We had such a great time with our dear friends the Comforts, Gilmores and Wenslawskis at Twain Hart Lake!!
Showing posts with label Church Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church Family. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
How many kids can you fit on a bed?
We decided to find out while we had a fun Community Group dinner at our place last month. We love these families who we have become so close with. We are excited to go through all of life's roller coasters with them. Thank you God for giving us brothers and sisters in Christ! And thank you God for Winnie the Poo, who was able to entertain all 12 kids on our bed for a while. (we actually have 13 kids in all and 2 on the way, Ellie was not on the bed and I don't blame her :)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Our CG
We love our Community Group. These people have become so dear to us in the past two years... we cherish the friendships we have with each family. We have laughed with them, cried with them, and shared our sins, struggles, and our victories in Christ with them. We thank God for giving us such an amazing group of people to walk through life together with. We look forward to raising our kids with their kids, strengthening our marriages together, and all becoming closer to the Lord with them. As Proverbs 27:17 says "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." We pray we will be able to sharpen these people as much as they have sharpened us, and moved and encouraged us on towards Christ. We love you CG!!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Bogstad's House
Sara was playing with her playhouse and people yesterday and I was in the kitchen making dinner. I thought I miss heard her so I poked my head around the corner to listen. Sure enough, she was saying "It's the Bogstad's house." Every person and animal she had was crammed into her play house.
The Bogstads are a very dear family to us. They have been at NorthCreek Church for a long time. I babysat their kids, Justin and Dave served on Jr. High staff together and Justin asked Dave advice on dating me (thanks for approving Dave!). Chris came to live with us in L.A., was very involved in our Epoch Bible Study and is now managing our house there. He is such a solid man of God, it is hard to imagine I ever babysat him! Alli is a huge encouragement to me, as she strived diligently to lead and disciple a huge group of female students at UC Davis, and is now very involved in Kaleo. She is always striving after the will of God and trying to live her life in a way that pleases Him. We are so privileged now to be back in ministry with Dave and Cindy in Kaleo. They have served the group so faithfully and it has been such a huge encouragement for us to watch and learn from them as a God fearing, God honoring couple. Dave's teaching in Kaleo has been encouraging and convicting!! They have been so generous opening their beautiful home to Kaleo events. What an example they are... even to my 2 year old!! Even little Sara recognizes the importance of the Bogstad's house :) We are so thankful to the Lord for allowing us this wonderful time, and relationship with the Bogstad family.
The Bogstads are a very dear family to us. They have been at NorthCreek Church for a long time. I babysat their kids, Justin and Dave served on Jr. High staff together and Justin asked Dave advice on dating me (thanks for approving Dave!). Chris came to live with us in L.A., was very involved in our Epoch Bible Study and is now managing our house there. He is such a solid man of God, it is hard to imagine I ever babysat him! Alli is a huge encouragement to me, as she strived diligently to lead and disciple a huge group of female students at UC Davis, and is now very involved in Kaleo. She is always striving after the will of God and trying to live her life in a way that pleases Him. We are so privileged now to be back in ministry with Dave and Cindy in Kaleo. They have served the group so faithfully and it has been such a huge encouragement for us to watch and learn from them as a God fearing, God honoring couple. Dave's teaching in Kaleo has been encouraging and convicting!! They have been so generous opening their beautiful home to Kaleo events. What an example they are... even to my 2 year old!! Even little Sara recognizes the importance of the Bogstad's house :) We are so thankful to the Lord for allowing us this wonderful time, and relationship with the Bogstad family.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Rommies!!
We are considering moving in with some of our best friends, in order to save money, yet have a large space and lots of parking to be able to be more hospitable and increase our ministry in our home. While getting godly counsel on this matter, a funny connection was made that made the world a little smaller for me! :) This counsel came from my pastor's wife, who in turn asked her friend (who's husband is a pastor and they live with another family), who was the daughter of one of my wonderful table leaders in Seminary Wives Fellowship. What a fun connection, and really great way the Lord has once again used this family in our lives. Justin told me this professor has read through the entire Bible more than 45 times and was an amazing wealth of knowledge in his survey classes. Praise God for godly families like this one who have blessed and enriched our lives.
