Sunday School

Every since I finished high school I had tried going to sunday school at whatever church I was attending at least once. I know not a fair chance on some churches, but others I went back multiple times. I'm not sure what it was exactly that made the idea in my head that until I was "much" older, sunday school is just not for me. I think it was hard to feel connected in many of the churches, it seemed like the group was already established and I didn't have any close interactions with anybody in the group. I'm not a fan of feeling like an "outsider", so I decided that church was good, and I could get alot of good from it alone. You may wonder where I am going with this...I'll get there.

When Ben and I got married in 2008, we thought about getting involved with a sunday school class and/or small group. There was not really any "easy" way of getting into one, and we didn't exactly BEG the church to help us out. So we attended church regularly, and enjoyed the small talk before and after church. When we moved to Hesston last fall, we made the decision to go to Whitestone..where I went from high school-college. We enjoy the pastor that they have now (as of last spring), and my parents and a couple of our friends go there. It just seemed more reasonable to go to a church in our community that we could get involved in. It just so happened around the time we moved, a new sunday school group was starting which we were invited to. To be completely honest, I didn't really want to go. It's not like I had some "terrible" experience, banning all sunday school for life. I just was content on doing my (our) thing by attending church. Its not like Ben had to twist my arm to go, but he really wanted to go. So we went. And we're still going, and the group is GROWING.

Needless to say, the group we have is pretty much at the same point in life. It just so happens that their are 7 regular attending couples. But I think the thing that makes it almost an instant connection is that we are all at a point on our life...somehow adjusting...we're out of school, have careers, we're all married (3 yrs or less), and currently we are the only ones that have a child..but that will be changing in June :) We named ourselves the "Homebuilders", which I think is appropriate as we are young adults doing just that, both literally (seems like 3 of us have bought a house within the time this class has started) and figuratively in developing our own family lifestyles. We're a pretty diverse group in a way, it's kind of a fun process getting to know everyone.

I"m only putting this on here, because for me its almost like some sort of milestone that I want to make note of. I know it seems ridiculous. Over the last 5-6 years I developed a strong dislike to being put in a situation where I need to open up and be vulnerable. And for this reason, I feel like its a stepping stone of becoming both a stronger Christian and challenging my ability to step outside my comfort zone. So I think its just one more sign from God that our move here to Hesston was not merely the fact that we wanted a bigger yard and a house outside of town.

We've done several things outside of meeting at the Loucks' every sunday morning....here are some pictures of the latest group "activity" (helping at the Et Cetera shop).

Ronda and Steph sorting lovely clothes

Cindy and Jessica Unruh taking a break from painting

Kenyon and Ben scraping the stairwell

Randall and Cindy...our  Sunday School leaders