Baby Landon

I wish I had a picture to share of our newest JCFC member, Landon Patterson. He is a beauty. Oh, I know, I shouldn't say a boy is beautiful but he sure is. I even got the honor of holding him for a few minutes until he decided it was time to finish his lunch. His momma Tiffany looked awesome! I'm so glad he is here and everything went well with his arrival. It never ceases to amaze me - the miracle of birth. Landon was born one day after our son Keaton's birthday and he weighed and measured the exact same as Keaton, 8 lbs. 8 ozs., 21 inches long. Funny. God is so good. Thanks Lord for baby Landon!

Mom's Group at Chuck E. Cheese

We had so much fun at Chuck E. Cheese! I love little Ethan's squished face on the glass. I think he was trying to give Pastor Lori a smoochie! Join us for Mom's Group!

Mother/Son Date Night Pics

Good times, big bites and snuggles!

Mother/Son Date Night Pics

Yeah, pictures! Enjoy!

Fun With the Girls

Here are some pics of our weekend with Micaela and her friends. Hi girls, come see me soon. We had a blast with Bethel (hope I spelled these right!), Crystal, Renee and Gerilynn. Micaela picked some awesome chicks to hang out with. Although, Gerilynn is a picky eater. :)

That's My Boy!

"That's my boy" was my favorite shout out when Keaton played high school sports. I know it caused him great embarrassment, but hey, that's what parents are supposed to do! March 29th is Keaton's 22nd birthday. Incredible how fast time goes, it seems like yesterday he was carrying around his blanket which he affectionately called his "hairy blankie"! It was a crocheted blanket my mom had made him. Keaton was a pretty easy child to raise. Both of our kids made parenting a joy 98% of the time. :) Let me share some of the best things about Keaton.....

Keaton is an awesome man of God with an obvious call to minister to kids and youth. I love to hear people say, "Pastor Keaton!"

Keaton lives his life with passion and a determination to serve God wholeheartedly.

He is a pretty good athlete, (did not get that from me or Randy!).

He is spiritually wise for his age.

Keaton rocks at math.

Keaton is one of the most naturally funny people you will ever meet. He has us belly laughing all the time!

He calls his momma almost every day and tolerates my hugs.

Keaton will be an awesome catch for some lucky young lady. He knows how to treat a woman!

Keaton is a friend to many and servant to all.

He is incredible at organizing things. He loves Rubbermaid tubs!

He's the best brother to Micaela.

Happy Birthday to our wonderful son. We are so proud of you and your sister. See you Friday big guy! I love you lots.

Growing in Jesus

Our virtue for the month of March in The Buzz was honesty. I think honesty is one of the hardest things for kids because when they know they have made a mistake, they go into survival mode. They fear the thought of what is going to happen when their parents find out. Last week, our Big Idea in Creek Kids was, "A lie cannot stay covered up forever." I encouraged the kids to go to their parents and confess if they were dishonest and it appeared they had gotten away with it. I had two moms tell me that their children came to them and admitted they had done wrong and kept it a secret. I was so proud of them! It takes great courage to say that we are wrong, that we have sinned. Honesty ~ Watching what you say and do so others will trust you!

Next week in The Buzz, we start learning about friendship. Kids have so many decisions to make about friendships and we will help guide them in choosing friends wisely.

Today in Creek Kids, we had three kids raise their hands to receive Jesus as their Savior. I cannot tell you how thrilling it is for me to pray the sinner's prayer with your children. It's a beautiful thing to see their faces as they begin to realize just how much Jesus loves them and that He took their punishment when He died on the cross.

Circle of Influence

Easter, like Christmas, is such an easy time to invite people to church who are maybe unchurched or dechurched. Spring is a time of renewal, new beginnings, a fresh wave; people are ready for change. Whatever is inspiring them to venture out, whether it be better weather or a new Easter outfit, take advantage of this time and INVITE someone to church! The following is a quote from one of my favorite blogs, Mark Batterson's E-Votional.

"By the way, I read somewhere that the average person has 68 people in their circle of influence--family, friends, colleagues, roommates, etc. Not sure who came up with that number or how! But when I think about our potential impact as a church I don't think in terms of the people who actually attend. I think of our collective circles of influence!"

