Women's Christmas Gala

Last Saturday evening I attended a Women's Christmas Gala at my sister's church.  It was a lovely evening with dinner, live music and special testimony.  The event was sold out and there were 200+ women there.  The whole evening was a lot of fun, but what made this evening extra special was that my sister was the speaker.  She did an amazing job and God is really using her and continues to use our Abbey's story.  Stacey talked on peace and she used three situations/times in her life where she felt and saw God's peace in a powerful way.  The second story that she talked about was Abbey.  She read several portions of the blog and just talked about the incredible peace that God has given us in this situation since day one.  She gave a very accurate description of me and talked about how anyone that knows me, knows that I would be the last person that could handle something like this.  She explained it much better, but her message was clear that it is only by God's grace and peace that passes understanding, that we are getting through this and still able to have joy through this trial.  At the end of the night, the lady in charge of the night had my sister and I, along with my mom and Stacey's mother in law stand up and we all (all 200+ of us) prayed for Abbey.  It was very powerful and I really felt God's presence there that night.  There were so many women that came up to me and told me that they are praying for us.  It was an encouraging night and I was so proud of my sister for allowing God to use her.  I also once again saw how God is using our baby to bring glory to Himself and know it wasn't an accident that they asked Stacey to be the speaker this year while our family is going through this.  

My sister is in the red and the others at our table were some of our dear friends.  As you can kind of see, it was beautifully decorated and a very relaxing atmosphere.  Men from the church served us and my sister's husband Joey took care of our table.  It was a wonderful evening!