I haven't felt like I really belonged to a church family since college. There is the church I was raised in, (though somehow not Baptized in), and they are the closest to home because it's pretty much all I knew as a kid. Briar Hill was just where my family went to church, so it's where I went to church. Then cue the new Man in my life, and he doesn't really have a preference. He wasn't raised particularly religious, but he was baptized as a Methodist baby. He is supportive, and goes wherever I want to go. So there's that.

We visited a few churches in Guam, and we found the one we fit best into just right before we left.. bummer.

Then, in Hawaii, I did a little Google searching and a large Presbyterian church with a wonderful childrens ministry very close to us. I went alone one Sunday because Jason was at sea, but after that, it was our church. We love First Prez at KoOlau, and I'm sure we will faithfully attend when we get back to Oahu. (Which, by the way, is totally going to happen.)

But now, here in Memphis, we've made some leaps and bounds in our spiritual walk together. I guess the first step was going to Hope Pres. Wow, that church is awesome, and for the most part, right up our alley. We loved the music, we loved the preaching. The only thing we didn't love was the drive. We could have even learned to deal with the fact that it was a massive church and nobody would ever miss us if we were gone. (They haven't) But the drive was just too much. 45 minutes to church? Still have to unload babies in the nursery? No way.

Our next venture came with me making a friend, and finding out that said friend went to the church where I was considering placing Garrett for Mom's Day Out. She invited us to Sunday School with them, and we went. It was very nice, and I can see these people are a great group of Christians. We just didn't feel like it was "our" place.

So, on a whim, we visited Bartlett Baptist Church, and we immediately fell in like. Yep, just like. We liked it enough to come back the following Sunday. The next Sunday was a special all-day-long conference on marriage and family. Well, it saved my husband's eternal soul, I will say that. It made me think hardcore about the way I've been approaching our marriage.

And then, as if those two things weren't wonderful enough, we made some friends!

We made friends who invited us to Wednesday night dinner/church. So we went.
Then they invited us to Sunday School. So we went.
Then they invited us out for dinner with another new couple. So we all went, and we've all become friends.

This is amazing to me. But it shouldn't be.. this is how Military life works, and I should be used to it. You're told "You'll make friends as soon as you open up to the possibility of friends." Well, I guess it took me this long to really open up, because here the friends come, and I am loving it. I am loving Bartlett Baptist Church. I'm loving that I skipped service this morning because I wasn't feeling well, but here I am MISSING that worship service. Missing the praise music, missing the lesson from Brother Michael. Missing that little bit of Jesus I can feel during and after the service. To say I'm loving this time in my life is a huge understatement. And now, my new friends are going to read this and think me a total weirdo. And then they might read old posts and just KNOW me a total weirdo :)