Welcome

If you are new to our site, this blog is sort of a hodge podge of our ministry and family life, and whatever else God lays on my heart to share. The Home Page above will link you to our Sufficient Grace Ministries page. You can read more about the 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization and the outreaches of this ministry whose mission is to offer comfort and hope to grieving parents. The Blog button brings you to the page you are currently reading, featuring a variety of subjects...some ministry updates, some family news, and some biblically-based encouragement. The Walking With You page is a place for bereaved parents who have lost a baby or child to find encouragement and hope. It is an online support group created so that families would know they are not walking this path alone. On the Dreams of You Shop page, you can learn more about the products and services we offer, place an order, or sponsor a family. The Encouraging Women blog is a work in progress. There, we hope to offer biblically-based encouragement to all women. The Resource page has been newly updated with a list of resources that are helpful for grieving parents. Our blogroll is also located on this page. Thank you so much for visiting our site. Blessings to you...

Monday, June 28, 2010

New Creation...Green Kitchen...Walking With You Idea...and a BBQ Sauce Giveaway! Whew!

*A winner has been chosen for the best BBQ sauce known to mankind...Contest is over!

There are so many blog posts rolling around in my mind, that I thought I'd just combine them all into one big one. Hope you don't mind, it's going to be a long ride!

New Creation
Those of you who visit regularly know that we have been very busy with Sufficient Grace Fundraising events and other ministry-related happenings. Tim and I also had the privilege of participating with a local VBS outreach in which our church brings VBS to the children and families of a local community that does not currently have a church. It is such a blessing to be part of that, and I'm so grateful we were able to join alongside our church family this year, once more. We are looking forward to VBS at our own church soon, as well.

Speaking of our church family...one of my favorite events occured this past Sunday. I love a good baptism...there is nothing like it, really. A changed life in Jesus...the symbolism of reckoning the old man dead and emerging as a new creation, the washing away of sins, the bold statement that this person belongs to Jesus. This person lives for Him. I love to listen to the simple, tearful testimonies of those who have recently given their lives to Jesus...telling of His life-changing glory. The beauty of redemption never fails to move me to tears as well.

What made this particular baptism even more precious was that our sweet James had chosen to be among those getting baptized yesterday morning. As Tim and I prepared the music, I reflected on the words..."feels like I'm born again, feels like I'm living...for the very first time, for the very first time...in my life".



It never gets old. Watching the Holy Spirit work in someone's life, watching Him speak directly to a seeking heart, wooing with the Father's love. Seeing a heart transformed by Jesus...a life redeemed, bathed in beautiful, saving grace. But, when that heart belongs to one that I love...it fills my own heart to the point of bursting. My cup runneth over...and, once more, I am on my knees in awe of the grace of my God...and the relentless love with which He pursues and pours out onto His people. Oh...how I love a good baptism.







I'm so thankful for the answered prayers. God has written a story for our family that is beyond anything I could have imagined. There were years of drought and wandering in the wilderness, but lately, I have been dancing in the rain as He brings more of our family into His family.


(Special thanks to Rachel's Cakes for making James' lovely cake. You rock, Rachel!)

Sweet James, we pray God's continued blessings for you as you walk with Jesus. We are so blessed that you chose to be baptized and so grateful for your soft, tender heart. We love you!

Green Kitchen

I've been thinking about painting my kitchen green for about four or five years now. Each year, I purchased a little something to go with my imaginary green kitchen, in hopes that I would one day just do it. The pre-working-full-time-and-leading-a-ministry me would have had the whole house painted in a week. But, the me I am of late struggles to get to the "making my home a haven" part of my resposibilities. It just seems to have slipped on the priority list, under a heap of other demands for my time. But, God has been convicting my heart lately on that subject. Serving my family by making our home a beautiful and orderly haven needs to have it's rightful place high on my to-do list. So, in an effort to make that right...and in the willy-nilly spirit of summer, I give you my green kitchen!

(Please don't look too closely...I am not really a gifted painter, decorator, or housekeeper...but I still like my little green kitchen, flaws and all!)






Wondering what it looked like before? Here are a couple pics from my kitchen before the grand green painting project 2010...

(Christmas pics were the only ones I could find on my new computer!)



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Walking With You Idea

We've been taking a little break from Walking With You. A few more people are catching up with the recent Threads of Hope bible study that we finished in May. Because I know that many people are busy, I've been thinking about how to proceed, and I have a couple ideas. Prior to the Threads of Hope study, we shared our stories piece by piece, reading one another's journeys and encouraging each other along the way.

