The Kind of Love that Lays it All Down...

God often works in themes when He's teaching us something. At least that is my experience. Lately, His theme with me has included addressing old wounds...revealing neglected hurts...and allowing Him to heal the oozing mess inside. The path to healing isn't exactly what I expected. As with most of God's ways, it doesn't make sense by the world's wisdom standards. But, spiritually...it makes perfect sense.

The path to healing involves learning to lay it all down...

Last week, I opened James' Great Adventure Bible for his bedtime devotion, and I was promptly smacked right between the eyes with this...

Love Passage for Kids

If I can speak beautifully and sing like an angel, but don't love others, I sound like a child banging on a piano or a screeching radio. If I'm very smart - almost a genius - but don't love others. I am nothing.

Love will stand in line and wait its turn.

Love looks for the good in others.

Love doesn't always want what others have, and it doesn't brag about what it does have.

Love is polite, even when the other person is rude.

Love doesn't have to be first.

Love doesn't get angry over small things, and it doesn't remember one reason after another to be hurt.

Love isn't happy when someone else fails but is happy with the truth.

Love will always protect others, especially those who are often picked on or teased.

Love always believes the best about others and is steady and true.

Love never gives up.

The three most important things to have are faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
~ I Corinthians 13

I've mentioned before that I'm not really a grudge-keeper. Frankly, there just isn't room for all the heavy, nor energy to keep myself feeling hurt and angry. I never thought that the verse about keeping a record of wrongs was about me. Until I read the children's version of the chapter. While teaching James, I was being taught...as is usually the case.

A pastor once said that we can measure whether we are truly loving others by inserting our own name in place of  the word love in each verse. James and I inserted our names and felt the conviction set in, groaning a little after each one. I ended the lesson with the truth that we can never love others this way in our own power. We will always fall short, and we need the Holy Spirit to teach us to love...to love others through us.

The words: 
Love doesn't get angry over small things, and it doesn't remember one reason after another to be hurt.

Love looks for the good in others....

Love believes the best about others...

...ran through my head as I pictured the few people in my life I've struggled to love. If you asked me, I'd say, "Sure, I love that person." But, when I measure my behavior against God's word, I have to admit, I have failed. I have failed to always find the good. I don't often get angry over small things...but what about the bigger things? The things that leave wounds that run deep? I thought of how I have allowed certain hurts to run through my mind over and over, pushing out my love for the person. Replaying hurts, clinging to them, instead of to the Lord....that isn't love. Love looks for the good in others...believes the best...always protects.

Love...lays it all down. The expectations we have, the disappointments, the hurts. Love lays it all down. What if we loved like that? What if we looked at our family...our friends...our loved ones and really laid it all down at the feet of Jesus? What if we embraced the relative at every gathering that drinks too much and says inappropriate things? What if we reached out in genuine love to the one who caused our festering wounds? What if we released them and most of all ourselves from the grip of unforgiveness? What if we lay down our expectations of what a mother, father, child, sister, brother, husband, friend, aunt, uncle, or grandparent should do, be, or say...and just enjoy the person before us...just as they are? What if we closed our eyes to the things that annoy and disappoint us...and even the things that are meant to hurt us intentionally? What if we could carry those hurts to the feet of Jesus and leave them there?

We can, you know...

It isn't easy...and it hurts. But, we can lay it all down. And, how free and light we will be when we do.  I'm learning...and trying...and sometimes failing and falling. But, while I'm weak...He is strong. Through my brokenness, He will bring healing and restoration. For now, my (sometimes difficult) prayer is that God will give me eyes to see those before me as He does...that He will enable me to love the person before me. To lay it all down, and allow His grace and love to pour over us.

I used to want to protect my children from the ways others can disappoint them. I wanted to keep them from every imperfection in others...from every poor influence. I have realized along the way that I was wrong. While I still believe children should be protected to some extent from certain influences and we should guard what their eyes see and what their ears hear, I no longer believe they can be sheltered from being around people who may let them down. It's not possible, and it's not teaching love. How will others know the love of Jesus if we hide our light under a bushel? Sometimes, we have to venture into the dark in order to shine our light.


