This is our "team" at Northwood with all the kiddos. Yes we are big, but are as close as family. I am so thankful for this group of friends! We truly have a rare group dynamic. One of our team members, Jennifer Hunt, is a far better writer than me and expressed it perfectly on her blog. Below are her words and all of our same thoughts:

"We had 35 of our closest friends over to our house this afternoon for lunch! These are the families on our "team" from church, and they truly are family to us. We have been together for a little over a year, and we have been through a lot.

These are truly the friends that will care for each other's kids without a second thought, provide meals, sit with you in a hospital room, pray fervently for you, share their deepest secrets and weaknesses, make your stomach ache from laughing, challenge you to greater depths in your love for Jesus. We love these guys so much, and we were privileged and oh so thankful to have them all together (minus one family and one sick 3 year old, plus Sherman and Becky visiting from the Glocal Ventures office in Vietnam) in our home this afternoon.

We all need friends. We need community. We weren't meant to be alone. Thank you, God, for such precious friends."



Above: the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and blew candles out on the cake!