Average Attendance x Circle of Influence = Potential Impact

Think of your circle of influence and write down 10 names of people you can invite to Easter service or even the Egg Hunt. Bring them to the Hunt, I'll invite them to church! :)

Spring, Sports and Activities

It's that time of year when I begin to rejoice at the passing of COLD. I love warm weather and sunshine. As your kids are gearing up for spring and summer sports, dance recitals, music concerts, etc, remember to PLEASE give me a schedule so I can come to some of their activities. I truly enjoy coming to ball games and anything that my kids are into. I think it's so important to connect with them outside of church, too. I'm also scheduling "Lunch with Pastor Lori" again so if your child would like me to come to their school for lunch, let's make a date! If you have preschool or homeschool kids, we can plan something else, just give me a call! I love to go to the kid's schools. Their friends always say the funniest things. When I had lunch with Jaron, one of his friends asked if I was his mom. I thought Jaron's eyes were going to bug out of his head!

If your child's school allows them to pass out invitations, I could give you some for the Community Easter Egg Hunt, just say the word! :)

My Beautiful Girl

Happy Birthday to my girl. Tuesday, March 20, 2007......Micaela was actually born on a Tuesday 23 years ago. How can it be that my baby girl is 23? Let me share some of the best things about Micaela:

She is an incredible woman of God with a servant's heart and a tender spot for missions.

She is a talented artist with an eye for detail and creativity.

She is a loyal, trustworthy friend.

She loves to laugh.

She is addicted to Target. :)

She loves Mocha Frappachinos from Starbucks.

She loves dark chocolate.

She's a daddy's girl.

She's smart and very passionate about things that are important to her.

She loves music and has a wide variety of favorites.

She calls her momma almost every day.

She tries to always follow what God has laid on her heart and is obedient to His voice.

Her brother is her best friend.

I am so proud to have Micaela as my daughter. She is such a great person and I thank God for allowing me to be her mom. I love you, Mic. See ya Friday!!!

Quoting Scripture at How Old?

Last week at mom's group and then at church yesterday, I witnessed something amazing. One of our sweet toddlers, Ava, who is not quite two, can already quote scripture. She is such a cutie, reminds me of Micaela when she was that age, but this was so precious. Way to go mom and dad. Ava has quoted two different verses to me and they weren't little 3 or 4 word verses, either. I can see a future Bible quizzer emerging. :)

Children are at their peek of memorization skills when they are between 3rd and 6th grades. That is why it is so much more difficult for most adults to memorize scripture. It's never too early to start teaching your kids the Word. Why not, we have them memorize their ABC's and counting? I don't like to see parents who are Nazi's about it but I think a healthy encouragement of memorizing scripture can birth an early love for the Word and something they will have for their whole lives.

Mother/Son Date Night

Our Mother/Son Make and Take date night went pretty well. The boys were all so sweet to their mommas and I think they had a pretty good time. The birdhouse kits were a little more challenging than I had anticipated so there was some frustration during the hammering time. Sorry, I think it stressed some but all in all still fun. I sure enjoyed planning the evening and appreciate those who could come. I'll have some pictures to post once I get them developed.

I sent all the boys home with their own hammer which they loved and I hope doesn't cause problems at home. :) We had lots of pizza and ice cream, a scavenger hunt and of course the birdhouses. The painting was less stressful than the hammering!

Now I'm getting geared up for the Easter Egg Hunt!

Passion for What We Do

I love passionate people. When you talk to someone who loves their job, hobby or even a book they are reading, their passion is contagious. I think about we who are Christ followers. Are we passionate in our testimony of how Jesus changed our lives? Am I showing how much Jesus means to me in as many ways as I can? I read these immortal words of John Wesley, “When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.” I want to be so passionate about what I do as a believer, that people can't help but say, "I want that, I want what Jesus can do for me."

In whatever area God leads you to serve in at JCFC or as you lead like Jesus in life, let's set ourselves on fire. I think we are by nature "people watchers", I know I am. I need to daily remind myself that people are watching. It may be my best opportunity to "talk" about Jesus!

Friends

Got some pics back yesterday and found one of me and my pal Amy. Amy was such a blessing to me after my surgery. She would get the girls up early and drive clear from Waukee to take me to physical therapy. She always has something positive to say about Creek Kids and shares the best stories about her beautiful girls. Thanks for being such a great friend, Amy. We're just a couple of cutie-pa-tooties in this pic! :) Hey, I'm even wearing the necklace she made me! She ROCKS!