Man...I don't want to miss it. One of my favorite things He does is to make something beautiful out of so much ugly...to restore the broken...to save the lost...to transform a life. I don't want to miss out on that...so I'm praying and one baby step at a time, with His help, learning to love with abandon. (O.K...so I'm learning slowwwwwly...but He's not finished with me yet!)

Love to all...

Book and Wild Olive T-shirt Giveaway Winners...and a prayer request...

Heaven is for Real Winner...

Jenn from Faith Hope Joy

Leaving (by Karen Kingsbury)...

Java Diva

Winners of the Wild Olive T-shirts:

Rob's Farmgirl
and
Karen from On Having Faith


Congrats...please email me your address so I can ship your prizes!

PRAYER REQUEST:
Please pray for Katie and family as they wait to meet their sweet baby girl...Jesus be near to this mom and her family...may they feel your hand on them every step of the way...please bless every moment of this gift of time.

New Walking With You...Helping my Monkey...and a Wild Olive T-shirt Giveaway!

For the first time since February, there is a new Walking With You post up. Could you please do me a huge favor...if there's anyone out there anymore? I shared about a mother walking the path many of us have walked. Her name is Katie, and her baby girl, Evangeline Joy has been diagnosed with Potters Syndrome. She is in her final trimester, and prayerfully awaiting the arrival of her precious baby girl. She just started a blog, and I would love to flood her with encouragement, so that she knows she does not walk this path alone. Will you please join me. Stop by her blog and leave a comment of love and encouragement. Let this mama know that we are praying for her and her family...that they are not walking alone. That's why we started WWY in the first place. I hope you will take a minute to do this. It would mean so much to this grieving mother's heart.


In other mamas-we-can-help news, my monkey Mattie shared about a way you can get a gorgeous Wild Olive T-shirt AND help sweet Mattie raise the funding needed to adopt their baby. Mattie is the mother to Ethan and to two children in heaven: Shyla and Jakin. She is a beautiful mother inside and out...a mom I've had the privilege to meet and hug in person. Click here to read how you can get a Wild Olive Tee Shirt and help my Mattie-girl.

And....
Because I love Mattie, I love grace, I love the verse on this T-shirt, I love Wild Olive, and I love you....


                            (back of shirt)







We're giving away two shirts from the adoption fundraiser on this post!! One sized medium and one large.

There are several ways you can enter to win:
(Please leave a separate comment for each one you do. Please also specify the size you want. Choices are medium or large. We can also order another size if needed.)

1. Leave a comment on this post.
2. Get an additional entry if you are a follower of this blog.
3. Get an additional entry if you are a follower of the Sufficient Grace Facebook page.
4. Get two additional entries if you leave a comment encouraging Katie on her blog. (yes, I'm bribing you to encourage this sweet mom...and no, I don't feel guilty about it!).
5. Get an additional entry for sharing this post on Facebook.
6. Get 5 additional entries for every Wild Olive Shirt you order toward Mattie's  adoption fundraiser. There are a lot of other styles to choose from! Please remember to enter Mattie's code at the "enter coupon" section before checking out: WELLS0417

Please Show Some WWY Love to Katie, Mommy to Evangeline Joy

I cannot believe it has been so long since we've had a Walking With You post! I have been praying about where to go from here, and considering doing some changing around with my blog/website. Perhaps we will start another Walking With You segment where we tell our stories like we did in the beginning. There are many new mothers out there...and some veterans to this grief walk. I think we could be a support and encouragement to one another. That is what we are called to do after all...to offer comfort and hope to those who are hurting...the same comfort and hope that we received from God in our time of need. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

On that note, I want to ask you a favor. The cousin of a dear friend of mine is awaiting the arrival of her precious baby girl, Evangeline Joy. Evangeline has been diagnosed with Potters Syndrome (the same ailment that our Thomas had). Evangeline's beautiful mother, Katie, just started a blog to share her journey. Would you join us in welcoming Katie to blog world and let her know that you are willing to walk with her and pray with her...to encourage her and let her know she doesn't walk alone? I'm not sure how many of you there are out there. But, I would love to see her blog flooded with comments. It will only take a few minutes of your time, and it will be a great blessing to this sweet mama.