The purpose of this group is that grieving hearts would know they are not walking this path alone...that there is comfort and hope and grace along the journey. One way I was thinking we could do this, is to feature a blog of one grieving mama each week. I will do a post on the Walking With You blog letting you know who is being featured, and others who have walked this path can go and offer a word of encouragement, prayer, or scripture on that person's blog. That way, instead of having to prepare a post and visit all of those who link up, we just have to visit one person, focus on their story, pray for them that week, and leave a comment on their post letting them know. I have come across many families who have lost a child, and some have readers. While, some do not have many. We would like to welcome anyone to join in...those new to grief, as well as those who have experience walking this path and can be an encouragement to those in need.

If you would like to be featured on Walking With You, please go to the Walking With You Page and leave a comment letting us know your name, blog name, and your baby's name. I think this could be a great way for us to reach out and get to know other families walking this path, as well as to offer hope and encouragement to one another. I hope you feel the same, and I'd love any input on this idea!

Another favor I'd like to ask is if you are participating in Walking With You or would like to follow and read along, offering encouragement to others, please become a follower of the Walking With You blog. I will be putting up a follow button there for those wishing to keep up on that page. It is now a separate blog, although it is linked to this one.

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The Best BBQ Sauce known to mankind...



Around Christmas time, we received a gift from our friends, Glenn and Toni. It was a container of barbeque sauce produced locally from Mission Kitchen. Little did we know that in that container, just waiting for our discovery, was the best barbeque sauce known to mankind! Let me tell you, we are conoisseurs of sauce. We love the honey mustard, hot mustard, barbeque, sweet and sour...oh yes, we do. And, our James is the biggest connoisseur of all...especially of the BBQ sauce. Why, he even eats it on his burgers...yes ma'am.

So, when the sauce was finally gone, I contacted sweet Toni to inquire as to how I may obtain more...so that I could continue to slather the barbequey goodness all over our food. When I visited the website she passed on to me, I was even more delighted to learn that there was a story behind my newly beloved sauce. Ya'll know how I love a good story behind the story...and even more so when that story shares about a mission.

This sauce was created when the originators were in the mission field...and their mission continues through the distribution of this perfectly blended symphony of spicy and sweet goodness.

From their website:

Mission Kitchen Ltd is a local business with a global conscience. Our personal lives affect, both positively and negatively, those of others across the globe. Mission Kitchen Ltd is dedicated to empowering the population San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic. A portion of all proceeds will return there to benefit the shoeshine boys and undernourished children who live on those streets and call that place home.

To learn more about this worthy (and yummy cause), please visit: Mission Kitchen

And, in honor of my green kitchen...and because I love you and feel that everyone simply MUST try this sauce, leave a comment on this post to be entered to win your very own container of Mission Kitchen BBQ sauce! (Plus...I thought that if you are still reading this long post, you deserve a prize!!)

Would You Like to Be Featured on Walking With You

We've been taking a little break from Walking With You. A few more people are catching up with the recent Threads of Hope bible study that we finished in May. Because I know that many people are busy, I've been thinking about how to proceed, and I have a couple ideas. Prior to the Threads of Hope study, we shared our stories piece by piece, reading one another's journeys and encouraging each other along the way.

The purpose of this group is that grieving hearts would know they are not walking this path alone...that there is comfort, hope and grace along the journey. One way I was thinking we could do this, is to feature a blog of one grieving mama each week. I will do a post on the Walking With You blog letting you know who is being featured, and others who have walked this path can go and offer a word of encouragement, prayer, or scripture on that person's blog. That way, instead of having to prepare a post and visit all of those who link up, we just have to visit one person, focus on their story, pray for them that week, and leave a comment on their post letting them know. I have come across many families who have lost a child, and some have readers. While, some do not have many. We would like to welcome anyone to join in...those new to grief, as well as those who have experience walking this path and can be an encouragement to those in need.

If you would like to be featured on Walking With You, please leave a comment on this post, letting us know your name, blog name, and your baby's name. I will let you know a day or so before your blog will be featured. We will feature a new blog each Monday, for as long as we have participants. (I'm hoping many of you participate!) I think this could be a great way for us to reach out and get to know other families walking this path, as well as to offer hope and encouragement to one another. I hope you feel the same, and I'd love any input on this idea!