Coming Together

Things are really coming together for the Community Easter Egg Hunt. Chrysti Weeks is going the extra mile and hooking us up with some extra goodies! The whole team is awesome and I'm so thankful for the help! I got some MAJOR deals at Target on some toys for the prize table. I love a bargain. It was fun because our son, Keaton, (the children's and youth pastor of Community Hope Assembly of God in Montezuma) was with me and he got some stuff for his egg hunt, too. It's a riot to do ministry stuff with my boy! We always end up laughing about the dumbest stuff. He gets as excited as me when we find $18 toys for 2 bucks! Start spreading the word and let me know if you can help with filling eggs, passing out fliers or whatever. We sure could use a prayer group, too. Pray for great weather, lots of kids and more bargains!

I purchased a special take home gift for all my boys coming to the Mother/Son Make and Take on Friday! I'm very excited to see their faces. It still have room for more so if you haven't registered, hop on line or give me a call. You could even just respond here!! It's a great way to invite a friend, too.

Cantaloupes?

How great is this? Randy and I rarely go to movies but we had some time together on Monday and decided to go to Jordan Creek to catch one. We just happen to choose a show that was in the main theater for church. We walk in and there on top of the drink holder in the first row sits a cantaloupe! I about fell down laughing. We just left it sitting there and one of the theater employees came in a saw it and you could totally see the look of disbelief on his face. He was looking around, asking some people if it was theirs. All Randy and I could do was sit up in our seats and laugh. If you weren't at JCFC Sunday, Pastor Josh preached a sermon about tithing and he used cantaloupes as a visual. I still laugh every time I think about it! I don't know, Pastor Josh. Maybe your business card would be more helpful if you want to get the word out about JCFC. :)

Wedding Pics

Here are a couple of pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Brandon and Alyssa Webb.

Team Easter

Tonight, we had an organizational meeting for the first annual JCFC Easter Egg Hunt. Let me tell you, we got a lot done and the Lord definitely led me to the right people to help. Everyone was ready to "get 'er done"! It is gonna be awesome. We are ready to funnel volunteers to a specific leader, so let me know if you are on board. I'll be contacting those who have already expressed interest.

I told the team tonight that the egg hunt is going to be a great family event and it will be awesome if we can show some more families how to have a personal relationship with Jesus but I also want our community to see our servant's hearts. What was Jesus? He was a servant first. Even if people come to the egg hunt and never set foot in the theater to attend JCFC, I want them to know we care about our community.

Thanks to "Team Easter"...it's already been a huge blessing to me personally and you will be a gigondo blessing to our community.

The Trip

Our trip to Dallas was great. We drove part way down Thursday night to Wichita. No offense but we weren't too impressed by Wichita. We drove the rest of the way Friday and got there just in time for the rehearsal. The Texas Discovery Gardens were beautiful. It was so nice to see green! The trees are already in bloom in Texas and some flowers were out in the Gardens. The room where we had the wedding was so nice; floor to ceiling windows looking out to the garden, hard wood floors, a fountain in the garden. The weather was off the hook; sunny, 80 degrees and no wind! Perfect.

We stayed at a very nice Radisson Hotel in downtown Dallas. The architecture is cool but the traffic was CRAZY! We had the rehearsal dinner in a very swanky restaurant, I think it was called Bueggati's. Super yummy Italian...glad I wasn't paying for it. :)

Our niece married a wonderful guy. I really liked him and his whole family was great. The wedding had a couple of glitches with the Gardens lady arriving over an hour late keeping the caterer, DJ and bridal party all waiting outside. I'd hate to be her after our niece's new mother-in-law talks to the powers that be. Anyway, it all worked out and the ceremony went just as planned. Alyssa was a gorgeous bride. She is such a beautiful girl and even more so on the inside! I was able to make it through without crying, stuttering, or flubbing up. Thanks, Lord.

We drove straight home yesterday. Poor Randy, he drove all 12 hours himself! I got up with a migraine and wasn't functioning well enough to drive. It was fun to go but always feels good to get back to your own bed. Sounds like we missed a great day at church. Thanks Dara for pitch hitting! We missed you all!

I'm in TROUBLE!

Okay, if you know me , you know I have this fondness for coffee. Alright, so it's more like an addiction. Anyway, Starbucks has a new sugar free flavor that's rockin' my world. It's a sugar free Cinnamon Dolce Latte. Oh, baby, I may need to start working there to support my habit. The barista even sprinkled Splenda and some extra cinnamon on top for me. He's my new best friend!

Yes, they do learn!

