Weekend with the Paces

Going into this weekend Ryan and I were a little hesitant.  Ryan’s parents had asked us to come over on Saturday night for Mrs. Pace’s birthday.  She has asked specifically that we come over to go do something as a family and then spend the night.  They would not, however, tell us what we would be doing, which left us guessing for several weeks.  Ryan thought we were going to the Rodeo, playing put putt golf, riding go carts, you get the picture.  Turns out he was sort of right.  We went to Andretti Speed Lab.  The entire Pace family had been here except for me.  I have never been one for go carts, even as a child, my mother pointed out; I never liked to drive fast and would be lapped every time.  Andretti was no different.  From the moment we walked in I was a nervous wreck.  I knew I could not say no because Ryan would just make me do it anyway (he doesn’t let me off the hook, which is good and bad in a way). So next thing I know I’m putting a helmet on and heading out to the cars (not to mention I was not prepared, I had a skirt on).  I tried really hard to enjoy it but everything in me hated every minute of it and when they finally waved the red flag I felt a wave of relief.  The purpose of this track is to go as fast as you can, to go around as many times as possible.  I came in last place, I only went around nine times to everyone else’s 12, 13, 14 times.  We only raced once, thank goodness, and then played the arcade games for a while.  We went home to play Apples to Apples which has become a Pace tradition, it’s so funny!

Sunday was my sister’s birthday as well as Father’s Day.  This is nothing out of the ordinary for us, in the past we have mostly celebrated them together.  As always my dad is such a good sport about it.  We headed to the lake for some fun in the sun.  Then headed home for a very yummy dinner of pork tenderloin and corn on the cob, topped off with birthday cake and key lime pie (it is Father’s Day after all so, we had to do his favorite too)!  Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so no photos of the day.  We had a great time relaxing on the boat, the Lord knows we need it with the busy month we have ahead.  We are just three weeks away from Jenny’s wedding!

New Church Home

For as long as Ryan and I have been dating I have wanted to find a church home.  Over the course of our relationship we would occasionally go to his home church or my home church, but realistically we ended up not going more often than I would have liked.  Finally, at the start of 2009, I made him make me a promise that our new year’s resolution would be to find a church home.  So we made a huge effort to get involved.  We found a singles group at JFBC that meet every Sunday and hang out on Tuesday nights at a local coffee shop, it was perfect.  We truly enjoyed the class and the people involved.  They even went out to dinner to help me celebrate my birthday.  I couldn’t help thinking this was exactly what we needed.

Fast forward a few months to when Ryan and I get engaged.  I couldn’t have been happier, but also couldn’t have been busier!!  With the engagement, upcoming weddings of family and friends, family vacation time, football games and of course planning a wedding, we quickly fell out of our routine of going to church regularly.  We quickly lost touch with the friends we had made, which I regret, but that summer and then fall and winter spun out of control so quickly we honestly didn’t have time for them.  I hate that it sounds so selfish, but in my defense, I will only get married once so if there is a time to be a little selfish with what little down time I had, I think this was it.  But, I digress.

During our engagement process we went through three sessions of marriage counseling with my minister.  We discussed with him our struggles in getting settled in a church and what each of us would like to get out of a church home.  He suggested we try out Peachtree Presbyterian.  We didn’t begin going right away, I was still involved with several activities at my church, but tried it out a few weeks ago.  We first went to the contemporary service and unfortunately we showed up on a Youth Sunday.  While I love working with the youth and love seeing the youth actively involved and actively trying to grow their faith, youth Sunday is not a good day to try out a church.  We were a little discouraged but decided to give it another try, this time going to the 8:45am traditional service followed by a class for newly married couples.  We were so relieved, we instantly loved the minister and felt so welcome in the Sunday school class.  One of the girls in our class mentioned that the minister who preached the service we had been too typically does the contemporary service.  Unfortunately the next week was Memorial Day and we would be out of town.

Which brings me to this past Sunday.  We went back to the Sunday school class, this time combined with one of the other classes (people tend to get busy in the summer and not come, image that!) and I could not help thinking that this is where we are supposed to be.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming.  We loved the message, the teacher, the people.  I cannot wait to see what comes of this class.  We also made a trip back to the contemporary service, which was phenomenal.  The minister I mentioned before was indeed preaching and did a wonderful job.  Ryan and I both felt such an instant connection to him and his sermons relate so well to daily life.  I am excited to finally be settling into a church that we can learn and grow.  Most of all I was so excited to see Ryan’s reaction to this church; he sang along with the songs we sang.  Now this may not be a huge deal, but it is to me.  I love to hear him sing and he so rarely will in church.  I am so grateful that we have found a place for us to grow together.  It feels a lot like coming home.