And...I'd love to hear how all of you are doing in the comments. Let me know...still thinking of and praying for you ladies.

Have You Ever Wished You Had a Giant Dumpster in Your Front Yard?

O.K., be honest. Have you ever wished just for a moment that you could back a giant dumpster up to your garage and start filling it up with all the stuff that's accumulated in your house for years? There have been times when I've wished it...I won't lie. But, I wasn't wishing for it the week before last when our washer flooded the entire upstairs and most of our basement.

I wasn't wishing for it, but it turns out that the experience has been quite cleansing. The Great Gerken Flood 2011, like many things in my life, isn't something I would have asked for. In fact, I was shocked and devastated the moment I walked into the chaos that began a week ago Thursday and continues as I look around my house at plywood floors ten days later. But like all difficult, stripping things we walk through in this life, there has been great beauty and blessing rising up from the ashes (or the flood waters, rather). Great freedom in letting go. I sorted through my mother's boxes and cried the ugly cry. But, it is finished now, and I feel a bit lighter. We tore up most of the flooring in our tiny house...the last bit being the bathroom, which will be coming up soon.

This disorganized messy, who would much rather wax poetic on my blog, weaving tales with words than sort, organize, clean and care for the home that I used to take such pride in as a young bride...is singing a much different tune. I'm not loving every minute of it. Waking up each day and knowing that I will work on my house until my bones and muscles cry out from the aching is new for me. I'd much rather curl up with a good book, frolic in the swimming pool, play a round of golf. I have been flung into a world that has been mostly avoided and neglected for the past six years or so. Windows with years of film...neglected by the woman of the house...along with wood work that needs cleaning, walls that need painting, furniture that needs dusting, curtains that need washing. Somehow the cleaning up of all the debris, the sorting through years of stuff, only reveals more that needs cleaning.

But, it's a good hurt. It's a good hurt for me to humbly realize all that I've neglected. It's a good hurt to see God's grace in revealing it to me...and quite frankly everyone else in my life...including the strangers who drive by and see my full dumpster in the front yard. There is freedom in the stripping...freedom in the clearing away of unnecessary debris. Granted, I am sad for some of the things filling that dumpster. But, they are just things after all. And, as my house gets pruned, stripped, and cleaned, I feel the Lord pruning, stripping, and cleansing away a lot of the unnessessary stuff in me. Revealing what needs to be healed, and pouring His grace over each wound.

Out from beneath the rubble, we pulled the best "Kid's Meal" prize in the history of "Kid's Meal Prizes"...Timothy's Woody toy that he received as a preschooler from a Burger King Meal. I squeezed his tummy and heard as clear as the first time, "You're my favorite deputy." A big sigh from my mama-heart as I showed my now seventeen year old boy his old toy.

As I work each day, the memories flood my mind and heart. When the floors were stripped away, revealing the plywood subfloor beneath, I remembered young Timothy, just shy of two years old, riding his school bus through the house on the same newly built floors before my signature 1995 burgundy/mauve carpet was laid, his toddler chatter echoing through the rooms. Tim and I were just nineteen years old when we built our little house. This week, my house filled with ladies who generously donated the day to paint almost every room in my house, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of their gift...overwhelmed with the love and generosity. My mother-in-law brought a posse of painters to join the boys and me, and my friend Lynnette showed up with her two strapping sons and lasagna for dinner. As Lynette, Tracy, and I scraped the border and taped the trim the day before, I thought of my mother helping me hang border for the first time. As I took down the curtains she gave me, I smiled, knowing if she were here she would be all up in this surprise remodel.

