Friends-

Today’s the day to vote for Nora Leon as America’s Favorite Mom. For the whole story, see this blog post.

If you already know the story or don’t care about the story, and want to get straight to voting, click the link below and vote between 9am and 9pm today (up to 10 times). Works in Internet Explorer or Safari, but not Firefox.

www.nbc.com/Americas_Favorite_Mom/vote/

PS If you get this before 9am, Nora will be on NBC’s Today Show (in Buffalo: Channel 2) during the 9am hour today!

Greetings from Indianapolis!

I am meeting with the KINDLE Program team at Carmel Lutheran Church where my friend and colleague Melissa Christian Luepke is a DCE. It’s a beautiful facility–much larger than First Trinity. When Melissa was giving me the tour today, I had to laugh…so many things that our church’s have in common:

• The struggle to find people to set up for coffee hour (they finally went to automatic coffee pots with no set-up or clean-up needed)
• A thriving Preschool
• Confirmation on the first Sunday in May and they also do it in a regular worship service (they had 40-some kids confirm their faith this year)
• Great staff relationships…lots of laughter and camaraderie
• Jesus Painter paintings on the wall.
• Contemporary and Traditional worship services

God’s Word is alive and it’s fun to know that some things are common to faith communities. Whenever I am at a different church, I always reflect on how much I love First Trinity…God is good!

Jason and I both wrote about Sunday’s confirmation service and today Pastor Chuck, Jason and I worked on ideas for next year (Eric will chime in, too). It was fun to talk about–so many things that we want to do again, so many great stories from families, God making Himself known all over the place.  Some tweaks to make. I was, once again, grateful for teammates who are honest with each other and only want things to get better!

It was different for me…the first Confirmation service in 23 years that I didn’t take part in the actual Confirmation part of the service. People even wondered if I felt left out. It was different, but I thought it was great! I do not have direct responsibility for Cornerstone ministry. More like a coach-cheerleader-encourager for Cornerstone ministry. I LOVE having the small group leaders (this year: Heide Mathien and Paul Zimberg) part of the blessing. Next year, I’ll get to participate as a small group leader. The last thing I want is to be involved just because I’ve always been involved. God is doing so much with so many kids in Cornerstone. I was excited to have a front row seat.

Different, but good.

Nora Leon, the American missionary that we work with at the Children of Israel Orphanage in Les Cayes, Haiti, is one of 15 semi-finalists for the NBC America’s Favorite mom. If you were at the Women’s Retreat last Fall, you met Nora, as she was there as our guest. She was also at worship last Fall and taught our Kingdom Quest kids a song in Creole. The picture above was taken in January 2008 on the island of Ile A Vache, where she was interviewing the mother of a very very sick child, who later died before proper medical care could be found.

She has been nominated in the “Non-Mom” category, for her work with the children of Haiti.

Here’s how it will work and how you can help:

• Each day this week, there are three moms on the Today Show (Monday: Military Moms, Tuesday: Working Moms, Wednesday: Single Moms, Thursday: Non-Mom Moms, Friday: COE Moms).
• Nora will be on the Today Show (Channel 2 in Buffalo) on Thursday morning–most likely the 9am hour
• ANYTIME DURING THE DAY ON THURSDAY, PLEASE GO TO THE LINK BELOW AND VOTE FOR HER! The voting is open between 9am and 9pm and you can vote up to 10 times.
• The five finalists (one from each category) will be flown to Los Angeles for a live Mother’s Day Show this Sunday night, May 11th, with Donny and Marie Osmond (in Buffalo, Channel 2 at 7pm).

Here’s the link:

www.nbc.com/Americas_Favorite_Mom/vote/

ONE NOTE: The voting doesn’t seem to show up in a Firefox Browser. If you use Internet Explorer or Safari, it is easy to see your voting choices. They do ask for your name, etc.

You can help by voting–you can vote up to ten times. You can also help by asking others to vote!!

Here’s why this matters:

• It is an opportunity to support and encourage Nora, whose work and mission we know firsthand
• It is an opportunity to get the news out about the plight of children in Haiti and especially about God’s work there

Thank you so much!

