Archive for February, 2009

Naomi is turning 1!!

Posted in Uncategorized on 02/28/2009 04:37 pm by admin

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One year ago today I was very pregnant, nearing my due date and waiting in anticipation for the birth of our first child! Its truly hard to believe that Naomi has been in our lives for almost a year! Those of you who have kids understand how fast time flies when you’re watching a little helpless new born turn into a crawling then walking and responding and even talking little person! Just in one year!

I love Birthday parties. I love celebrating people. I love an excuse to get together with people for a party!

We’ve started planning for Naomi’s party, asking all the questions you’re supposed to ask. Questions like, what will be the theme? The colors? Who will we invite? Where will we gather for it etc….???? 

Then we began to ask the more uncommon questions.

How can we best celebrate human life as a gift from God on this day when we remember Naomi’s day of birth? There are millions of children around the world who don’t have families and who’s birthdays are forgotten. How can we celebrate while remembering those who suffer around the world? Even at a Birthday party!

WHAT IF Naomi’s first birthday could symbolize something bigger than her? Something of God’s grand story of reconciliation for our broken and fragmented world? And WHAT IF one day we could tell her about her first birthday and how we celebrated her life and intentionally sought to remember the children who don’t get celebrated. 

So without making anyone feel guilty for planning “traditional” birthday parties for their kids, we decided to change things up a bit. We’ll have her party in a beautiful park, we’ll invite as many people as we can, we’ll avoid using paper goods so as to conserve some of our earth’s resources, we won’t do gifts and we’ll love on Naomi and each other over a shared meal and some fun recreational games! We’ll ask people to bring a small potted plant or flower to share and exchange it with someone else to symbolize new life and miracles of creation.  Maybe next year we’ll have gifts and add another creative twist….. but this year we’ll do things a little different.

We hope God will be honored as we celebrate his beloved child, Naomi Lynn Rice, and as we remember those who never get celebrated. 

by Christiana

 

Saying Goodbye to Trinity House

Posted in Uncategorized on 02/01/2009 05:17 pm by admin

There are moments in life when God tells us to GO and LOVE a specific people for a specific time. 

Four years ago I took  a week long trip to Vancouver, B.C. We were there to listen to God’s heart of love and compassion for the poor and marginalized of our world. I spent time with the mentally ill, the addicted, the oppressed and the homeless community in the down town East Side. I made a friend named John who is a homeless older gentleman. I thought I cared about people on the frindges of society but this was the first time I actually got to know one of them personally.

I sensed God inviting me to love people in a new way…… but what would that look like?

Trinty Sober Living House in Pomona is a transitional home for  single parents in drug and alcohol recovery. Its four minutes from my home. Was God asking me to love and befriend these people because of His compassionate love for them?

I began to join Trinity House on Monday nights. For four years now, we’ve gathered each week for a time of encouragement, reading the Bible together, sharing our strengths and our struggles, laughing together and crying together and praying the Lord’s prayer, trusting God with all that tomorrow may bring.

Its been an honest place of beautiful people learning how to walk through life in the strength of God.

Our friend Peter who is a photographer and graphic designer for CRM came with us to Trintiy last monday. He’s brilliant at telling stories through photographs. Peter took portraits of each family and stayed the whole evening to capture the spirit of the home. Derek led worship and we all sang loud and strong. 

Below are some snap shots of our evening together. 

As we leave, we wanted to give our friends at Trinity House something that expresses our love for them. We wanted to show them how beautiful they are. They are people of dignity, value and worth. They have blessed us with their stories, their hugs and their honest love for us. 

We’ll put together books of pictures for each family. Just a small expression of our love for them.

We will miss them.

by Christiana

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