We smoothed a fresh coat of paint over James' room, and I remembered the months we waited for our baby girls, planning a pink nursery with my mother. Then, later hoped for Thomas to fill the green room with little boy fun. And, the years we were resigned to make it a spare room instead of a nursery...until a sweet surprise came in the form of our James. I remembered the years I spent wishing for a bigger house, and the years I spent learning to be grateful for this little house. I thought of my mother as I rolled the fresh paint on the walls, and how the touches of a woman make up her home...telling the story of her life.

Right now, I am grateful for the cleansing...grateful for the healing...grateful for the Lord's ability to make beauty from ashes...

And, as I close my eyes at the end of each day, sometimes crying cleansing tears...sometimes tears of gratefulness and awe...I hear Him whisper to my heart..

"Behold...I make all things new..."

Ripping off the Band Aid

Last Thursday, I was coming home from a lovely dinner with The Vollmers, and chatting on my cell phone with Becki in the garage, when James ran out with his usual dramatic flair shouting these three words,

“The washer overflowed.”

We’ve been joking about my washer for awhile. We have to give it a push to get it to go to the spin cycle. Tim said perhaps it was previously owned by The Fonz. While I have felt tempted to give a Fonzie-like “Eyyyyyyy”…with two thumbs up each time I pound the washer in just the right place to get it to do it’s job, I have found the scene from The Coal Miner’s Daughter where Loretta Lynn is trying to write a song and she has to keep kicking her old-school jalopy of a washer to get it to go to the next cycle much more fitting. So, if I’m on the phone with my girl Tracy when the washer gets stuck, I just start crooning in my best hillbilly drawl (nowhere near as good as Loretta, I’m sure)…”I’m just a coal miner’s daughter…” as I pound on my washer.

Yep…I know…sounds glamorous, right?

It's only even been stuck on the spin cycle, but Thursday something much different happened. This time, it stuck on the fill cycle....and no one knew it until it reached every room in the house. The funny thing is, for the past couple weeks, out of the blue, the washer has worked, switching to spin on its own. A miracle! Perhaps it thought we needed a break. After all, every vehicle in the Gerken household has been in the shop the past couple weeks for major repairs. My jalopy jeep is still making some strange noise…in fact, I’m pretty sure it’s a noise it wasn’t making when it went into the shop. Our bathroom drain is giving us fits. The internet works sometimes. Only some of the channels we are supposed to get are coming in on the TV. I could go on, but you get the idea. I shared the revelation with Tim about the washer, and he said, “I noticed that. Maybe it gave up, realizing we weren’t going to replace it, so it just decided to work. We waited it out…and we won.”

Perhaps the washer heard our boast. Perhaps it was merely lying in wait, trying to lull us into a false sense of security. Whatever the case, the washer most certainly had the last laugh. It’s ultimate demise began with those three words.

“The washer overflowed.”

And when I opened the door to the house on Thursday evening I stood in utter awe at the destruction before me. Water oozed like fountains throughout the hallway, into the bedrooms and bathroom, overflowing to the kitchen, seeping through the floor. I ran to the basement where I surveyed what appeared to be waterfalls pouring through the ceiling on to the furnace, scanning the length of the basement through the floor boards above…leaking onto the boxes of stuff I have allowed to accumulate. Ministry items, personal items, paperwork, pictures, clothes, my mother’s things. All stuff left for another time. Piles I had allowed to wait for me to organize…when life was less busy, when the immediate needs of the day were less pressing…when I was ready to look through the pictures, ready to face mom’s things and make a decision about what to do.

 And, now I rushed frantically, grabbing ministry items first: Comfort Bears, Dreams of You Books, our new banner, boxes of paperwork. I ran through the waterfalls, still shocked, my mouth agape in wonder that this was actually happening. I bit back tears as I gripped slippery, soaked boxes and shouted to James to get me towels to dry what I could once I rescued the items from the waterfall. My feet splashed through inches of water puddling around and over my sandals.