Here is what she wrote:
"Concerning our thoughts in terms of giving counsel to your friends who are seeking to maybe live under the same roof…
The principle Dan and I kept coming back to was the great necessity for both parties to have a commitment to the Word of God and specifically in how to biblically deal with communication and conflict resolution. Something that we have found to be a great resource is Stuart Scott’s booklet called “Communication and Conflict Resolution”. This could be a good resource for them to talk through that gets down to the practical daily living in terms of interpersonal relationships. Humility is so important in the life of a believer and we have learned when you live under the same roof you’re not just going to see sin in one another but a big question is how are you going to deal with preferences (ie things that are not inherently right or wrong).
So that is the first question: How are they planning on dealing with preferences, not just sin issues?
Other practical topics that could be helpful to think through and/or discuss:
· Regular communication: Is there a plan to meet regularly to give opportunity for both parties to discuss how things are going (ways to improve, ways to encourage, etc)? Or what will be a good manner in which to regularly give opportunity for each family to give feedback? In our situation it varied. At one point both couples met, and at other times just the husbands met. We also found it to be important for the husbands to shepherd their wife through certain issues. It wasn’t always easy.
· Are both families on the same page in terms of goals of discipline for their children? Are they open to the input of the other family in this regard? What are the expectations?
· Being above reproach (you mentioned this). We were careful to avoid situations where one spouse would be at home at the same time as the opposite gender spouse (even if kids were there). People in the church seemed to look favorably on our situation in general and I’m not aware of any concern or negativity in this way. Frankly, people had never seen it done and probably had never considered that someone would even willingly choose this situation.
· Habits of cleanliness
· Expectations/limitations in hosting people at the house or for out-of-town guests that would come visit. We could do a lot of hospitality together since we were in the same church.
· Meals/Shopping responsibilities: are you going to have meals together daily? If so, which ones, who will cook & shop, etc? Make sure to communicate if someone will not be at a planned meal. A weekly schedule in our situation was found to be helpful.
· Finances: I’m not sure if both families are planning to split housing costs up the middle. This is probably easiest for the husband of each family to discuss/decide together.
There are probably more things that could be mentioned. Again, humility, humility, humility is so huge. There will be sin to deal with at times. This takes humility to confront rightly and to receive rightly. And it is a guarantee that people will do things differently than you in matters of preference. (For example, this is minor but I learned that right now I don’t prefer that my boys play with toy guns.) How to deal with this stuff, even the “minor” preferences requires great humility because I can tend to view that my preferences are right & best J
Some of the PROS to living with another like-minded family is that it sanctifies, you learn to consider others better than self, and it can be a helpful testimony to others for the sake of the gospel.
The biggest CON that we came to was that if you don’t deal rightly with things it can lead to bitterness (which you can imagine can lead to many other negative things).
May your friends be a testimony of God’s truth and grace in whatever they decide,"
Here is what she wrote:
"Concerning our thoughts in terms of giving counsel to your friends who are seeking to maybe live under the same roof…
The principle Dan and I kept coming back to was the great necessity for both parties to have a commitment to the Word of God and specifically in how to biblically deal with communication and conflict resolution. Something that we have found to be a great resource is Stuart Scott’s booklet called “Communication and Conflict Resolution”. This could be a good resource for them to talk through that gets down to the practical daily living in terms of interpersonal relationships. Humility is so important in the life of a believer and we have learned when you live under the same roof you’re not just going to see sin in one another but a big question is how are you going to deal with preferences (ie things that are not inherently right or wrong).
So that is the first question: How are they planning on dealing with preferences, not just sin issues?
Other practical topics that could be helpful to think through and/or discuss:
· Regular communication: Is there a plan to meet regularly to give opportunity for both parties to discuss how things are going (ways to improve, ways to encourage, etc)? Or what will be a good manner in which to regularly give opportunity for each family to give feedback? In our situation it varied. At one point both couples met, and at other times just the husbands met. We also found it to be important for the husbands to shepherd their wife through certain issues. It wasn’t always easy.