Tonight was my first Monday’s Meal–a monthly event put on by Impact Ministries (Team Leader: Ilene Polley). Here’s what happens:

• I paid my $6 and went upstairs into Mercy
• There were several round tables set up, all with lit candles and table cloths. The food was buffet style: yummy homemade chili, Sahlens hot dogs, ambrosia, cookies… BEAUTIFUL food, served with grace.
• I had a great conversation over dinner with some great women.
• Then the program….Lee Strobel talking about The Real Jesus. The idea is de-bunking some of the myths that are out there in our culture. He is a great speaker and the program was informational and helpful to me.

What a lovely evening–if you haven’t gone to a Monday’s Meal, yet, I recommend it! The next one is the first Monday in June (June 2, to be exact).

As a P.S., if you ever wonder if Jesus is the real deal–a true, historical figure who Lived, died on the cross and rose again–and wonder if you can say that to people in your life with surety, Lee Strobel’s book “The Case for the Real Jesus” would be a great read. He also has a great website: LeeStrobel.com which has thousands of free videos which are searchable. Punch in “Muslim” or “The Gospel of Thomas” or whatever you’re looking for help with and video responses will pop right up.

I wrote about Fake Fun, recently–here’s some more. I took most of them, but one was submitted by Darcy Fesmire. If you send me one, I’ll add it to the web album! Remember, Fake Fun turns into Real Fun Real Fast!

Fake Fun

Here goes…what a fun First Trinity day!

• Pastor Chuck always has a smile on his face when I first see him on Sunday morning, but this morning there was a special sparkle, which I know came from the fact that his son Jon was confirming his faith today. One of the things I love most about him, is that as much as he loves being a pastor, he loves being a husband and father more.
• While they were warming up before the 8:45am service, I got to tell the choir that one of their long-time, beloved members, Ginny, received a good report from her cancer surgeon yesterday. She will still have some treatments, but the prognosis is good. The choir is being directed during the interim after Ruth Kovach retired by Kathy Gibson…and they sound wonderful!!
• I love it when I get the chance to greet people as they arrive for the Education Hour at 10:00–for me, it’s clear that there’s something exciting happening when all these people of all these ages are gathering to study God’s Word.
• I was special guest at Everyday Faith this morning. Pam Stone and Marsha Peth asked me to share the story of my Bible with the third graders and their parents. My Bible is a work-in-progress gift for my Godson/Nephew Paul when he turns 18. Every time I read it, I pray for him. I’m always writing notes to him in it, and quotes and drawing in it. There’s photos in there, too, of Paul as he grows up. I got a little teary when I was talking about it.
• The Everyday Faith kids made gift bags and beach balls for kids in Haiti because they’re in the Minor Prophets section of the Bible. One of the big messages of the Minor Prophets was “Take care of poor people!” There are also poor people all around us right here…how can we help?
• CONFIRMATION. I love all the people everywhere, the kids who are confirming their faith, the craziness, the honor we give to families in the service–knowing that families are God’s original idea for passing along the faith. I so appreciate all of Jason’s good work in preparing the service and the kids for this day. And I love having the small group leaders be part of it–Paul Zimberg and Heide Mathien. I love a Pastor who looks each confirmand in the eye, smiles warmly and invites them to kneel to receive the blessing. I thought the music was great today, too. We have some logistical things to write down for improving things next year–Kathy Figini is making a file.
• I need to write the children’s message down before I forget it–it really worked. The book I want to write some day is about children’s messages being times for congregation and children to teach each other. Those little kids looking into the eyes of those big kids while we all said, “Keep praying. Keep worshiping. Keep helping others. God wants you to and we need you to.” Good moment. So much more powerful than Sue Steege entertaining the little ones for a few minutes.
• In a day of many fun moments, my favorite was during Communion. A little boy whom I didn’t recognize…seemed like he was there for the confirmation, maybe came up for the blessing. Buzz cut, little grey vest with a red tie on, maybe 6 years old. For the blessing, I usually say, “God loves you so much. He always has and He always will” (I’m thinking I’m might like to perk up what I say, but that’s for another post), and make the sign of the cross on their forehead. So with this little boy, I put my hand on his head and said, “God loves you so much…”, he looked up at me, giggled, twinkled his eyes and said, “I know.” Not silly, not cocky, just so sure, already that God loves him so much. Oh that we would all receive His love that way every every day!

