Three JOYful Celebrations

The older I grow, the more I realize that the reasons for celebrations are MANY and varied! This past weekend, Pat and I participated in three different kinds of JOY.
Beginning on Thursday night, we joined our special friends, Janice and Jim Carlisle, for a celebration dinner!  Pat and I had birthdays and anniversary last week, but the REAL reason we wanted to celebrate was that Janice had received a JOYfully great doctor's report!  She's been battling cancer since the first of the year and her latest PET-CT scan was CLEAR!  No more chemo!!!!!  Praise the Lord!!!! God has---once again--- shown Himself faithful!!!!!!
On Friday afternoon, Pat and I headed toward "Hot"lanta, stopping in Macon to pick up Alison.  We joined the whole family on Saturday for a day of FUN, FUN, FUN in celebration of Papa Pat's 60th birthday.  The children had planned a JOYful day of golf, great food (mmmmmmm CHEESECAKE) and a Braves game.  They even reminded the Braves to WIN in honor of their dad!  Of course, one of the highlights of the weekend was being with all four of our GRANDchildren! It was a sweet family celebration of JOY!
Then on Sunday, we experienced a JOY that was bittersweet...the celebration of life service of our dear friend, Betty Shrouder.  So many people loved this dear "Proverbs 31" woman.  And her life can be an example to us all.  The reason we could experience JOY admist the heartache of losing her, is because we KNOW that she is JOYfully celebrating in Heaven!  She is with Jesus and will spend eternity basking in the JOY OF THE LORD!
Three different celebrations, but all from the the same Creator!  Indeed, HE is the Giver of all JOY!