Upstairs, Tim brought out his tiny shop vac to extract what water he could from our fifteen year old carpet, after shutting off the water to the washer. Gallons and gallons of water, he sucked into the machine and emptied only to fill it again and again. I heard James slip and fall in one of the puddles, and Tim’s daddy voice telling him to find somewhere dry and stay put. Timothy came home and helped me move some boxes. Tim’s shop vac ran on. We worked into the night, finally plugging in the fans to dry what was left and collapsing into bed at about 1:00am.

The next day as we began to call the insurance company and further assess the damage, we started to look for the silver lining. At least I was home for the summer…not working at school. At least the golf outing was already finished and not looming ahead while I tried to make all the necessary arrangements to clean up the mini-disaster. When we tear out all the carpet, I can finally paint the rooms that have been waiting for me to paint. I will have no excuse to clean and sort the basement…going through mom’s things…doing all that I have put off for the past several years. And, most obvious, we are all o.k. and there are much worse disasters that people endure than this. We think of the victims of floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis…and realize that we have so much to be grateful for.  As my very helpful insurance agent said, “At least there are still things to search through.” Yes, indeed. And, we are grateful.

As I began the sorting/cleaning process Friday and Saturday, I realized that these tasks that I’ve avoided like the plague were about to be priority number one for the next couple weeks. I will eat, sleep, and breathe sorting, cleaning, and organizing. Three things that were weaknesses in me before my mother passed. But, since then, I’ve sunk to a new level, and stayed as far as possible from the boxes. I’ve avoided and allowed things to pile to the point where it is overwhelming to think about. Mostly in the basement. The basement has been my secret….my embarrassing secret. Timothy teased that maybe I had a condition like on the show “Hoarders” (And, yes…I know that people suffer from heart-breaking conditions that cause certain behaviors, and it’s no laughing matter…so please do not think I mean any disrespect. Nor did he. Teasing is simply the love language of the Gerken family.)

I thought what he said was silly. After all, I don’t hang on to things that have no value. I can throw away things that are obviously garbage. I don’t consider myself to be a pack rat, keeping things that shouldn’t be kept. What I have done is avoid dealing with things that require a thought, emotional attachment, or decision. Like boxes of my mother’s things. Things that open up feelings that I don’t have the energy to feel. I’ve done my best to stay frozen in time, allowing it all to pile up. Not going forward, not moving on. Just stuck.

Like ripping off a bandaid, there would be no time to contemplate, to rationalize, to formulate a plan to avoid the tasks. The bandaid was ripped off, and my wound is gaping. Last night, I reached her boxes….the scrapbooking items she maniacally ordered from QVC, her sewing materials, pictures the boys drew for their Ma-Ma, some of it stained with water spots, some still dripping and some salvageable. The tears puddled at the corners of my eyes as I pulled items from Timothy’s elementary school years, streaked with water. But, they overflowed like a dam breaking when I pulled from the rubble pictures of my mother, young and vibrant…full of life and promise. The pain slammed full force, releasing in heaving sobs, tightening my chest. There is a reason beyond my dislike for taking the time to clean and organize, beyond the excuses of busyness I’ve claimed, a reason that I have avoided these boxes. Tears poured as I mopped up sopping items and saved what I could. I kept moving through the sobs, thinking that really it is time. It is past time. I felt the shame of allowing the piles to go so long, mixed with the grace of knowing that I only longed to protect myself from this pain. Kind of silly for a grown woman, isn’t it? Thinking that I could hide by avoiding boxes of stuff, thinking that her life…my life lived in those boxes. We human beings really are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Three words ripped off a big band aid, and my wounds are gaping. But, sometimes the band aid has to come off, so that the wound can heal. I asked God what was happening at first. After all, He knows that Tim is trying to work two jobs and we are already drowning in busy and broken stuff, and not enough. But, I get it…or I’m starting to. God always wants more for us than we realize we need. His ways are not our ways for a reason. He doesn’t want me stuck, hiding under piles of boxes. He doesn’t want band aids covering deep wounds. He wants healing, letting go, moving forward, trusting Him, obeying, keeping an orderly home (for my sake and the sake of my family), being real.

