nelson ramblings: {a visit to DC}

On Friday, April 15, Joshua and I headed to my sister's house in Falls Church, VA.....not only did we have a chance to spend time with my sister and her family, but we got to spend the weekend with Hannah! It was so great to spend so much time with her. We had only one thing on our agenda---other than that we just hung out. Joshua spent much of his time down in the basement with the HUGE TV watching old recordings of the Get Smart TV Show....he LOVES those and gets to watch them when he goes to his cousins' house. They own the whole series, so he just chooses a season and pushes a button to watch it~I didn't have to work too hard though to get him up the stairs to hang out with Hannah. We bring her home in a week...and we are SO ready!

The "thing" on our agenda while we were there was a fundraiser on Saturday afternoon for my sister's new ministry, Chosen Families. I have mentioned this before in a thanksgiving post about Shannon. Chosen Families is a place to find hope and encouragement and to help the church reach out to families with loved ones who have "hidden disabilities". I think we all know someone and many of us have family members with these disabilities: anxiety, asperger, ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, depression, learning disabilities, tourette syndrome among others. Her fundraiser was so lovely---it was at the home of a friend who was an amazing hostess. Here are some pictures of the lovely spread that she laid out for those attending.

Little ham sandwiches---hmmmm

This was SOOOO beautiful to me---and one of my favorite appetizers ever.

tiny carrot cake muffins---so beautiful and tasty

.....those little sandwiches were so pretty---can you see the ones that look like calla lilies--WHAT? I just admire someone who can make food just as beautiful as it is tasty! Love that.

The speaker that day was Emily Colson, daughter of Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship & Breakpoint. She has just written a new book called Dancing with Max that chronicles her life with her 20 year old son who has autism. What a sweet story she shared. It was encouraging to hear from someone who has lived this life for 20 years now and is joyful and grateful for what God is doing in her life through this treasure that is her son.

Sunday was my birthday and I had a lovely day. We went to church with my sister's family. It was a special treat to be next to Hannah in worship. She has had very little opportunity to attend worship since she's been on this journey and I know she will never again take church attendance for granted. We went home and had a restful afternoon. My nephew, Nathan made me---yes, MADE WITH HIS OWN HANDS a special dessert for my birthday---chocolate mousse. The only sad part to the day was having to take Hannah back to where she was staying with the TBB group. On our way, we saw the most beautiful moon---I mean this HUGE full moon over the Capitol---oh my it was amazing. As I dropped her off I couldn't help but be reminded of God's strong hand. HE placed that moon in the sky. He holds me in his STRONG and mighty hand. And HE will sustain me and all of his children in the life he GIVES us to lead. All of that from a moon! GOD is so much bigger than any problems we may have and HE is so faithful to sustain us.