Good News of Great Joy!

It's hard to believe but we've supported
Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child
since 2001. If you're not familiar with this
it's simple! Pray for the millions of children who
will receive shoe box gifts! Fill an empty shoe box
with toys, gifts, school supplies, personal items,
clothes and more and see lives changed, many
eternally! Over the years our strategy and
approach may have changed a bit but we are
as excited and passionate about this shoe box
ministry project today, as we were way back in 2001!

Anyone who knows anything about our group
knows that we love to eat and can make anything
a time for fun! Even when we work hard, we manage
to have a great time doing it! This year we were
joined by two of our Growth Groups who wanted
to show the love of Jesus to others through their
service. We were thrilled to have them join us and
check out those smiles. I think they had a great time!

We worked as teams! Charlie and Brian made
sure that the OCC cartons were assembled,
filled, labeled, taped and wheeled out to our
staging area! The guys never stopped and did
a fantastic job!

Laurie showcased her proven shoebox packing
skills for her team! She was joined by a
hard working crew who managed to pack 40-50
additional boxes! Check out this box of goodies! I can
picture the smiling face of the little one who
receives this special box filled with so much love,
can't you?

Over the years, we've invited people to "Adopt
a Box" and it has always been a huge success
allowing many people who couldn't get
out to shop to participate. They make a cash donation
and we have volunteers who do their shopping for them.
This provides us with lots of toys, school supplies,
clothes, and many more goodies for us to pack!

As Laurie's team worked on packing new shoe boxes,
Vivian's team helped us check all the shoe boxes that had
been carefully packed by people attending LAOG! Those
"Adopt a Box" donations make it possible for us to add
more to boxes that might just need a little helping hand.
Sometimes, we simply add a bag of candy! What child
doesn't like a taste of some sweet thing!

After 2 very focused hours working, we had more
than 28 cartons filled with shoe boxes, ready
for pick up!

For the last few years, an area Christian elder
care facility has been our benefactor, paying
for the cost of all of our shipping. Starting last
year, our blessings multiplied when the facility
sent their guys to pick up our contribution.
So today, Al and Marcos arrived to pick up
the boxes! Wow! They came with their pick-ups
and were thrilled to discover that they would have
to make a second trip because we had so many
cartons.

This year we also were priviledged to be
joined by another  local church! What a
blessing to be able to tell them that their
shipping tab was being covered along with ours!
Imagine, in just a few short minutes,
Al and Marcos took away a total of 459
shoe boxes!

We thank God for all of you who pray, pack shoe
boxes and volunteer your time or give financially!

Here's an idea to insure that next year is an even
greater success! Why not shop all  during the year! When you
spot a great sale, pick up a few items to stash away.
Back to school time is another great time to stock up!
Shop smart all year and the possibilities are
endless!

Striving to live In Line With The Word!

Mindy would be so proud of me!

My friends and family know that I am NOT a pet friendly person. In fact, my home is declared a "PET FREE ZONE".  So why I agreed to dog sitting is beyond me....

Anyway last weekend I watched two dogs.  The instructions were so simple, I figured...."hey, even I could do this."  It was easy, all I had to do was let the dogs out of their crate, have them go outside, and let them back in.  If only it was that easy.

Here are my two new friends...Jimmy and Maddy!    No wonder Jimmy never came when I called him...his name isn't Johnny!!!

Jimmy is a sweet beagle...he went out, came in, ate well and loved to be petted. Only once did he not want to go back into the crate.  He just flopped on the floor and wouldn't move. So I slid him to the crate bit by bit.  Thank goodness for hardwood floors.

Then there is Maddy....

For the first time in my life, I found a dog that was more afraid of me that I was of him.  I felt so bad for Maddy (wait, did I really say that?)  On Friday night, she willingly RAN outside but wanted nothing with coming back in as long as I was there.  Thank goodness Brian came with me.  For 45 minutes, in the pitch black and the rain, we tried to find and get the pup in the house.  Not to mention the only flashlight I had was the one on my IPhone. Getting the dog in the house involved, me climbing up an embankment, sloshing through the puddles in the backyard, a dog crate outside, two brooms, and lots of patience. You just had to be there to appreciate the true comic relief in the situation!!!  

So Saturday am, I was determined to make Maddy my friend.  Before heading to let the dogs out, I stopped at Target to get a leash and a big box of MILKBONES!!!  Even that didn't work... all I did was break every rule and feed Maddy in the crate.  Maddy wouldn't even come out of the crate. Poor thing just stood there shaking.

