365 Days of Service

Day 280 - Mar 24

It’s right in the middle of March Madness, and although I’m not watching ANY basketball games (except the ones that Ryan watches, if I am paying attention) I did have a great March Madness experience at Mercy Ministry today. Once a month our team has been regularly serving during the day at Mercy Ministry on the last Tuesday of the month. It’s such a different experience than when I serve on Monday nights, because I am able to interract directly with the clients. The director, Jules, let me step into her role as the greeter today and I had a ton of fun. The greeter hooks up the clients with volunteers who will pray with them, then makes sure they get the groceries they need and helps manage the waiting list for getting clothing. I talked to so many people today and even was able to practice my spanish-speaking skills. We had an amazing group of volunteers there working together and it was a busy but very rewarding day. Some changes are in the works at Mercy Ministry and while I am hopeful and confident about God’s control of the situation, I am prayerful that I will still get to take part in the great things that are happening at Mercy.

Day 279 - Mar 23

The dinner I made last night went to our friends’ house tonight. Ryan helped me deliver it after work. The new mom’s mom is also a new grandma and she was coming into town to spend the week with her new grandbaby. Hopefully dinner got the week off to a good start! (See the Chicken Fried Rice recipe here).

Day 278 - Mar 22

Recently friends at LifeChurch.tv had their first baby and I volunteered to deliver dinner to them tomorrow. I made chicken fried rice from a family recipe my mom made super-simple. I though I’d share it with everyone who wants an easy but tasty meal.

Ingredients
3 eggs, beaten
2 cans or two cooked, chopped chicken breasts
4 cups cooked rice, white or brown
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots (or use frozen peas and carrots, thawed and skip the peas above)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
2-3 tablespoons oyster sauce
fresh garlic to taste

Cook the rice and set to the side. Heat up a little olive oil in a deep frying pan or wok and stir in the beaten eggs, add 1 tbsp of the soy sauce and 1 tbsp of the oyser sauce. Cook most of the way through and add the onion and garlic. Cook on low for about 2 minutes, then add the peas and carrots. Let all of this get heated through and add the chicken, again let it get heated through. Add about half of the rice, then the remaining 2 tbsp of soy sauce and oyster sauce - mixing well. When the sauce is dispersed through the rice, add the remaining rice and continue to mix. Let it all heat together for a few minutes (2-3) and then serve. It’s easy, cheap, quick and yummy and you can usually find all you need in the pantry. If you prefer other vegetables to peas and carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, and even zucchini make a good substitute.

Day 277 - Mar 21

I woke up today and got ready to serve with leaders and kids from our Switch experiences at All Things Baby. All Things Baby is run by a family out of the Edmond LifeChurch.tv campus and they cater to pregnant and new moms providing them with everything they can to help welcome baby into the world. This includes clothing, shoes, baby supplies, furniture and toys. I am sure there are a lot of things that babies need that I’m not thinking of, but if they need it, I guarantee All Things Baby will try to find it.

Ryan and Tim got up a lot earlier to get the supplies, food and the bus for the trip ready for the kids and leaders to load to ride to the baby warehouse. I met them there and after only a few minutes ran with a leader to Wal-mart to pick up additional hangers and other supplies. We bought 200 new hangers and I have no idea how logn those will last. There are a TON of little tiny clothes in the warehouse waiting to be hung. I also ran another errand to Lowe’s to get a trash can and liners. Turns out that 35 teenagers can make a pretty big mess. It was all for good though - they had most of the organizing and painting done when I left. Amazing what a group of people can accomplish when they work together!

Day 276 - Mar 20

I took a little time today to shop for friends who just had their first baby and to whom I am taking dinner on Monday. I bought the ingredients for a fun and yummy dessert that I am going to try for the first time. Let’s hope I can get it figured out on Sunday.

Day 275 - Mar 19

During the trip, my brothers and I were together for the first time before the date of March 19 - the day our father passed away 13 years ago. As a special treat for our mother, whom we all love and respect very much, I got my brothers to sit down and write a note on a card for her. I spent the day today praying over my mom and our entire family. Losing a loved one (we’ve lost several along the way) is hard for everyone, and yet our family has persevered and grown stronger and closer over time. I only hope that the glue that holds us together lasts the test of time and we will always be a close and loving family. I want the legacy that we pass on to the next generation to be one of love, faith and family. I think our parents started it for us and I’m so honored to get to know and love my mom the way I do.

Day 274 - Mar 18

Today was a blessing in disguise. We planned our vacation around the week that Ryan would not be required to serve at Switch because of the kids on Spring Break. We both had to be back at work today, so it was a shock to my system to get up, get ready and be productive. I’d had such a nice week of sleeping late and playing all day. It was a big relief to not have serving on the schedule for our evening. We decided to spend the time we would have been at Switch helping each other around the house. Ryan cleaned so I could cook (baked a pumpkin pie too) and then we both got into bed early. Getting over this vacation is going to take a few days.

Day 269 - Mar 13 through Day 273 - Mar 17

I’ve grown much more relaxed about serving as this year has progressed and I think that has a lot to do with incorporating it into my daily routine. I’ve seen days come and go where I didn’t find an obvious opportunity to serve someone and it was ok. Perhaps I wasn’t being as “outward focused” as I had originally planned to be on those days, but I know that a missed opportunity came and went. And that it is ok. God has blessed me so much through this journey that it’s really difficult to focus on the missed opportunities.

That being said, while we were on vacation it could have been SO easy to just sit back, relax and let our families take care of us for a few days. I’ve learned, however, that although they would be happy to, it feels a lot better to bless them in return by doing a few favors. So while we were vacationing (staying with my brother, sister-in-law and their little boy) I washed dishes, helped in the backyard, cleaned up after us and started laundry when we left. It really had not occurred to me before this 365 day journey to do those things with purpose. I guess maybe in all this God was simply trying to teach me good manners. Well, if that is all, then I will be a better person for it anyway. I’ve learned so much more than just good manners, however, and I’ve been reflecting on that more and more recently. What a journey this has been.

