Monday, May 25, 2009

From vacation...an update

Last Thursday we had a fabulous time hanging out with our new friend, Dave, at his house…planting flowers, bulbs and helping with his landscaping, not mention playing with his dogs – my kids’ favorite.
Maybe I should explain. When More than more was conceived, it was designed to not be focused mostly about itself – we wanted to have looking outward from the group to be literally in the fabric of who we were. We do this on a daily basis, looking for people to care about and to share the message of More than more – that there is more to life than just all the things that most Americans live for and that we find the real More by noticing – with. This is a beautiful thing: to be able to show people how to live life more fully, more wonderfully (or maybe more wonder filled?) and we love it!
One of the ways we wove looking outward into the group was that we committed, from the beginning, to doing something kind for someone in the community about every 5ht or 6th time we met. Over the months this has taken different forms, but always really cool. We cleaned out a garage, washed windows and trimmed hedges, thanked nursing home nurses and staff and firemen, and helped a family move into their first real home! This time with Dave was another one of these really cool opportunities. Dave is totally into plants. You should see his garden – he calls it the gardens of chaos, but it is not – it is beautiful! The problem is that Dave lost much of his ability to walk last winter when a devastating infection damaged his spinal cord and the nerves to his legs. It is a wonder that he is alive, much less able to walk with the walker (and eventually without it Dave!) Yet, the task of planting his annuals seemed too big to conquer. That is where some loving people from More than more who just care, because the real God gives them real love in their hearts for real people, show up and plant all those flowers, and then spend some time just enjoying the conversation and friendship there in Dave’s front yard. It was really fun – if you missed, I’m sorry, but there will be more!
This is the kind of group we are. We care about people. Not because we are somehow super human, or perfect, but because we are learning to love, for real…from the One, the More, who made love in the first place…and who makes life worth living.

We will be getting together again on May 28th, at McAllister Center in Lafayette, 20th and Schuyler, 6:45-8:00PM. As always, there will lots for the kids to do and safe, quality childcare. We hope you will join us – if this is the kind of life you want to live.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Last time & this time

Sorry it has been so long...
We had a fabulous time last time we met, almost 2wks ago - we enjoyed the amazingnes of God as we obsevred the growth of beans - basically, i just planted beans about every other day for about 3wks and brought the little plants in. We then appreciated how cool it is that all the wonderful plants around us grow...seed, seedling, plant, then more seeds...It is amazing to see, all around us, the wonder of ongoing creation - i would suggest that you notice God in the world around you today and celebrate his bigness.

We then shared concerns confidentially - it was really good, as always. Over these 2 wks we invite God to help andjoin us in the middle of our problems and this make a huge difference.

Finally, we shared some time telling stories about how we have begun to make the change from going after all the stuff most people go after to going after God - it was really interesting to hear the stories of different people who have found help in changing their lives in many different ways - including, giving to others, in nature, in reading, in relationships (healthy ones) and on and on. It can be done, this changing over to a life that is fulfilling, meaningful and worthwhile, it is just harder than you might expect


This week - actually tomorrow, we will be having one of our community outreach nights - we will be going to David Kniola's house - This is a great guy who this last winter had some terrible medical luck and ended up only able to walk (after a great deal of work) with a walker - this is totally not his style and he usually has tons of plants around his house, but he cannot do it because of his problems with walking. so, we are going to meet at his house - 951 S. 750 E Lafayette, at 6:30 PM tomorrow and help him do up his yard (which he says is usually called organized chaos). He tells me he has everything we need - but you could probably bring some gardening tools and let's all plan to have tons of fun! He is so excited to hang out with everyone and just enjoy some company!

He is the google maps link http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=951+South+750+East+LAfayette,+IN&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=50.424342,60.820313&ie=UTF8&ll=40.403301,-86.7659&spn=0.095556,0.11879&z=13&iwloc=A

In 2 weeks, we will be back at McAllister - and will have a great time there - but we will be starting right at 6:45, because McAllister is on their summer hours then! Still, please come whatever time you can make it!!

We will be thrilled to have you!!!