In the next few days, we will be cleaning up and tearing the carpet out of our entire first floor so they can bring new, and painting the walls, too. That means not only our entire basement, but every closet and room in our house is going to be gutted and all furniture removed from the house. (Talk about ripping off a band aid!! Ha!) So, we may slip a little further behind on SGM stuff. Please bear with us and pray for us. We are all fine, and still laughing for the most part. We are thankful for a God who provides, for good insurance, and good friends and family. The load of laundry I was washing at Tim’s mother’s house is finished, so I need to get back to the site of The Great Gerken Flood 2011 ( or maybe...The Washer's Revenge...a good title is everything, you know). Thanks for letting me pour out my heart…for loving me anyway, and for your prayers.

Love to all…

Musings on Leaving and Heaven, Summer Reading, and Some Giveaways!

You know mama likes to read, right?

Well...I do...very much. In the summer, when I was young, I used to spend my time swimming and reading. When I wasn't riding my bike all over town with my friend, Nicki, of course. Now I spend my summer days catching up on SGM work, walking the golf course as my youngest son's "caddy" (a.k.a. scorekeeper), swimming with rowdy boys and listening to their boastful talk, and curling up with a book when I'm able. Sometimes, James and I like to lay a blanket in the shade and read outdoors. Ahhh...summer, how I love thee.

I've already read a couple books this summer, and thought I'd share some thoughts with you. And, you know...give away a copy of some of my recent favorites to a couple lovely commenters on this post.

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo (picture from www.amazon.com)

It's no secret that those of us who have a few "treasures in heaven" often wonder about the place. I admit, when my daughters made heaven their home, a longing was born in my heart that grew from the initial spark that had been placed there when I accepted Jesus as my Savior. Each time I have said goodbye to someone I love, the longing grows deeper and stronger still. This place where there will be no tears, no sickness, no death, no cancer, no bad guys, no leaving, no unmet expectations, no heartbreak, no goodbyes. This place lit by God's glory...what is it like? We look for hints in His word, hints from the glimpses we have on the sidelines as we've watched them leave.

Because of the longing and wondering, I enjoy books that share a piece of heaven. And, Heaven is for Real is no exception. I found this book to be quite believable. We want confirmation, don't we? We want to be sure that His promises are real...that He really is preparing a place for us...as He promised. We have to trust...to believe without seeing, until the day when all will be revealed. For now, I enjoyed the perspective of this book from a little boy's heart...the child-like faith, the reminder that we will meet our loved ones again, the truth that Jesus is all He says He is, the evidence that our babies live on in heaven's glory. The part where he meets his sister...the one that his mother carried briefly in her womb, before miscarrying...a sister he didn't know that he had...of course, I found that part most touching of all. I love that we will know as we are known. My babies, my mother, and so many more....I will be with them one day. What a glorious promise. What a hope we have!

-------------------------------------------------

Leaving by Karen Kingsbury

I've also started Karen Kingsbury's latest series: The Bailey Flannigan Series, with the first book, Leaving. A fitting title for this season of my life...a mother anticipating her son's senior year of high school, and a goodbye that seems impossible when just yesterday I was holding his tiny chubby hand to cross the street. Or at least it seems like just yesterday. And, a daughter still working through the loss of her mother five years later. Suddenly thrust back to the moments as a little girl when our family was broken, when I first learned that sometimes dads leave...places of my heart I'd rather not visit. So, why now?

The book begins with a pastor's message that spoke directly to something I've been pondering in my heart lately:

"Goodbyes were one of the hardest things about life...one way or another people were always leaving. Always moving on...Life changes. People come and go, and seasons never last."

