For the first time since we've been here, we had a Christmas eve service. As a child, we usually went to a Christmas eve service and I remember singing songs by candlelight and the choir walking down the aisle while singing. I loved the Christmas eve service this year, too. It felt familiar and nice to slow down in the middle of Christmas chaos and celebrate the birth of our savior.
To up the cuteness factor even more, the kids sang "Go tell it on the mountain" at the beginning of the service. Maggie's in the back row wearing the pink Santa hat.
Owen started off the singing by reciting scripture. He got a little nervous and it was really cute. You can hear him say that he was scared in video. The kids were so cute and as I watched them sing, I had to fight off the tears. There were 2 of Maggie's classmates in the group singing. They don't go to our church, but come each Wednesday night to our church. Jesse does a great job with this group of kids each week. Maggie and her classmates begged to sit together after the service and they were so cute sitting together all on our little row. They were hugging and wishing each other Merry Christmas and begging for playdates at the end of the service.
Most of the people at the service were people who don't normally attend our church. Out of the 80 people there, I probably knew 30 of them. They were mostly family members there to see the kids singing or just looking for a Christmas eve service.
I loved every part of it and singing next to Maggie as she nervously held her candle was a great way to end the service. I hope each of you had a merry Christmas eve, too.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Monday, December 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
winner, winner...chicken dinner
(not really, just a redbox code)
The winner is Greg. Greg send me an email or facebook me with your email address so I can send you the redbox code!
The answer was:
$723.86
That's right, folks. Our church made $723.86 selling used potties and Christmas ornaments. It was amazing. That's a lot of money for a bunch of people's old junk. And it's going to ministry!
The money's going to ministry, I mean. The junk went to people's houses that will be featured on hoarder's soon.
The winner is Greg. Greg send me an email or facebook me with your email address so I can send you the redbox code!
The answer was:
$723.86
That's right, folks. Our church made $723.86 selling used potties and Christmas ornaments. It was amazing. That's a lot of money for a bunch of people's old junk. And it's going to ministry!
The money's going to ministry, I mean. The junk went to people's houses that will be featured on hoarder's soon.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Yard Sale
This weekend, our church had a yard sale. In the past, our garage sales have been massive. Tons and tons of stuff. Good stuff. And we made tons of money. Ilda said that one year, the church made 1300 dollars. That is a lot of money for selling a bunch of stuff that people want to get out of their house.
This year's yard sale seemed a bit rough to me. I didn't think there was a lot of stuff. We did have a ton of Christmas decorations, oddly enough. Oh and a lot of toilets. Cause everyone wants to buy a used toilet right?
We met some really interesting people during our time. My mom said that she didn't feel right encouraging these hoarding tendencies in people. It was obvious that some people were hoarders. You could just tell. Were we enabling them?
We sold a ton of stuff. It was not a lot of stuff, but we sold a lot of it. I had a junk seller come up to get the majority of our left overs so we didn't have to haul it all away.
Guess how much money we made on this garage sale? The closest guess will get a free redbox code. Oh wait, the closest guess from a person who wasn't at the garage sale and knows the answer cause they asked Ilda wins a free redbox code. Don't be a cheater.
The contest ends tomorrow night at midnight PST.
This year's yard sale seemed a bit rough to me. I didn't think there was a lot of stuff. We did have a ton of Christmas decorations, oddly enough. Oh and a lot of toilets. Cause everyone wants to buy a used toilet right?
We met some really interesting people during our time. My mom said that she didn't feel right encouraging these hoarding tendencies in people. It was obvious that some people were hoarders. You could just tell. Were we enabling them?
We sold a ton of stuff. It was not a lot of stuff, but we sold a lot of it. I had a junk seller come up to get the majority of our left overs so we didn't have to haul it all away.
Guess how much money we made on this garage sale? The closest guess will get a free redbox code. Oh wait, the closest guess from a person who wasn't at the garage sale and knows the answer cause they asked Ilda wins a free redbox code. Don't be a cheater.
The contest ends tomorrow night at midnight PST.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
a great P.S.
So, as a P.S. to my last blog. After I set up the blog to post, I went to get the mail. We got an anonymous note in the mail.
It was addressed to Steven, but I couldn't wait for him to come home and read it.
I opened it up and it was a card from the lady that I wrote about in the last blog. She wrote us the sweetest note about how nice it was to meet us that day and how she was praying for us and wanted to send us something.
Isn't God amazing? I love it when he's not quite finished with a story.
It was addressed to Steven, but I couldn't wait for him to come home and read it.
