25th Anniversary Celebrations at Grace Pres

[This post has been back-dated, because we really meant to get this one up ages ago...]

On Saturday, October 3, we took a quick day trip out to State College, PA, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the official founding of Grace Presbyterian Church, David's old home church. (We wanted to stay for the whole weekend of events and celebrations, but David had to be back in Princeton to lead an apologetics seminar on Sunday, so we made it a day trip -- lots of driving for one day, but totally worth it!)

We made it to State College just in time to catch the tail end of the picnic -- and in time to catch up with old friends. And family! David's parents had come in from Indianapolis, so we got to see them in person for the first time we'd announced our pregnancy! I unfortunately didn't get any photos of the picnic, or of the reaction of the grandparents-to-be to my slowly developing baby bump, but here's a picture of us, stolen from David's mom's facebook album of the event -- which she helpfully captioned "David & Christina Keddie and future grandson." :)

In the evening, there was a catered dinner with great times of fellowship and reconnecting with Grace Pres members, old and new. All three of the men who had pastored the church in its 25 years were there, and shared reminiscences of the work God had done (and is continuing to do) through this branch of the body. And there was an open time of sharing at the end, where people spoke of the hospitality that had drawn them into real community with fellow believers, and the strong teaching and preaching of the Word, and just generally of their thankfulness for God's faithfulness to this church over the years... It was such an encouragement to all of us to hear these testimonies!

David Hanson, Gordon Keddie, and Duncan Lowe --
the current and past pastors of Grace Pres

Some of those giving testimonies -- Kathy Adams, Jean Sherman, and Willem Coetzee

As always, we had a wonderful time in State College -- we just wish we could have stayed longer!

May the Lord continue to bless the work at Grace Presbyterian!

For the complete set of photos, check out this SmugMug gallery.