I share the following not as a brag about JCFC but as a victory for Jesus. Sometimes when you work with children, you don't know how much they are learning. It's great to hear from parents about all things in their children's lives but these are sweet words to read. I got this from one of our moms on Tuesday....

"Kaitlyn (not quite 2) has started praying to Jesus and it is so cute. I know it is because of the work that Morgan (our nursery coordinator) does with the kids and Jon and I pray with our kids every night before bed. She will tuck her dolls into bed and fold her little hands and say, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus-amen." I teared up the first time she did it last week. Thank you for the work you do. It really makes an impact! Jaron is always talking about the things he learns in Creek kids."

Thank you, Jesus. :)

Texas Bound

Thursday afternoon, Randy and I, along with our niece Amanda, are hitting the road for Dallas. I am very excited to go and see some family that we haven't seen for more than two years. We are going to our niece Alyssa's wedding. I have the incredible honor of performing the ceremony. Pray I don't cry through the whole thing!

I am ready for a change of scenery but hate to miss church. It will be nice to be in a little warmer climate. I have know idea how to pack! I should have called my friend Angela and gotten some advice from a true Texan.

We will miss everyone, have a great weekend!

You'll laugh about it some day...

We all have experienced our children saying or doing something in public that has caused us great embarrassment. Like when I had our daughter Micaela in a checkout lane at the crowded grocery store. My ever observant 4 year old announced in a very loud voice, "Mom, that man is buying BEER! Doesn't he know that's not good for him?" I got a very dirty look for that one. I guess what goes around, comes around. I used to do things to my mom when I was a teenager that made her cringe but I thought were hysterical. Here's a classic that I got in an e-mail...

The Sermon I think this Mom will never forget.... this particular Sunday sermon..."Dear Lord," the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. "Without you, we are but dust." He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four year old girl voice, "Mom, what is butt dust?"

So the next time your child does something like this, just remember...you'll laugh about it some day.

"Lost Tomb of Jesus"

Call me shocked. Yes, I am being sarcastic. Hollywood has done it again and of course their timing is impeccable. Let me explain...The Discovery Channel has an upcoming "documentary" that claims archaeologists have uncovered a coffin that once contained the remains of Jesus Christ. The program titled The Lost Tomb of Jesus premieres March 4 on the Discovery Channel. Within the program, they say the have bones from Jesus, his wife and son. Once again, Hollywood blasts Christianity and right as we are approaching Easter; the celebration of Christ's resurrection. Grrrr, this gets me going. There is a clergyman who has a web site you may want to check out at this link.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/02/lost_tomb_of_jesus_tries_to_tu.php

I know the Discovery Channel has some awesome programming but this is not included! I pray that NO ONE buys into this lie from the pit of hell. I sent an e-mail to the DC to protest. I think if enough people stand up for what they believe, we can make a difference!

Coming Up

It's what!? March, wow, can you believe it? It seems like Christmas was three weeks ago. We have some fun family stuff right around the corner for JCFC and our community.

First, Friday, March 16 is our Mother/Son Make and Take. Moms and their Creek Kids age sons will gather at the clubhouse of our apartment building for an evening of great memories. We will build birdhouses and paint them but first enjoy a pizza feast. I'd like to share a few words about having a son, too. The event costs $15 per family. I'll have everything you need, just bring yourselves. This is an opportunity to invite friends, also. You may call me to register or hop online to the JCFC website and register there. Http://jordancreek.org. We will play from 6:30-8:30 PM.

Our first annual JCFC Community Easter Egg Hunt will be Saturday, April 7 at the Willow Springs Park, 5547 Wistful Vista Dr., in West Des Moines. This is a great opportunity to give back to our community with a fun, family centered event for all ages. Be spreading the word. We have a goal to fill 10,000 eggs! The Hunt will begin at 10 AM and have staggered starts for each of the age groups. That way moms and dads who have kids in different age groups don't have to "divide and conquer" they can stay together as a family. We will have some great prize drawings and a short greeting from me after the Hunt. Watch the church bulletin for ways to be involved.

July brings us to Kids Camp. This is for kids entering 4th-6th grades this fall. We will leave Monday, July 16 and return Friday, July 20. It is at the Sunstream Retreat Center between Boone and Ogden, Iowa. It is five days of chapel time, sports, games, fellowship and getting close to God. I'll be sharing more details soon, but wanted you to have the dates for summer planning. It is one of the greatest things you can do for your kids and their spiritual growth.

Stay warm and safe in this crazy Iowa weather!