Another favor I'd like to ask is if you are participating in Walking With You or would like to follow and read along, offering encouragement to others, please become a follower of this blog. Although, Walking With You is linked to The Beauty of Sufficient Grace, it is now it's own blog. I've added a follow button for those who wish to do so. We also have a button linking to this page, if you would like to help us spread the word. If you are participating, please display the Walking With You button on your blog or in your featured post.

Friday, June 25, 2010

SGM Golf Outing 2010 and A Big Thank You!!



The third annual Sufficient Grace Ministries Golf Outing was held on June 19, 2010 at Country Acres Golf Club in Kalida, Ohio. Prior to the event, the forecast was a little bleak. Many prayers were offered up on behalf of the weather, and every other detail of this day. As late as the night/morning before at 2:00am, the hourly forecast for last Saturday showed chance of storms in every hour's slot. I folded the last golf towel, said a prayer, and went to bed...unsure if all the last couple month's of planning and praying were going to result in the outcome I was hoping for or not...but trusting that God was big enough to take care of our concerns.

The next morning, after a night of blustery storms, I awoke to check the hourly forecast once more, and found that the storms in each slot had been replaced with sun, sun, sun!!! That, my friends, was a Daddy's little girl moment. Believe me, I know things don't always work out the way we plan...and God has a plan that doesn't always fit ours...but, I still love to praise Him and give Him glory for the blessings when they come! As a matter of fact, it's good to praise Him in the sunshine and the rain! And, boy did He bless that day...not only with good weather, but with good friends, generous supporters, delicious food and fellowship, and a whole lot of fun...even if some of us have a golf game that is slightly lacking!

Team Sufficient Grace finished last once more, but we gave a valiant effort...especially the two expectant mamas (Holly and Raechel) who were such troopers...and the two first time golfers (Becki and Holly)! Thanks girls...love you!



Even with pulling out the big guns...

James "If Your Team Can't Do it, Just Par the Hole By Yourself"...




Holly "Keep on Smilin' and Keep on Swingin'" Haas...







Kelly "I hope the people living near the golf course have good insurance...FORE!" Gerken...


Raechel "Long Drive" Feehan...


and Becki "Six Iron" Burner...




Thank you to Country Acres Golf Club for the delicious food and to Becki Burner, owner of Floral Art for the scrumptious strawberry cake...


Talking with my hands, again...



Ten teams totaling about 40 golfers joined us for the event...


First Place ~ Billy, Tim, Mark, and Daryl...



Second Place ~ Ryan, Scott, Chris, and Dustin...



Winning the tie for Third Place ~ Tim III, Tim II, (my Tims!) Mark, and Paul...



Tied with...Gene, Ron, Tony, and Russ...




We are so thankful to everyone who has given their time, talent, abilities, financial resources, and most of all prayers to help support Sufficient Grace Ministries and to help make this outing a success. Thank you for helping us offer comfort and hope to grieving parents all over the country and beyond. ~ Tim, Kelly, Becki, & Holly ~ SGM

Special Thanks to:
Russ and Renee Wenzinger and our Harvest Fellowship Church family
All of today’s golf teams
Greg Klausing and the wonderful staff at Country Acres Golf Course
Becki Burner for the delicious strawberry cake and all of her support throughout the year
Melissa Hill and Holly Haas for taking pictures at the event
Ron Rutter for his continued support

Beverage Sponsor ~ Deitering Landscaping, Inc.
Cart Sponsor ~ Rodenberger Funeral Home
Hole Sponsors
Rodenberger Funeral Home
In Loving Memory of Kathy Rutter
In Loving Memory of Faith, Grace, and Thomas Gerken
Ned and Tracy Sponsler ~ In Loving Memory of Kelly Michelle Sponsler
Floral Art ~ Your Home Decorating Store ~ Downtown Napoleon
State Farm Insurance – Darlene Steiner
B.A. Miller & Sons Trucking
Horizon Eye Care
Teresa Rohrs ~ Optometrist
Avina Specialties Inc. ~ Embroidery and Silk Screening ~ Napoleon
Pro-Tec Coating Company ~ Leipsic, Ohio
The Parry Family
Marge and Harry Tussinger
Todd and Kelly Bodenbender
Dave and Brooke Amspoker
Brian and Nicki Strunk
Glenn and Toni Christiansen
TNT Body Shop ~ Deshler, Ohio
Mark and Tracey Schwiebert
Corn City State Bank
D.S. Nickels Inc. ~ Electrical Contractors ~ Dave Nickels
Marie Myers
James Kieffer
Debby - http://wwwforyourtears.blogspot.com

Door Prizes:
Subway- Deshler
Pisanellos - Deshler
Ron’s Super Valu
NAPA Auto
10K Korner Mart
Howard Spangler
My Image Salon
Marathon
The Golf Shop
Lima Memorial Hospital
Spengler’s
Roses & Ribbons – donated flowers in memory of Kathy Rutter
Carolee Isaacson
Sufficient Grace Ministries
Country Acres


Thank you to the Harvest Fellowship Men for supporting SGM...






Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the generous sponsors who gave to support Sufficient Grace, to our friends and fellow golfers, to everyone who prayed or offered their time and talent! Sufficient Grace was blessed with more than $3,000 thanks to the generosity of those who gave. God is faithful and His people are pretty awesome, too! We hope everyone had a great time, and hope to see you next year!



*You can view more pictures of everyone in attendance that day by visiting the Sufficient Grace Facebook Page.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Baby Love



When my mother was expecting my baby brother, Sean, we prayed each night that God would bless him...along with every other member of our family. Every sultry southern night, we said our child-like prayers in the Florida home where we lived for a short time. I was in about fifth grade and more lonesome for our Ohio home than I ever thought a person could be.

When Sean was finally born, he developed colic several weeks after birth and howled from the depths of his lungs from morning until night. If mom wasn't holding him against her tummy and walking with him, I was. We took turns singing to him, doing our best to soothe his little, aching tummy. It was like that from that day on...one of us always holding sweet baby Sean. And, Sean...howling much of the time.

As he grew a little older and I entered Jr. High, I would push him in the stroller up and down the bumpy Ohio sidewalk...doing my best to keep him happy. I remember his red and white striped bibs and crazy strawberry blond hair that would always stick straight up and out no matter how we attempted to coax it otherwise.

We babied him and mothered him and loved on him something fierce. He was probably one of the most spoiled children in all of the land. And, we didn't even care.

I am ten years older than Sean, and have always felt a mixture of big-sisterly and maternal love toward him. But when our beloved mother, our constant, and the most important person in Sean's world... laid suffering in the last days of her life at the hospice center, my heart ached for him above all others. Those days I felt a bond with my sweet brother, even deeper than before. We walked that path together. I will never forget how he loved her, how he stood by her side, how I watched my baby brother as he was thrust violently into adulthood in the harshest way imaginable. I couldn't protect him. I couldn't keep this harsh reality, this terrible loss from him. He was an adult, of course, and perfectly capable of growing up. But, I wanted to protect my baby brother, to soothe his hurting heart, as I had always done. And, I couldn't. This hurt was one I couldn't take from him.

He has grown into a kind-hearted young man who works hard at his job (with my husband actually), and now, he is a father. My baby brother is a father! While that makes me an aunt (again...because our other brother also has children), I have always felt so motherly toward Sean...and even more so since mom's passing...that I have joked that I "feel" more like a grandma! (I'm not, though...so don't get any ideas about Grandma jokes!!)

I was so excited for the birth of this sweet boy. A baby to hold again, when it has been so long since my arms have held one. My mother loved babies so much. She always said, "A baby is a blessing. No matter how they come to be." And, she is so right. Sometimes the blessing comes unexpectedly and sometimes we are prepared. But, sweet new life...is always a blessing! And, she loved her own baby, my brother, so dearly that she would have been over the moon that he was going to be a dad. Of course, even in our expectation of this new life, we felt the impact of missing her. At the same time, I felt a closeness with her, knowing that she would want me to make it a happy occasion. She would want this child to be celebrated. So, celebrate, we did.

Two weeks ago today, Max Michael was born to Sean and Megan. And, I couldn't wait to get to the hospital. I felt the waves of missing and closeness to mom, mixing in a contradictory blend that somehow made sense as I drove to the hospital. We waited with Sean until they were ready for us to meet Max, and as we walked into the room, I stopped.




(I cropped her name out so because her maiden name is listed on the sign. But, it was there...and is still on that sign today.)

By sheer "coincidence" (I think not!) unbeknownst to them until later, Megan and Max were place in the room on the OB floor that had been dedicated to our sweet mother. They were in mom's room! Even as I longed for mom to share this moment with us...to oooh and ahhhh over Sean's baby with me...to spoil him as rotten as we spoiled my baby brother so many years ago...it was as if she was there, smiling down on us.

