only made it better.Dronks was happy to see his friend Lydia even though I think it was a little confusing to him why she was talking so much and yet he couldn't smell her or touch her. (Sorry Lyd, the smiling pictures have the Skype menu in the way.)



And then... We came home... To this!!
Our dear KG, namely Kristen and DJ who actually broke into the house, blessed us with streamers, balloons, and little notes all over the apartment. It made us smile so big as we fell into an exhausted nap on our bed. We love you each so very much and are so grateful for the relationship God has given us with you guys. Praying for y-o-u's!!