· Are both families on the same page in terms of goals of discipline for their children? Are they open to the input of the other family in this regard? What are the expectations?
· Being above reproach (you mentioned this). We were careful to avoid situations where one spouse would be at home at the same time as the opposite gender spouse (even if kids were there). People in the church seemed to look favorably on our situation in general and I’m not aware of any concern or negativity in this way. Frankly, people had never seen it done and probably had never considered that someone would even willingly choose this situation.
· Habits of cleanliness
· Expectations/limitations in hosting people at the house or for out-of-town guests that would come visit. We could do a lot of hospitality together since we were in the same church.
· Meals/Shopping responsibilities: are you going to have meals together daily? If so, which ones, who will cook & shop, etc? Make sure to communicate if someone will not be at a planned meal. A weekly schedule in our situation was found to be helpful.
· Finances: I’m not sure if both families are planning to split housing costs up the middle. This is probably easiest for the husband of each family to discuss/decide together.
There are probably more things that could be mentioned. Again, humility, humility, humility is so huge. There will be sin to deal with at times. This takes humility to confront rightly and to receive rightly. And it is a guarantee that people will do things differently than you in matters of preference. (For example, this is minor but I learned that right now I don’t prefer that my boys play with toy guns.) How to deal with this stuff, even the “minor” preferences requires great humility because I can tend to view that my preferences are right & best J
Some of the PROS to living with another like-minded family is that it sanctifies, you learn to consider others better than self, and it can be a helpful testimony to others for the sake of the gospel.
The biggest CON that we came to was that if you don’t deal rightly with things it can lead to bitterness (which you can imagine can lead to many other negative things).
May your friends be a testimony of God’s truth and grace in whatever they decide,"
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Babies Babies Babies!!!
Our Sunday School class is booming with babies! I love every minute I get to spend with these ladies and all the babies!!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Psalms 121:4
As I battle through each day somewhat sleep deprived, I am reminded that my God supply's my strength, and not my hours of sleep. My God is never tired and He is always available to give me energy! This truth is so comforting! My friend Sara made this cute burp cloth at a baby shower recently. How appropriate is this verse for a nursing mother at 3am!
Friday, March 19, 2010
L.A. Trip!
We had such an awesome time visiting friends down in L.A. for two days! We stayed at the smalls house with the Lins and got to visit with the Gebhards and a lot of the Foundry crew at a reception held for the Gebhards!! We are so blessed by our brothers and sisters in L.A. It was such a blast to see the Guties (Weston is getting so big!!), the Casalis and their new baby Everett (sooooo cute!!), the Becks, the Tolopiloes, Hohn, and so many others!!!
Dulce and Galilea
One of my best new friends in the Bay Area, just had the most precious baby girl. She is also in my community group, and has recently been baptized. Her testimony of how Jesus Christ has worked in her life is amazing, and an encouragement to everyone around her. She is a solid woman of God and I am so excited to watch her new life in Christ. He has changed her life and what a blessing it is to watch!! I am so thankful the Lord brought us together!! Her new baby girl is so beautiful, just like her mommy!!
OneLife
Justin and I (and the girls!) have fallen in love with OneLife, our sunday school class. There are so many new friends we have come to cherish and we are so thankful to the Lord for this blessing. These people have become like family!!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Community Group!
Within the Kaleo group at church there are several smaller groups that meet weekly, called Community Groups (thanks to Pastor Kent!). My Community Group has been meeting since October. Bethany, Marianne, Kaitlin, and Dulce have been an amazing blessing in my life, and I love them so much! God has blessed me beyond measure by these amazing girls and their hearts for God and His glory. The goals of our group are: affection for one another, discussion about applying the sermons, and accountability (the three A's from Kurt Gebhards... thanks Kurt!)