I took Max into my waiting arms and felt a love swell in my heart akin to the love I have felt for my own sweet babes. Again, I smiled, knowing how my mother would love him, just as she would love our brother Chris' son, born in the month of her birth. Somehow I could feel the warmth of her love, as if it were filling my own heart and spilling out on to sweet baby Max. If we can see our loved ones from heaven, I have no doubt that she would have been allowed to peek into that moment. If I know my mother, she would have done all the negotiating heaven would allow to be able to see the birth of her grandbaby.

James and Timothy took turns holding him, and grinned like proud cousins.



Sean looked more like a grown-up than ever to me as he held his look-alike son, and at the same time I could still see the two year old with strawberry blond hair looking up at me from his stroller.

James took these pictures of me with Max...





When I looked at them later, I was stunned as the memories swirled into the reality of the circle of life. I had to look twice because with my hair cut short and the expression on my face, I saw my own mother in the pictures of Max and me...when she welcomed my babies years before. I dug up (and scanned) a picture of her holding James nine years ago.



She may not be here physically, but the evidence of her life undeniably lives on in her children and grandchildren.

Now, I'm off to hold Max for awhile! Have a beautiful day!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Planting Seeds...



This year, we planted a garden for the first time. Tim painstakingly prepared every detail. He tilled the soil, working the ground in preparation for each tiny plant and for every seed. He built a fence around the garden to keep the pesky rabbits from causing certain destruction. We dug our hands in the dirt and planted each one tenderly into the waiting soil, praying that the plants would bear fruit (or vegetable, if you will).










Then, we waited. At first, much to my chagrin, only the brussel sprouts seemed to flourish. I was concerned about the tomato plants, whose growth seemed stunted as they remained unchanged day after day. The zucchini wilted, and seemed lost forever. Tim added Miracle Grow to his daily regimen of weeding and tending to his precious plants, and life was soon restored as they grew inch by inch.

I've been thinking about the planting process in relationship to training our children. We plant seeds of truth into their hearts. Bible verses, teachable moments, time spent speaking of the Lord when we sit down, when we rise up, in the morning, in the evening.

Deuteronomy 11:18-20 (New International Version)
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates...


We spend the time preparing the soil of their hearts to receive each seed of truth. Tilling and toiling in prayer. We ask for grace to cover the moments when we fall short, when we miss a teachable moment, or lack wisdom, or fail to set the right example. We ask that even those moments would be used for good...somehow worked into the soil to nourish their souls. We pray that the seeds would take root, that they would grow and flourish, like a tree planted by the water...that would not bend and break when the winds of life blow and the storms threaten.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. ~ Psalm 1:3

Sometimes, during the growth process, we look at our children and they seem like the zucchini...or maybe the tomatoes. We wonder if they are growing at all. Do the seeds we have planted matter? Is there any hope? Any sign of life? Growing isn't always pretty. Weeds threaten to choke the life out of the tender plants. Sometimes they seem not to grow at all, or grow in strange directions. Pruning, weeding, nurturing, watering, wondering about the end result.

And then, a glimpse of life, a reminder of hope. A compliment from the teacher about your child's manners. A heartfelt gesture of kindness or encouragement. An unprompted act of selflessness or gratefulness. A Father's Day or Mother's Day card that says all the words you're longing to hear. A choice for good when two choices were presented.

We can't always see the growth. We aren't always sure which seeds we plant will bear fruit. But, still, we plant...trusting that God will give the increase...in His perfect time. It is a true walk of faith, the planting of seeds, the nurturing, the watering, the trusting that they will grow. But, it is worth every moment, and every glimpse of hope along the way.



If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. God's ways are as mysterious as the pathway of the wind, and as the manner in which the human spirit is infused into the little body of a baby while it is yet in its mother's womb. Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow - perhaps it all will. ~ Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 TLB

Share your memories on Wednesdays Walk:

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Why we do What we do...

God laid it on our hearts...



To create what didn't exist for us when we once walked a seemingly uncharted path...



For the moments when a mother is desperate to remember if she indeed kissed her sweet baby, smelled his sweet baby smell, held him in her arms...for the moments when she wonders if it was all a dream.



So that aching arms would find comfort and broken hearts will find hope...



So that no mother should walk alone through the valley of sorrow...




Because He comforted us and He desires that we should offer that same comfort to others.