Phil Morris, one of our Cornerstone small group leaders and the teacher for our 7th-8th grade Sunday school class told me about a new craze for taking pictures: it’s called Fake Fun. You just ask the subjects of your photo, on “three” to pretend they are laughing like crazy–to pose. So, even though they aren’t making a sound and aren’t really laughing, it looks like it. BEST PICTURES, EVER. If you take one, why don’t you post it in the comments? By the way…what is your favorite thing to do to have REAL FUN? On my list:

• Movies with friends (saw “Kite Runner” last night–the story is so powerful)
• Read read read read. I love to read a great novel.
• Walk
• Cook, especially if I’m cooking for friends (last night: Quesadillas and a new Spanish Rice recipe)
• Play PackRat. I am slightly addicted.
• Knit
• Study the Bible with other people
• Watch sports (especially Bills football, college hoops, the Masters, or any kids’ game or meet or match)
• Hang out with the kids in my life
• Play cards (I haven’t done this in a long time)

OK…I’m going to try an experiment. I have a new toy called an “Eye-Fi” card. It should automatically upload photos to my web album as I take them of the prep and the Confirmation Banquet tonight. If you keep coming back to this blog post and clicking on it, let’s see if you can follow along on the evening!

Remember, it’s an EXPERIMENT. That means I don’t know if it’s going to work.

Taken on May 1st, 2008

• Always always glad to be back at First Trinity when I’ve been away for a Sunday. Sunday is “Game Day” for me and I love love love it.
• Isn’t the banner above beautiful? You can check it out live in the Hall of Joy (leads into Celebration–the gym). The Kingdom Quest kids made it during welcome activities, led by Pam Jones and her daughter, Kelsey. The flying creatures are the outline of kids’ hands. New Life–one of my fav themes.
• My PIT Crew (Pastor’s Intercessory Team) prayed with me live and in person at 9:30. It feels luxurious to have that kind of prayer coverage. I am so grateful.
• I thought the choir sounded beautiful today at the 8:45 service–and Doreen Sutherland rocked the house with the organ on “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”.
• I love a congregation where we miss our Pastor when he is not there, but rejoice that he is with his family on the day his grandson is dedicated. Both are true.
• All this and Pastor Touloute, too. God is so, so good. All the tiem.
• Pirate Joe made a visit to Everyday Faith today (third graders and their parents working through the Scriptures…). Here he is:

Pirate Joe was looking for treasure and the kids helped him see that God’s Word is the Biggest Treasure of all. I crack up every time Pirate Joe talks about “Me stinky sister” and almost tear up with gratitude for the fun + solid Bible learning + parents and kids + Holy Spirit WOW that is Everyday Faith. My true favorite images are ones like this, where kids and parents (or grandparents) are bent over their Bibles, together:

• It seems that cancer is so many places at First Trinity…and the Prayer Gathering organized by members of Ginny Opferbeck’s Life Group tonight was the best part of a very good First Trinity Day. 75+ people showed up to pray for her in light of her cancer diagnosis and her surgery this Tuesday. P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L. There were many sweet moments, but hearing Ginny’s grandson Aiden’s chatty voice out in the narthex while we were praying silently for his Grandma was the most beautiful to me. It made me wonder why we don’t gather much more often to place ourselves before God on behalf of our hurting, suffering, scared and haunted loved ones. What I loved (one of MANY things I loved) about tonight, was the “grass roots” nature of the gathering–it was not written or led by staff. It was written, thought-of and led by Ginny’s life group (especially Karen Ruch). Body of Christ in action, baby. I love it!
• We had some women’s hoops tonight–it was a slow return with many people not able to make it at the last minute. I have a bum foot (made a Crocs mistake that is too long to tell, here–sore foot is the result), so I played “All Time Point Guard” for one team and Christine (hurt knee) played it for the other. I don’t know why playing hoops with friends is so restorative to me, but it so is. If you would like to join us, let me know!!!