Altrogge Family

We had our first care group with the Ricucci's last night and boy were my socks knocked off. Stephen and I were the first to share our testimonies: how we were saved, how we met, etc. Following that, everyone had a couple questions to answer and two of them are as follows.

What has been the richest experience of God's grace since your arrival? Stephen and I are grateful for the family God placed us with. He sure knew what He was doing. We get along with them well, laugh a lot and have rich fellowship. Specifically, I am learning a lot as I observe L's life, how she trains her children, loves her husband, cares for her home, loves the Lord, counsels her friends and the list could go on and on. My prayer is that by God's grace, as our family grows, I will remember some of what I have learned here.

The second half of my answer is how I have been blessed by the rich counsel and friendship I have found in Betsy. From chats at numerous meetings to a phone conversation to being under her leadership at the ladies' meetings, I have greatly benefited from my time with her already. She is dear and her wisdom is invaluable. Last night I asked her if she could come home with me after our time here is up. Ha.

What has been the richest experience of God's grace in your marriage? This one didn't take much thinking. Since we arrived, let's just say the pace of life has been a tad bit faster than that of our small town back home. Stephen has more demands on his time, we are living with another family and we have a number of meetings with the other students and wives. That said, Stephen has consistently kept Charis and I his priority. He is good about taking time for the three of us to be together each day. He is faithful to talk to me, and he doesn't do any of this solely out of a sense of duty. He forsakes laziness and selfishness and tenderly cares for his family. I am amazed.

On a different subject, the following picture is from Gym Day. Each Thursday, all of the pc wives and kiddos have one big play-date at the church's gym. The children run around (or army crawl around in Charis' case), get all their energy out, and during the last fifteen minutes all the daddies come down and spend time with their families. What a bright spot in my day!