I find my self constantly referring to verses from the Bible in our group, but I can't always quote the verse exactly and I rarely know off the top of my head where the verse is. It is also hard for me to look the verse up in the moment. I am very convicted by this and want to change. I want to be able to quote God's word with authority from Him, skilfully and quickly. I fully believe that when Hebrews 4:12 says "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." it means we are to activly wield this sword of God's word into our life and the lives of others for God to change us. This is a grusome picture, a worrier with a sword swinging around causing massive bloodshed. However if we look at a different annalogy of a skilled doctor, wielding a scalpel to remove a tumor from a desprete cancer patient, it becomes a differnt picture. It becomes an act of mercy and compassion, an act of one person just trying desperately to use the knowledge and skill God has given him to help another. Extreme effort must be made by the brain surgeon who applies his knowledge during surgery but can come within millimeters of killing their patient with their scalpel. We who are serious about God's Word, must take this same extreme effort in increasing our knowledge of the scalpel of God's word, and our skill in being able to insert it into the lives of others. So, here is my plan:
I am going to resolve to write down every verse I want to quote during group (or any other time) and then keep track of them. Here are the verses from this week that I wanted to quote at our group:
Proverbs 11:14
Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory.
Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
Proverbs 15:22
Without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they succeed.
I know there were more verses I tried to quote and utterly failed, but I will do better next time about writing them down!! I am going to try to memorize this series of verses about counsel. It is an easy progression, Proverbs 11, 12 and 15!
I find my self constantly referring to verses from the Bible in our group, but I can't always quote the verse exactly and I rarely know off the top of my head where the verse is. It is also hard for me to look the verse up in the moment. I am very convicted by this and want to change. I want to be able to quote God's word with authority from Him, skilfully and quickly. I fully believe that when Hebrews 4:12 says "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." it means we are to activly wield this sword of God's word into our life and the lives of others for God to change us. This is a grusome picture, a worrier with a sword swinging around causing massive bloodshed. However if we look at a different annalogy of a skilled doctor, wielding a scalpel to remove a tumor from a desprete cancer patient, it becomes a differnt picture. It becomes an act of mercy and compassion, an act of one person just trying desperately to use the knowledge and skill God has given him to help another. Extreme effort must be made by the brain surgeon who applies his knowledge during surgery but can come within millimeters of killing their patient with their scalpel. We who are serious about God's Word, must take this same extreme effort in increasing our knowledge of the scalpel of God's word, and our skill in being able to insert it into the lives of others. So, here is my plan:
I am going to resolve to write down every verse I want to quote during group (or any other time) and then keep track of them. Here are the verses from this week that I wanted to quote at our group:
Proverbs 11:14
Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory.
Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
Proverbs 15:22
Without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they succeed.
I know there were more verses I tried to quote and utterly failed, but I will do better next time about writing them down!! I am going to try to memorize this series of verses about counsel. It is an easy progression, Proverbs 11, 12 and 15!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Welcome Baby Weston!!
Our dear friends Andrew and Michelle have had their first precious baby boy! We are so excited for them and for their families! We got the chance to be at the hospital when all the grandparents got "the text" that Weston was born. I think Michelle's mom was so excited she was going to blast off to the moon! I have never seen a more excited Grandmother... it was an amazing moment and so incredibly precious! Andrew and Michelle are so blessed, by all their family who were there and love them so much!
Kalena and Weston's cousin Joy got to bond over fruit snaks and Finding Nemo while we all waited to see Andrew and Michelle! Joy was so sweet and cute!! It was such an honor as well to meet Andrew's Mom, and to see his Dad again! What wonderful people!!!
Kalena and Weston's cousin Joy got to bond over fruit snaks and Finding Nemo while we all waited to see Andrew and Michelle! Joy was so sweet and cute!! It was such an honor as well to meet Andrew's Mom, and to see his Dad again! What wonderful people!!!
A Wonderful Goodbye!
