JOY

Hello to all,
I pray you are having a terrific Tuesday! I myself am! God is good! Not just good- GREAT! I have been working on writing a Bible study on JOY this week. I will be leading a retreat in October for my Home-girls and the retreat theme is JOY! I prefer typing the word 'JOY' in all caps because the more I'm learning about it the more I'm seeing that JOY is BIG! In order not to spill the surprises for my Home-girls and the retreat- I'm going to withhold all I'm learning until later. But for now just know- JOY IS BIG!

I have not forgotten about our Church Alive posts and keep your eyes out for the next one next week! I have given this topic so much thought that I've had trouble wading through it all. You would think it would be an easy topic- but the more I visit churches and the more I look at the book of Acts and the journeys of Paul and his New Testament letters I find that the matter can be complex- mostly because there are many characteristics of an Alive Church. With that being said- don't give up on me!

Allow me to give a teaser into the next post by offering a quote I read sometime ago by Rick Warren:

"You don't judge the strength of a church on its seating capacity but on its sending capacity."

I'll let you stew on that one for a bit!

God bless,

Lori

Pictures

Been so busy...

Hello gals,
So sorry, it has been too long! I have been busy lately. Every night I sit down and want to write to you so badly but don't have the strength to do it from my cell phone- remember- I don't have Internet access where I live (only from my phone) and it is just way to tedious to blog from a cell phone keyboard!

I have much to catch you up on. But for today, I want to take you on a trip to BIRTHDAY land! The Drain family has several birthdays to celebrate in the month of May. First, my sweetie, Chad, will turn the big 39 on the 25th. (So that you get a personal look into the Drain family and get to know us a bit better allow me to share a bit more in depth with you!)

If you were to ask me who I most admire in this world (besides Jesus) I would tell you Chad. Don't even have to think about it! He is it! This man has taught me more about being a servant than anyone I know! He is constantly helping someone else out and never wants recognition for it. He goes above and beyond the call of servant hood every day by giving up his time for another soul. I don't remember the last time Chad had any time for himself yet he never complains. He gets so much joy out of giving and it shows!

Secondly, this man knows the worst of me and loves me anyway! He has shown me more times than I can count what grace lavished on a life looks and feels like. I love Jesus more today because of the way this man has loved me. He is an Ephesians 5 husband- loving his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. I am one blessed and thankful woman!

The second birthday celebration is for my soon to be 13 year old daughter, Shelby. I am so proud of this young lady! Not only is she beautiful on the outside but on the inside too! One of the things I admire most about her is she knows what she wants and she knows what she likes. She isn't indecisive about anything.

This year for her birthday she bought her own birthday gift (with a little help from grandparent birthday money) but she did at least half of it on her own. I reminded Shelby all weekend every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. In normal Shelby style- she agreed with the biggest grin I've ever seen!

Meet Dakota (see the picture below). This is Shelby's new baby. He is six years old and as sweet as they come. She choose the name Dakota before she learned what the previous owners had named him. She thought about a name all weekend and decided on Dakota. We went Monday evening to pick him up and bring him home only to hear his owner call to him from inside the barn. When he brought the horse out we asked him what his name was- get this- it was Dakota. The Drain family had no idea what the horses name was. We went to see him on Saturday night with friends and the owner was not there. We saddled and rode him then called the owner to let him know we would take him. We never asked what his name was until we went to pick him up on Monday. How neat is that!

I have found so much pleasure in both Chad and Shelby and people everywhere. God has designed us to be in relationship. As I celebrate two lives this month I'm ever reminded of the goodness of God. How like him to bless his children with one another. Although relationships can be hard at times (Chad and I have proved this over and over), they are so worth it! They are worth every ounce of energy we pour into them. Allow me to encourage you today to pour forth! Pour into your family and existing friends. Spend yourself in building new friendships. I tell my children all the time "You can never have enough friends." Many times we get clickish- and feel we don't have time to develop new friends. If that is your mindset- you are missing out! There is joy to be had in new discovery. Our hearts have room for more- they can hold more than you think! So, seek out a new friend! And then- Celebrate!

Pouring forth and celebrating,
Lori

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Hello friends,
Sorry it has been so long! I've been experiencing computer issues. I choose not to call them problems- I'm in denial. Honestly, I share a love hate relationship with computers. One day I love them and then when they don't preform properly- I just hate them! Anybody feel my pain?For the moment my computer is working so I thought I would hop online and wish you all a Happy Belated Mother's Day! I hope you enjoyed the beautiful day with your family!

My son, Gabe, proudly handed me two envelopes on Monday morning which he found in his folder from school. "Here mom, I made these for you" he said as he handed me the envelopes. "Why, thank you baby", I said as I began to peal the envelopes open. One envelope had a note that said this- "I love my mom because......" and Gabe's response was "because she is the only mom I had. I love you, Gabe." After laughing hysterically, a moment of total insecurity began to creep in. Did you notice the past tense usage of the word have? I know I'm getting older but give a mom a break!! Am I a has been? And of course, I wondered if Gabe would rather have another mom besides me. So, what's a mom to do? I asked him. And, his answer was no he liked me just fine. Boys! Praise the Lord- he likes me just fine.

In the next envelope I found coupons for free gifts that Gabe would give me. One was a free coupon to go worship God with the whole family. I love that Gabe knows exactly what makes mom happy! I found it rather funny that the next free coupon was for me to love Gabe as much as I wanted. He cracks me up! As I'm reading these 'free' coupons I imagined his teacher coaxing the students to offer to do something nice for mom like chores around the house. Not my Gabe. He worked all three coupons out to where he didn't have to do anything out of the ordinary! Such a smart boy.

He also had made me a 10 Ten Reasons why I love my mom list. Needless to say his list cracked me up. I don't have it with me today or I would give you the top ten run down. Several of the things were the normal stuff but a couple surprised me! I'll try to remember to bring them to the office with me so I can share them.

After thinking of Gabe's Mother's Day cards and some of my funniest Mother's Day memories I realized that you probably had a few stories to tell as well! Kids are so funny! Enjoy these moments girls- they fly by!

I am working on our next Church Alive post and I will try to get it up by the first of next week. Until then- enjoy your week!

Blessings,
Lori