October!!! It's our anniversary month! I think October might be one of my favorite months. Apple cider, apples, pumpkins, corn mazes, fall colors, hay rides...Can it get any better than that? :) So I'm very excited that it's October. Yay!

But that isn't actually what I came to write about.

Steve and I have had a VERY interesting weekend. It all started the day I talked to Heidi. She told me about her boyfriend, who is a brand-new Christian. He comes out of another faith background, a very works-based one, so this is a big change for him, and he is at the place now where he is trying to figure out, now that he is a Christian, what comes next? How does he grow from there? And I felt as if we were, like, the perfect couple for him to talk to about that, LOL. Stephen is a good teacher and I've been learning so much about Christianity lately myself... So we agreed to have her and Alex over for dinner soon, and we did that Saturday night.

And everything since then has happened so fast!

We had a great time with them. I LOVED watching Alex talk about his journey to faith. It is a pretty incredible story, and he is so obviously sold out to Christ now and not going back. It's truly amazing to see. And he has such a hunger to know more!

And Heidi is...hilarious. She's kind of naive and sweet, with a very open heart. And she is very certain she wants to marry Alex. :) I don't know him well enough to know where he is at in this relationship yet, so I'm very much keeping them in my prayers for that reason right now. Alex is a couple years younger than her, is still going to school, just found a job to pay bills right now, and is brand-new to this faith. So in many, many ways, Heidi is ahead of him in life. So it's on my heart to pray that God would accelerate his growth so he becomes ready to marry Heidi, because I don't know how much longer Heidi can wait.

But all that isn't what I was going to write, either, LOL.

So during our get-together with them Saturday night, Heidi told us about how they were seeking a church together, and asked us about our church. So I gave her service times for our church and a couple others we like. Much to my surprise, they decided to try ours first! So Stephen suggested we do lunch together afterward to talk about it, too, which was also a surprise to me. We don't usually agree that readily to go out to eat with people because of our budget. We only budget for one meal out a week, and even then we only give ourselves $15. So I had my concerns about that, but after church, as Stephen and I were driving to the restaurant, I figured it out. "You know what?" I said to Stephen, thinking aloud. "I'm worrying about the budget, but you know what this is? This is a ministry. And God does provide--especially when it is a ministry!"

So I haven't seen God's provision yet, but I know very much that this is something God wants us to do, because guess what? After church Alex and Heidi signed up for our church's Christianity Explored course. I don't have time to explain about that, but basically, it would be VERY good for Alex's growth as a Christian. Very, very, very, very good. And I honestly think it will be good for Heidi too. She grew up in a Christian home, but I know there are things she still hasn't nailed down about the Christian faith yet (aren't there areas like that for us all?? LOL).

So the crazy thing is, I signed up to take the class with them.

You have to understand that this class, which is really aimed at nonbelievers who are curious about Christianity, is pushed and pushed by our church leadership to ALL of the attenders at our church. And we're good friends with the associate pastor, who put it together, and he and others have encouraged Steve and I specifically to take the class, and we never have. It has never felt like the right time for us, and it's been tough to feel slight pressure to take it, and to not feel at peace about taking it.

And then out of the blue, one Sunday, I sign up! I didn't even mean to. I just realized during church, when they were pushing for it, how good it would be for Alex, and I knew it would be much easier for them to take it with somebody they knew who was a solid Christian and already attended the church putting it on. So I just waltzed over and signed up after them, with no qualms whatsoever. :D Actually, I did run it by Stephen real quick, because that kind of messes up our Wednesday night dinner plans for the next seven weeks. But Stephen said that was great, and we would figure something out.

So, lo and behold, here's Stephanie signed up for Christianity Explored! Who'da thunk?! :D

And my life is going to be NUTS for the next seven weeks, because:
Sunday morning: church
Sunday afternoon: We lead a small group Bible study at the church (homework).
Wednesday night: Christianity Explored (homework?).
Thursday night: Women's Bible Study (homework).

Plus my usual volunteering at the library on Thursdays and Fridays, and Zumba with my mom Wednesday mornings. Plus Heidi, I'm sure, will want to do random get-togethers with me, and I want to do them with her. Plus I need some dental fillings in the near future (argh). Plus our anniversary is this week and it's going to be crazy and the holidays are coming after that. Plus this low sodium cooking requires research and planning on meals, so there's that to throw in the mix too. I haven't been this busy since college!!!

Anyway.... To sum up everything about Heidi and Alex, I've just been so surprised at how smoothly all this has gone with them. Every time before when we've tried to be friends with another couple, the way has been very rocky, and most of them have come to dead ends. It's been very discouraging. But this friendship seems to be blossoming without us even trying! It's quite a miracle! Obviously God wants to do something with this, and I'm sooooooo excited about that. :D

OH! AND! I forgot to share some wonderful news. It looks like Steve and I might be moving next year!!!

Nothing is for certain. We don't have a place in line or anything. The bottom line is, we had a good talk, and he understands now how much I want to be out of here so we can think about starting a family. And we're only going to sign a 7-month lease this time. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how happy that makes me.

So yeah... My life is crazy right now! In a lot of good ways. But man, I gotta hold on tight until Christmas!

Yay Christmas. :D

-Stephanie

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