"Nothing stays the same. We can count on that. Good times come and go...finances are ever changing...our health will eventually fail us. And through death or decision, everyone we know will someday leave us."

"All except for Jesus Christ. Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. And because of that we have strength to love with all our hearts...even unaware of what tomorrow brings. That's what I want you to take away from today's service. Jesus stays."
(Leaving, Chapter One: by Karen Kingsbury)

If you read here much, you know I love me some Karen Kingsbury. I devour her books, especially those on the fictional Baxter and Flannigan families. While her books always speak to my heart some truth from scripture, I also read them because they're entertaining, well-written, captivating, and I can relate to the characters.

But this book. Those beginning words drew me in because they were personal. They were the words God wanted me to read right now. For this season of life.

Recently, some hurts from my past have been bubbling up, unexpected for a fairly secure, well-loved wife and mama in her mid-thirties. Why now? Why am I having so many struggles with hurts I believed were healed the day Jesus Christ entered my weary, broken heart? What do I do with these feelings, unbidden, but demanding my attention? Is it my mother's passing...the one earthly constant in my life since birth...that has triggered these flashes of memories, of times when someone I loved...someone I expected to stay...walked away? Was she the bandaid that covered those hurts, like only a mother does...and now they are revealed? What do I do with those feelings?

While no stranger to grief, I am not a wallower by any means. So, I'm not a fan of all this emotion bubbling up. It's been brewing now, for some time. I want to give it all over to the Lord, work through it, get rid of it, stop feeling it all. But, I'm not really sure how to do any of that. So, I pray...I feel...I talk about it to those close to me. And, I wait on Him to work...to lead me to healing and restoration.

In the meantime, His reminder:

Everyone leaves. Everyone lets us down. Everyone walks away...whether through decision or death. But, Jesus stays.

Jesus stays. Cling to Him.

I love how God finds us and speaks to our hearts...where ever we may be. (He spoke to my heart, confirming an answer to prayer, through a Veggie Tales movie last night, but that's another story for another time!)

O.K....after all that heavy, how about some fun? I'd like to give away a copy of Heaven is for Real and Leaving. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment and mention which one you would like or if you would like to win either book, you can say that!

SGM Golf Outing 2011 ~ Blessed Beyond Words!!!

Saturday, June 4, 2011, we held the fourth annual Sufficient Grace Ministries Golf Outing at the Country Acres Golf Club in Kalida, Ohio. There were more than fifty people in attendance at the outing and dinner following. Thirteen teams of golfers participated and several people joined us for dinner, including a very special family, The Vollmers. There were more than thirty hole sponsors and co-sponsors, a beverage sponsor, and a dinner sponsor. Many great door prizes were donated as well.

The golf outing itself raised about $3,000. But, there was another surprise in store for us. In addition to the golf festivities, Dan and Nancy Vollmer hosted a raffle in memory of their son, Michael. And we had the privilege of their attendance at the golf outing and the announcement of the raffle winners. The Michael Clifford "Peanut" Vollmer Memorial Raffle was supposed to benefit Sufficient Grace Ministries and The Nathan Michael King SIDS Foundation. However, Bradley King sent a letter to the Vollmers and requested that all of the money from the raffle would go solely to Sufficient Grace, since we are local to the Vollmer family. Dan and Nancy are such amazing parents, and have done so much to honor the memory of their son, Michael. So many families have been helped already by this generous family....but the past several weeks, they have been working to do more.

And, they did...much more. Above and beyond anything we could have imagined...

After Nancy shared the touching story of Michael's life, and some equally touching words about how Sufficient Grace ministered to their family during their time of grief, we drew the names for the winners of the awesome prizes donated by the Vollmer family:

1st place Archie Griffin autographed jersey: Val Schulze
2nd place Archie Griffin autographed OSU football: Denise Doenges  
3rd place restaurant gift card: Summer Banks

So, would you like to know how much the raffle raised to support SGM?