I opened it up and it was a card from the lady that I wrote about in the last blog. She wrote us the sweetest note about how nice it was to meet us that day and how she was praying for us and wanted to send us something.
Isn't God amazing? I love it when he's not quite finished with a story.
Friday, July 29, 2011
National Conference
While we are the Brethren National Conference, Steven was asked to speak on a panel about how to partner with schools and be more in the community. He has done a good job building a relationship with Maggie's school's principal and getting our church involved at the school.
There were two other groups from other church's talking about ministries they are involved in.
The first lady had started a ministry for people who were developmentally delayed. She talked about the fun activities they did and the classes she set up for them. She showed pictures of the group and they were all happy and smiling. There had never been anything for her son who was developmentally delayed and she decided to start something. There were lots of people in her community who could participate.
The other group was from a church that had become more aware of slavery in other countries. They spoke passionately about raising money to rescue children enslaved. One little boy from their church builds birdhouses to sell to raise money for the cause that he is passionate about.
As the session was ending, the lady from the first group of people asked if she could pray for our family and families in ministry. It was very moving that she would want to pray for us. She said that she remembered us from the year we were at conference.
It was so rewarding to be at this session. I am continually amazed at the passion that people have about things that aren't even on my radar. I think that is the thing that makes me the most hopeful about church. There are people out there doing amazing things for Jesus.
It was a good reminder to me about how even the smallest churches can impact others. I'm hopeful after hearing what churches and people in the church can do.
There were two other groups from other church's talking about ministries they are involved in.
The first lady had started a ministry for people who were developmentally delayed. She talked about the fun activities they did and the classes she set up for them. She showed pictures of the group and they were all happy and smiling. There had never been anything for her son who was developmentally delayed and she decided to start something. There were lots of people in her community who could participate.
The other group was from a church that had become more aware of slavery in other countries. They spoke passionately about raising money to rescue children enslaved. One little boy from their church builds birdhouses to sell to raise money for the cause that he is passionate about.
As the session was ending, the lady from the first group of people asked if she could pray for our family and families in ministry. It was very moving that she would want to pray for us. She said that she remembered us from the year we were at conference.
It was so rewarding to be at this session. I am continually amazed at the passion that people have about things that aren't even on my radar. I think that is the thing that makes me the most hopeful about church. There are people out there doing amazing things for Jesus.
It was a good reminder to me about how even the smallest churches can impact others. I'm hopeful after hearing what churches and people in the church can do.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
NICU
Today, I went to see Danielle and Michael's new baby girl, Sunnie. She was born at 27 weeks along.
We were out of town last week, so today was the first chance I had to go see her. She is adorable and perfect and itty bitty. She is perfect, just tiny. She is on tiny bit of oxygen and has a feeding tube, but is doing amazingly well.
Her parents are so cool. They moved in with a cousin with lives a couple of miles away. They walk to the hospital 3 times a day with milk for Sunnie and to bond with her. She is a blessing and adorable. This little family has a tough road ahead, but they are really trying to do the right thing for their little girl.
While we were in the NICU, there was a white haired lady wearing her pink lady uniform. She had to be close to 80 years old and she was rocking babies. Her volunteer job every day is to rock the babies who don't have people there to hold them. While I can't imagine a parent not wanting to be there with their child, there are babies who are just left in the hospital.
An important part of a NICU baby's recovery is to bond with a person. They have to feel human contact. This allows them to bond with people later on in life. It actually speeds up their recovery time, too.
I was just overwhelmed with appreciation for this lady. She was taking her retired time to go and love babies that she might never see again because she knows that it's important for this little baby. What a loving thing to do.
We were out of town last week, so today was the first chance I had to go see her. She is adorable and perfect and itty bitty. She is perfect, just tiny. She is on tiny bit of oxygen and has a feeding tube, but is doing amazingly well.
Her parents are so cool. They moved in with a cousin with lives a couple of miles away. They walk to the hospital 3 times a day with milk for Sunnie and to bond with her. She is a blessing and adorable. This little family has a tough road ahead, but they are really trying to do the right thing for their little girl.
While we were in the NICU, there was a white haired lady wearing her pink lady uniform. She had to be close to 80 years old and she was rocking babies. Her volunteer job every day is to rock the babies who don't have people there to hold them. While I can't imagine a parent not wanting to be there with their child, there are babies who are just left in the hospital.
An important part of a NICU baby's recovery is to bond with a person. They have to feel human contact. This allows them to bond with people later on in life. It actually speeds up their recovery time, too.
I was just overwhelmed with appreciation for this lady. She was taking her retired time to go and love babies that she might never see again because she knows that it's important for this little baby. What a loving thing to do.
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