Christmas Cheer

Can you tell that it's Christmas time? Everyone came festively dressed and  brought along something special for our Christmas Pot Luck. Trust me! The food was delicious and plentiful! But the best part of the evening was just getting to spend time together as friends.

Our guys are surely in the holiday spirit!

Mike always gives us lots of laughs. Check out the wacky glasses. They are like looking through the bottom of a really distorted coca cola bottle.

I wonder what's on Jay's mind? Knowing him, he's plotting his next prank!

 

Kim  and Mindy wore their best, comfy Christmas slippers.

 Between Laurie's necklace and the blinking reindeer antlers, we had our very own Christmas light show.

Since it wouldn't be Christmas without a little exchange of gifts , Laurie stepped up and did her best Santa impersonation.

We had some really silly gifts. There's a story here but we'll leave that to another time.

What fun it was to share the many special memories of our first year together in book form.

Laurie and I laughed a lot while working together on this Surprise project for everyone on our team. It looks like it's a great hit! The book showed our journey over this year.What a year filled with study, service and building strong life long friendships. Oh! Did I forget to mention the food? Lots of great food!

 

 

While we eat, laugh, tease and just have a great time together, we never lose sight about the real reason for this special celebration of Christmas. 'His name is Jesus. His name whispers the beauty of creation...His name shouts the Glory of God!  May all the joys of Jesus, be yours this Christmas.'

Your In Line With the Word friends!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I love the snow! Well that's when I don't have to shovel and I get to stay inside where I'm warm and toasty.Yesterday morning, here in MA, we woke to an early snowstorm which dumped between 9-10" in our area.

Don't you just love how beautiful the snow looks when the storm has passed by and the sun comes up?

It's perfect for Christmas.

We're ready and looking forward to sharing it with you!

Birthday Girl

Surprise! Happy Birthday Kim!

We're happy Kim's home , from her travels to Hawaii and Florida, just in time for us to celebrate her birthday with her.

We can always count on Mindy to make the absolutely perfect birthday treat. Kim had no trouble blowing out her birthday candle. I wonder what she wished for?

Every week we have adventure. Some might call it drama. Tonight was no exception! Melinda broke our rocking chair and welcomed Mike back by throwing her cake all over him and everything around him. Hey Mike! Welcome back! Glad you're okay Melinda! Disaster averted.

Mike and my chair might have been covered with cake and cream but my sides hurt from laughing so hard! Who ever thought that a Bible study could be so much fun? We do!

New Time...Same Place...Welcome Back Friends

We are changing the starting time of our small group. This will enable some friends to come back and join us. Beginning this week, we will start at 6:00 pm and finish by 8:00.

Here's the schedule for December:

Dec 1st and 8th:  Our goal is to finish up our current study over the next two weeks.
Dec. 15th:  Christmas Pot Luck Dinner at Sally's.  Please let her know what you will be bringing.
Dec. 22nd and 29th:  No small group meeting.  Enjoy the holidays with the family.

We will see you Tuesday at 6 pm!!!

Until then we remain...
In Line With The Word

Thanks

I'd like to  introduce you to a great site in support of our troops called Let's Say Thanks. It's a quick and simple way to send as many cards as you'd like to our troops to express your appreciation.

Check it out at http://www.letssaythanks.com/  and follow the 3 Easy steps. It really is very easy!

1.Select all of the postcards or click 'view all designs' When you put your cursor on a picture, you'll view an enlarged version and name and age of the child who designed the card.
2.Personalize by entering your message( multiple choices given to chose from) ,fill in name and hometown.
3.Hit send

You can  read some of the messages sent to our military by clicking on "Messages of the Week'.
You can click on 'From the troops ' to read what they have to say about receiving cards from back home.
There is even a 'photo gallery'.  Browse! Enjoy!

Delivery Day

Well delivery day has arrived! Honestly, I am so tired that I didn't think that it would ever come and in other ways it arrived so fast. It is worth all of the time and energy expended. I just imagine the reaction of the children as they wait to receive their boxes and what their reaction is as they open it and go through their gifts. The best gift of all of course is that they learn all about Jesus and what He has given to all who accept Him as Lord and Savior. It's a remarkable gift!

Our first step was to take a final count because more boxes were brought in on Family Night Wednesday.

Then we began loading the trailer for the ride to the next stop on their journey. Jay and Charlie got them loaded and secured in no time at all.

 

 

We enjoyed a cool fall day, with a brisk occasional breeze and raw temperatures. It was a reminder that Winter and Christmas will be arriving very soon. 

Check out Debbie Thrush giving us a 'thumbs up'! She is the coordinator for OCC at the Life Care Center that we use as our drop off point. She and her crew made it so easy. Who is that guy with the ball cap ? Why it's our very own Jay who has been invaluable help! Thanks Jay.

Our FINAL count (someone please tell Christian in PA) is 441 boxes!

From Sally and all of the In Line With The Word team!

Packing Day

Tuesday evening our Home Team gathered at church to check and pack our shoe boxes for delivery.
Now anyone who knows our team, knows that we never meet without having something to eat and Tuesday was no exception. We started our evening together with supper and enjoyed some delicious pizza, and salad.

Since ESL was holding classes down stairs in and around Fellowship Hall and our kitchen, we set up our supper in the foyer. We took time to get caught up with Kim, since her recent  return from a reunion in Hawaii with her son Doug who just returned from Afghanistan. It was great having her back home with us.

 

After enjoying some time together, it was time to get to work checking each shoe box, packing them and getting a final count.

Kim and Mindy got to work filling new 'Adopted' boxes. Since we have church members who can't or don't shop, they give me the money and I shop for them! This works very well!