Our Bible study Epoch had an amazing goodbye party for us the Friday before we left. We were so overwhelmed by the love and support that we were shown by our dear friends. We love everyone so much and we will miss you all!!! Thank you to Mike, Randy, Pius and Andy for the hilarious video.. not everyone can be Justin Lyon, it's true :) Thank you to everyone who help put the wonderful dinner and party together, it was a blast and something we will always remember. We will always cherish our time here in Epoch and all our dear friends. We love you!!!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Foundry Reflections
I would like to reflect for you a little of what it has meant for me to be here at Grace Church and in the Foundry. This has been the best 4 1/2 years of my life. I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be a part of the Foundry. Being here with all of you and Kurt and Julie has caused unimaginable growth in my spiritual life. It would literally take me all night to even give you a summary of everything I have learned in the past 4 years, but I will try to summarize a few of them.
The most important life changing times for me at Grace have been every Sunday morning sitting under Kurt’s preaching. His preaching is so contagious, inspiring, and convicting that my heart is truly changed after each of his sermons. I find my self asking “How can I change” and “What should I do now?” His sermons about having an eternal perspective and concepts of regret and tears we will experience in heaven from missed opportunities. Sermons about how loving Christ means loving the Church and the people in the Body of Christ by being there and engaged in seeking those in the Church to love, encourage and exhort- thinking NOTHING of your own interests but ONLY in those interests of others; Sermons about extravagant devotion to Christ; Sermons about dating and how wisdom in dating is like wisdom in any other area of life- its all about character, humility and willingness to seek “expensive” counsel- also not going to a counselor with your plans but seeking an unbiased opinion of your life and next steps.
I have also been changed by the retreats and Resolved Conferences. At first when I moved to Grace, coming from a smaller church, I couldn’t believe that a retreat was going to be over $100 but it didn’t take more than the first retreat I went to with Mike Fabarrez that I realized this is not a retreat I was used to. It was a retreat where the focus is on growing spiritually in HUGE ways and glorifying and serving God by dicipiling each other and digging into each other’s lives. The amount I grew spiritually from retreats and Resolved is something I never could have expected or imagined. I can’t really even put it into words except to say that now looking back I would pay anything (literally I would take out a loan) to be able to have this life changing spiritual growth.
I would have said before I came to Grace that I believe in the Sovereignty of God, but like so many Christians that claim to belief was not manifesting itself in my life. Being here at Grace has shown me how to live every minute trusting and rejoicing in his sovereignty. I learned this through watching people here live this out, and seeing how it affects their attitude about everything.
I would like to end with an encouragement to you. It is my experience that all too often people in the foundry ask questions like “how are my needs being met here in the foundry?” “is core group right for me? is it helping me or causing growth in my life? is the fellowship here worth it to me?” If you have asked these questions you are not alone: I have first hand experience with people in the foundry and I KNOW FOR SURE that when you come into the Foundry expecting anything of your own interests or desires, you will be disappointed. I would submit to you that you need NOT EVER look out for your own spiritual needs. When you are focused solely on looking out for the spiritual needs of others and give NO THOUGHTS WHATSOEVER to yourself, you will grow and flourish in the foundry or any fellowship you are in. God is the one who takes care of your needs and HE will be faithful when YOU are faithful. “My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus”
On a side note, being in a singles ministry with children people have asked if we get enough exposure to other “families”, while Justin and I never gave that need of ours a second thought... in turn we have had the three... honestly.... GODLIEST FAMILIES WITH SMALL CHILDREN I HAVE EVER MET: the Gebhards, Smalls and Becks as our dear friends to look up to as an example. Anywhere else I go I can assure you we will greatly miss our exposure and deep friendships here in the foundry to amazing Godly families.
I would like to end with letting you know that you have THE BEST pastor in the universe, and as the Vice President of the Kurt Gebhards Fan Club (my husband being the president) I encourage you to soak up everything you can from Kurt and Julie. They have been amazing friends and mentors to us. Often when encouraging, dicipling and counseling, I find myself using “Kurtisms” and saying “Well Kurt says...” and “One time Kurt mentioned...” etc. Kurt will ALWAYS be my pastor no matter where Justin and I go in the world. Even if I have to ride a broken bike with no shoes and three kids strapped to my back for 10 hrs to get to an internet cafe to wait 5 hrs for a download... I will continue to hear Kurt preach on Sundays!!