Day 268 - Mar 12

Ryan and I are taking a few much-needed days away from the church this weekend (and we are both healthy so far!! Earlier “vacations” were spoiled by vicious stomach bugs and other junk). I’m so excited to see family and take a break. I can’t wait to eat and sleep and laugh, and that’s about it. To get us started off right, I made Ryan’s favorite trip snack, dark chocolate bark with walnuts, pecans, and almonds. Yum. I have a feeling we’re both going to be just a wee bit heavier when the vacation is over. Bring it!

Day 267 - Mar 11

Served with Ryan at the Switch experience tonight and had a really great conversation with a young lady there. I’m starting to feel more at home among teenagers. Who knew?

Day 266 - Mar 10

Like most Tuesdays during my lunch hour, I served at the Internet Campus at LifeChurch.tv. I prayed with a man about his finances and family. I think we’re going to pray more and more for people as we see a steady decline in the state of the economy. Hard times, but we have to trust in Jesus. Our LifeGroup was getting together tonight for a “Going-Away” party for one of the couples beginning their own LifeGroup. It was a fun evening and we all brought something to add to dinner.

Day 265 - Mar 9

Ryan recently accomplished something remarkable and really impressive regarding our personal finances. I hadn’t been able to properly tell him how proud of him I was because we’d been so busy (and I was sick) so tonight I made a “Congratulations” sign and hung it in the entryway. To make it more impressive (it was made from paper plates) I hung balloons, made brownies, a spaghetti dinner, and got him a card. Have I mentioned recently that I’m really proud to be his wife? We had a good night celebrating together.

Day 264 - Mar 8

Ryan works all weekend with only a small window of time to rest. Well, he’s been looking sideways at the yard on his way in and out of the house, so I spent the day in the yard today trying to help him get a jumpstart on Spring. He also tries to go to bed early on Sunday nights, so I was working on a project for him so that he might be able to go to sleep earlier than I did. While I was waiting for the computer to process, I also cleaned the closet. Let’s just say I didn’t miss my workout today.

Day 263 - Mar 7

Have been feeling rather puny since I got sick yesterday, so I wasn’t able to do much. We did show up to the church earlier than usual and helped bundle 10,000 church invitations into sets of 10. Thank goodness we had enough help. If you haven’t heard, Dave Ramsey is coming to LifeChurch.tv as part of the series “Life. Money. Hope. Featuring Dave Ramsey.” I can’t wait to see how this series impacts families around the world. Join us at the Internet Campus this weekend!

Day 262 - Mar 6

We decided to make some changes that impact our finances and one of the things we knew would help would be to downsize our car expenses every month. Ryan has been doing a really good job (and being really patient about it!) of trying to sell his truck. He got a phone call this morning from someone ready to buy it. I took him down to south Oklahoma City so I could give him a ride back. Feels good to be on our way toward better financial health. Speaking of which - see my earlier entry about Dave Ramsey coming to LifeChurch.tv soon!

Day 261 - Mar 5

I’ve been a part of the single moms night at Mercy Ministry for a few months now. I didn’t have the date on my calendar, but someone at work had a ton of clothes to donate and reminded me I’d said I was always there on the first Thursday of the month - so I had somewhere to be tonight! I was happy to deliver 3 big boxes of clothes. I spent the evening lugging around jugs of milk, frozen ravioli, bags of ham and frozen potatoes to get them packaged for these families. It’s always so rewarding for me to expend some energy making a difference for those in need.

Day 260 - Mar 4

Served at Switch with Ryan tonight and we had a great conversation with some of the leaders. It’s been a great couple of weeks talking about changes that we want to implement and I’m really impressed with the change I’ve seen in the kids and leaders already. Ryan and the staff are doing a fantastic job keeping the leaders informed and leading through the change.

Day 259 - Mar 3

I took a good friend a birthday gift and card today. I gave her chocolate - I have a hard time thinking of anything that is better than chocolate.

Day 258 - Mar 2

On Monday nights I make a trip to Mercy Ministry to help lead a LifeGroup through the setup process for the next day. Well, last week after that night, my team from LifeChurch.tv was serving during the day on Tuesday. I heard a lot of feedback from the staff about how poorly put together the grocery sacks were (I even had to take many apart and start over). Apparently I wasn’t leading very well. Lesson learned. In an effort to try to make up for it, I spent an hour putting together signs that illustrate the best way to fill the grocery bags. Hopefully it will make a difference for the staff.

Day 257 - Mar 1

I picked up Ryan from the Edmond campus after the Switch small group meeting. It’s possible that I did something more than that, but I’ve forgotten.

Day 256 - Feb 28

You’ll read more about these women if you keep reading, but today I sat down and sent an email to the women I met at the Women’s Conference at LifeChurch.tv recently and spent some time in prayer over them.

Day 255 - Feb 27

Craig Groeschel’s wife, Amy, and her friend, Sheri, led a conference by speaking to women about finding their identity in Christ. I was challenged by their messages and had so much to think about. During the session, we would break into smaller groups and have discussion and prayer time. I was “in charge” of a small group and connected with 5 amazing women. I also arrived a little earlier to help with setup and check-in. Overall, it was a great night and I was honored to be invited to get to know women leaders at LifeChurch.tv more personally.

Day 254 - Feb 26

I am volunteering to help with a women’s conference being held at LifeChurch.tv and tonight we had a leader training and handed out t-shirts. I can’t wait to see how lives are impacted by the women speaking at the conference.