$3,365!!!!!!!!!

We have a big God...and wonderful friends. The Vollmers and their beautiful friends and family blessed our socks off, along with all of our own generous friends. It left me speechless...for a few seconds at least! ;)

So...combining the golf outing and the raffle, $6,365 was earned for Sufficient Grace this weekend! Woot!

It didn't rain on our parade. In fact, quite the opposite. The sun was hot and bright. The skies were blue. And our cups overflowed with blessing (and strawberry lemonade of course), as laughter continually spilled from our mouths...and just a few sweet tears fell as we remembered. After an opening prayer, the golfing and goofing were on!

Team Sufficient Grace was on par this year.

There was Raechel "Watch out for that pothole" Feehan...

And Nicki "Yeah, I golfed 18 holes with the same ball - what!" Strunk...

Dude...where's my ball? I dunno dude...

Kelly "Drink your own pop" Gerken

Brooke "Clutch Hitter" Amspoker

                                                    And James..."I'll be your caddy and hit great shots to save the team"

My Tims (in the middle) and their team, coach Kyle McGraw and Paul Wright...

First place winners...Mark, Mike, Denny, and Ben

Second Place...Jimmy, Wally, Dave, and Gary

Third Place went to Mike Gilsdorf's team...only two are pictured here, though...

Special thanks to the men who joined us from our Harvest Fellowship Family...

I didn't get to see Holly and Kristina a bunch, but I did get a quick hug...and a whole lot of laughs from viewing their pictures. I don't know what was going on, but these girls looked like they were getting their fun ON!

                                                                                 

                                                                                         

To view many more pictures, visit the Sufficient Grace Facebook Page.

It was another great SGM Golf Outing...and we can't say thank you enough to all of you who made this amazing event possible.

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SGM Golf Outing 2011

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:

The 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 for taking pictures at the event

The Micheal Clifford "Peanut" Vollmer Family ~ Dan & Nancy Vollmer

                                                           
Beverage Sponsor ~ Deitering Landscaping, Inc.

Dinner Sponsor ~ Ned & Tracy Sponsler

Hole Sponsors

In Loving Memory of Kathy Rutter

In Loving Memory of Faith, Grace,and Thomas Gerken

In Loving Memory of Kelly Michelle Sponsler Daughter of Tracy and Ned Sponsler

Haas Family ~ In Loving Memory of Carleigh and Jordan Haas
In Loving Memory of Jordan Bodey
In Memory of Michael Clifford "Peanut" Vollmer
Sufficient Grace Ministries
Rodenberger Funeral Home
Floral Art ~ YourHome Decorating Store ~ Downtown Napoleon
Teresa Rohrs ~ Optometrist
State Farm Insurance – DarleneSteiner
B.A. Miller & Sons Trucking
Avina Specialties Inc. ~Embroidery and Silk Screening ~ Napoleon
Pro-Tec Coating Company ~ Leipsic, Ohio
The Parry Family
My Forever Child
Davis Farm Services
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. ~ ElectricalContractors ~ Dave Nickels
Isaac Delisle Foundation
Zachrich Funeral Home
Richard and Sue Souvenier
Jimmy and Lisa Niese
Madge Schmidt ~ In Memory of Dekar Ezri Schmidt
Verhoff Machine & Welding Inc.
Sunderman & Rode ~ Attorneys at Law
James Kieffer

Door Prizes & Donations

Subway ~Deshler
Ron’s Super Valu
NAPA Auto ~ Deshler
10K Korner Mart
My Image Salon
Marathon~ Deshler
Defiance Regional Medical
Roses & Ribbons
Christman Brothers
WalMart~ Findlay
Meijer~Findlay
Blue Flame
Sufficient Grace Ministries
Country Acres
Deborah Pucci
Russ & Renee Wenzinger
Candy Creations Bouquet~
Teresa Brown
Henry County Hospital
Widewater