Soooo... appropriately I will end with a Kurtism I have always wanted to say...
MUCH LOVE FOUNDRY I will see you Sunday!!!
The most important life changing times for me at Grace have been every Sunday morning sitting under Kurt’s preaching. His preaching is so contagious, inspiring, and convicting that my heart is truly changed after each of his sermons. I find my self asking “How can I change” and “What should I do now?” His sermons about having an eternal perspective and concepts of regret and tears we will experience in heaven from missed opportunities. Sermons about how loving Christ means loving the Church and the people in the Body of Christ by being there and engaged in seeking those in the Church to love, encourage and exhort- thinking NOTHING of your own interests but ONLY in those interests of others; Sermons about extravagant devotion to Christ; Sermons about dating and how wisdom in dating is like wisdom in any other area of life- its all about character, humility and willingness to seek “expensive” counsel- also not going to a counselor with your plans but seeking an unbiased opinion of your life and next steps.
I have also been changed by the retreats and Resolved Conferences. At first when I moved to Grace, coming from a smaller church, I couldn’t believe that a retreat was going to be over $100 but it didn’t take more than the first retreat I went to with Mike Fabarrez that I realized this is not a retreat I was used to. It was a retreat where the focus is on growing spiritually in HUGE ways and glorifying and serving God by dicipiling each other and digging into each other’s lives. The amount I grew spiritually from retreats and Resolved is something I never could have expected or imagined. I can’t really even put it into words except to say that now looking back I would pay anything (literally I would take out a loan) to be able to have this life changing spiritual growth.
I would have said before I came to Grace that I believe in the Sovereignty of God, but like so many Christians that claim to belief was not manifesting itself in my life. Being here at Grace has shown me how to live every minute trusting and rejoicing in his sovereignty. I learned this through watching people here live this out, and seeing how it affects their attitude about everything.
I would like to end with an encouragement to you. It is my experience that all too often people in the foundry ask questions like “how are my needs being met here in the foundry?” “is core group right for me? is it helping me or causing growth in my life? is the fellowship here worth it to me?” If you have asked these questions you are not alone: I have first hand experience with people in the foundry and I KNOW FOR SURE that when you come into the Foundry expecting anything of your own interests or desires, you will be disappointed. I would submit to you that you need NOT EVER look out for your own spiritual needs. When you are focused solely on looking out for the spiritual needs of others and give NO THOUGHTS WHATSOEVER to yourself, you will grow and flourish in the foundry or any fellowship you are in. God is the one who takes care of your needs and HE will be faithful when YOU are faithful. “My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus”
On a side note, being in a singles ministry with children people have asked if we get enough exposure to other “families”, while Justin and I never gave that need of ours a second thought... in turn we have had the three... honestly.... GODLIEST FAMILIES WITH SMALL CHILDREN I HAVE EVER MET: the Gebhards, Smalls and Becks as our dear friends to look up to as an example. Anywhere else I go I can assure you we will greatly miss our exposure and deep friendships here in the foundry to amazing Godly families.
I would like to end with letting you know that you have THE BEST pastor in the universe, and as the Vice President of the Kurt Gebhards Fan Club (my husband being the president) I encourage you to soak up everything you can from Kurt and Julie. They have been amazing friends and mentors to us. Often when encouraging, dicipling and counseling, I find myself using “Kurtisms” and saying “Well Kurt says...” and “One time Kurt mentioned...” etc. Kurt will ALWAYS be my pastor no matter where Justin and I go in the world. Even if I have to ride a broken bike with no shoes and three kids strapped to my back for 10 hrs to get to an internet cafe to wait 5 hrs for a download... I will continue to hear Kurt preach on Sundays!!
Soooo... appropriately I will end with a Kurtism I have always wanted to say...
MUCH LOVE FOUNDRY I will see you Sunday!!!
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