Jay enjoyed checking shoe boxes and finding some of the cute little friends that will make some child very, very happy.

Laurie and Brian are quite a team. Laurie worked with Jay and me in checking boxes while Brian packed them into cases and numbered the boxes.

 Charlie even got into the action. He's versatile and helped where ever needed.

 It took a while but eventually we began to see the pile dwindle a bit while the cases of boxes began to stack up out in the hallway.

After an hour or so, I called for a dessert break. Our backs were hurting and our sweet tooth wanted some of Mindy's famous munchies.

Ahh! No Laurie isn't really sleeping but this project is far more physical then you might think and we all enjoyed a bit of a breather.

We did get back to work and before we knew it we were down to the last few boxes. Brian did a great job stacking the cases in the hall and taking our count.

Drum roll please! (We sure hope that our young friend Christian in PA is checking in here) We left Tuesday evening with 428 boxes packed and ready to go. That  marks a NEW record for us!

Watch for our next posting and follow our Delivery and FINAL count!

Dedication Sunday

It's been a few short weeks since we launched this years OCC missions project and we're approaching the home stretch. Tomorrow is delivery day , so you'll want to check back for our final count and a few photos sharing our delivery to our drop off location, Life Care of Nashoba Valley.

Let's take a look back to this time one week ago. It started with a dozen or so boxes arriving.

Little by little the stack of boxes started to grow.

Before you know it the platform in the sanctuary was stacked high with brightly wrapped shoeboxes.

 This is how things looked as the first people arrived for Sunday Services. Then the fun began as we watched the pile grow, grow and grow some more.

 

Young Ella took pity on me and offered to be my helper and she did a great job. When we were finished, she gave us both a 'thumbs up' for a job well done.

 

Pastor Mark, our Senior Pastor invited all of the children 12 years old and under to come up front and to lay hands on the boxes as we prayed.

It was wonderful seeing how many children came up front, some little ones with their parents to guide them, as we all prayed in agreement for the children whose lives would be changed forever when they learned about Jesus , through the gift of a simple shoebox.

As second service started the pile had grown up to the top of our grand piano. They were stacked so high, we could barely see Mrs. Terry behind all of the boxes.

To be continued.....

Oh So Many Shoeboxes!

This week we used our time together to fill Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and we're all really excited about it! Charlie served up some of his famous soup to get us warmed up and ready for the work ahead. It must have been a popular choice because everyone asked for the recipe.


Before long, we split up into small teams and began getting organized. The guys sat in the living room and filled baggies with an assortment of candies. It looks like Jay and Mike enjoyed having Charlie join them. We all did! He's not 'yet' an official member of our team but joins us for the social events.


Melinda and Mindy worked hard wrapping the shoeboxes. It's actually the most challenging part of the entire project. Notice how intensely focused they both are! They did a Great job!


Laurie organized and spread out all of the goodies we had purchased for the children who will receive these shoeboxes filled with lots of great stuff! I think that we all enjoy the giving as much as the children love receiving them.

The Deacons bench was filled with toys!

The dining room table was piled high with clothing and school supplies! And we had personal hygiene items like hairbrushes, combs, soaps, toothbrushes and toothpaste scattered at other locations around the room.


Once we had the boxes wrapped, the candy bagged and the goodies all laid out and organized, it was time for the fun to begin. Everyone got into the packing of boxes. With lots of encouragement, even Jay and Mike got involved and did a great job!


Charlie and I are so proud to see that two of our four legged family members helped us too! Since it's become a Dyer family tradition to fill shoeboxes for OCC, it's great seeing even our cats getting in on the fun.

When we were finished, we had filled sixteen boxes ! I sure hope that Christian, a young friend in PA, is happy to learn that lots of poor children will be helped!

It took us a bit longer than expected to get all of our work done but we made time to enjoy Mindy's cheese cake and truffles! I hope that this posting hasn't made you envious or hungry.
Since Dedication Sunday isn't until Nov. 8, who knows how many more boxes we might fill?

We strive always to be In Line With The Word,
Sally and friends

Spectacular

This is one of the most beautiful seasons of the year here in the North East! The leaves have turned to fiery shades of red and orange and mellow shades of gold, yellow and brown. Contrast those with the brilliant blue skies and the picture is perfect.

Unfortunately, the leaves don't remain on the trees, so we have lots of work to get ready for the long, cold winter months ahead. I absolutely love the 4 seasons that we experience so clearly here in NE. Each one makes me appreciate the next season even more!

Autumn mornings may start out a bit nippy, after an overnight frost, but the warm sun is welcomed. As Winter approaches the temperatures start to drop, the days grow shorter, and our focus gradually shifts to working on indoor projects.

Now that our 'Operation Buddy' has ended with Doug's safe return home from Afghanistan, we're preparing to begin packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. As always, our home team enjoys time for food, fun and fellowship but we chose to take a night off from our study to do this missions work.

We strive to remain In Line With The Word,
Sally and friends

Birthday Surprise

This posting was originally a bit different but I received permission to include the great photo below. Thanks Judy for your comment because you helped us keep the pressure on to get this into our posting.

Melinda celebrates her birthday later this week, so we decided to have a Surprise Party for her but with a little curve ball thrown in for fun. Our regular Tuesday night home team get together started a little earlier than usual, after just a brief half hour of fellowship. We enjoyed discussion of prayer requests and praise reports, opened in prayer and then we were into our study of the Church of Ephesus in Revelation!

Melinda might have thought that we'd forgotten her birthday, or just decided not to do anything at all but at about 8:15 a very yummy Birthday cake was delivered by a tall, dark and handsome guest from the Cat in the Hat and his partner as a surprise for Melinda.



Happy Birthday Melinda! We all love you !

Your Friends In Line With The Word team!