Here we were again. Good neighbor Weekend at Northview Church! Early Saturday morning we gathered to celebrate and get invigorated with great worship at church before we all headed in different directions to serve the communities in and around Indianapolis this weekend. In all there were 3500 people that gave their time and services this weekend. It is truly such an honor to be a part of such a huge collaboration of people that want to celebrate what matters.
This year, my mom was able to join us for our adventures. I loved that my girls were able to see their grandma being a part of something like this and having a servants heart.
Our group headed to the Lord's Pantry in Indianapolis for a few hours of fun, laughs, a little work and a whole lot of heart.
We straightened bags, sorted through food, separated produce, moved palates, bagged up lettuce, cleaned and readied the area for the crowd coming. There were so many great volunteers there and I was overwhelmed with gratitude that my children could witness and be a part of this day. That they, at their age, could see their parents, their friends, their grandma and strangers being the hands and feet and doing this work with huge smiles on our faces. I love that they are growing up surrounded by God's love coming into our family and watching as we all turn around and give it to others.
Our life group is intertwined into our lives. We share our ups and downs and help each other through life's battles and victories. We are all together every week at our house and many times in between The girls know them as family and our home is their home. We we serve, we do it together.
When the hundreds of people from the community started pouring in Brian and I and the girls, along with my mom, were the first to see them, welcome them and help them grab a couple of cans of soup and a drink. It was fun to see the smiles of happiness and gratitude on their faces. There were tons of kids! The families that came through with ten day old babies, or three and four kids, the elderly, and everyone in between were happy. I didn't see a sad or grumpy face in there.
We teach the girls that money doesn't determine rich and poor. Money only determines what worldly things you can buy. It is nice to have and something to work hard for and be proud of so you can do good things with it. Since we live in the world now we will abide by these conditions, but we do not live of the world. Our spirits are not of this world and so a person is only truly poor if they have a poor spirit. We have seen many out there, but none came through those doors that day. There were smiles, laughter, gratitude and love. Nothing more to say than it was a joyous place.
Our group has decided to make this a monthly commitment and the girls are excited. After all, being examples for our children to follow lives of selflessness and gratitude for the true gifts in life is what it is all about.
After this fun and busy morning we were headed back home to get set up for the
Triple Princess Birthday Bash!
more to come...
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