By Saturday afternoon, I was more than confident that Maddy wouldn't be so afraid....NOT!  Although at one point with lots of patiences and many, many milkbones, she got on my lap and then licked my face. UGH!!!  This wasn't just a little lick...she licked my mouth when it was open.  GROSS!!!  Of course, I didn't want to freak her out so I didn't even jump up, run quickly to the bathroom and rinse my mouth out.  Unfortunately, her excited was short lived and she quickly reverted to her panic stricken shaking!  

I guess it wasn't too bad...I'm watching their dogs AND children soon....Silly People!!!

Laurie

October Fun

We always have fun while celebrating special events
or serving others. Last night we enjoyed celebrating
Melinda's birthday with a delicious cake and ice cream!
Check out a couple of pictures of our birthday girl!

 Melinda decided to give us a spelling test!

Though, I don't think Melinda liked her Birthday hat,
she was a good sport and kept it on until I got
proof that she actually wore it!

 After enjoying Melinda's birthday celebration, we started
packing shoe boxes. It's time again for Operation Christmas
Child and we love working on this service/mission project as a team!

The advance preparation helps make things
move along smoothly and the packing great fun!

Karen was tired after a tough week at work but
certainly got her second wind while thinking about
the kids who would be blessed because of the shoe box
gift.

Our guys always step up and help where ever and
when ever needed and really do a great job too!

Once the boxes were filled , we were back
to our Crazy Love study!

We love our Friday 'mental health' night!
Visit us again soon!

The In Line With the Word team

A Helping Hand

Excitement grows as the transformation of the class-
rooms off of our church fellowship hall continues!

Last week we began our work in a room that is
shared by young and old alike. It's a small room that
needed  to have lots less furniture and a bit of organization.
In just a few hours we managed to accomplish a great deal.
Though we haven't yet painted this room, check out
our progress for yourself.

 Our goal is to help get all of the classrooms done
in the next few months! Check back with us again soon
for more exciting transformations!

We're serving In Line With The Word!

Kids Suite Part 2

Sorry for the delay in posting about the transformation of the kids suite at church. Sally and I were anxious to get the other half of the suite completed but we knew we needed help.  Brian was on vacation so we recruited him to help with the room.  Charlie is always a willing participant as well.  We are blessed to have husbands with such servant hearts!

Finished Project

Loving the color!

And this is the work crew that spent hours removing furniture, cleaning baseboard, washing walls, patching holes, painting the walls, framing pictures, and staging the room.

Sally patching the walls

Brian working hard on vacation

Charlie is such a big help!

...and if you haven't figured it out....I know to take the pictures...then I don't have to be in the posts!!!

Don't tell the guys, but we have plans to re-do EVERY room downstairs.

As we serve...we remain

In Line With The Word

CH...CH...CH...CHANGES

These piggy toes are T.I.R.E.D.!!!  Not to mention the rest of the body attached to the foot and the rest of the piggy toes involved in this project!!

Our church is going through an amazing transformation under our new Lead Pastor, Paul Martin. Starting today we changed the format for Kid's World. The kiddos are being checked in directly to Kid's World and have their own worship service, large group teaching and small group sessions.  It was wonderful and the little ones seemed to really embrace the changes.

This change involved creating a "4-5 Year Old Suite".  Sally, Charlie, Jay and Laurie worked diligently this past week to get this suite ready for Sunday.

 We removed stickers off the walls...

 Moved file cabinets from room to room.  Our new best friend is "Dolly"!

 Jay prepped the walls for paint....

 Oh my....we sure collect a lot of belongings in our rooms....

 I thought Sally was sleeping on the job...but she was scrubbing the baseboard.  Our other best friend is "Magic Sponges"

 Charlie showed up to help paint and do whatever we asked.

 Thank you Jay for spending two days painting the room for us....you're the BEST!!

 We scrubbed all the wooden chairs..

Then they got a couple coats of polyurethane....now they are looking brand new! 

 Jay thought we got breaks....hahahahahahahaha!!! He must be union!

 We even framed all our posters...no more tape on our walls!!

 The Rainbows have a new bulletin board ready to go...

 We cleaned up the second room of the suite until we can paint it....

After two exhausting days...it's starting to look A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

The kiddos loved their new suite today....

Room #1 of the "Suite" finished!!!

Stay Tunes for Part 2 of the Suite