Meals of Hope

"Just a a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ...you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." 1 Cor. 12:12, 27

The body of Christ in action is truly a beautiful thing.  This past Saturday, I had the privilege of participating in an outreach event that united around 250 believers throughout the Pittsburgh area in one common goal.  We were packing 100,000 meals for the poor, with plans to distribute them locally as well as in the Dominican Republic.

I remember talking to my pastor over a year ago about doing a meal packaging event, and at the time, the logistics seemed impossible to figure out, so I let it go.  But God's timing is always best...several months ago, He allowed me to cross paths and reconnet with Deana from Network of Hope - a friend from my old church that I hadn't seen in years.  When she contacted me in early summer about the possibility of doing a combined meal packaging event with White Fields (the organization I work for), I was thrilled!  She wanted a lot of the meals for the Hope for the 'Burgh event she was planning, and wondered if we wanted any for the ministry in the Dominican.  Of course we said yes, and then watched with excitement as God began opening the doors for all the details to fall into place.

World Vision has a huge warehouse here in Pittsburgh, and they graciously allowed us to use their facility...their staff was wonderful and did everything they could to make the day go smoothly, even donning hair nets and aprons to help package the food.  

Sticking labels on the "beans and rice" bags

My dad has a gift for making any mundane task into a fun game :)

As I was walking around and taking pictures throughout the day, it was beautiful to see so many people, from different churches and denominations, working together with a common goal.  It struck me that when the body of Christ works together as it should, so much more can be accomplished for His kingdom.  Together, we packaged almost 100,000 meals for the poor...yes, it required teamwork and humility (who loves wearing hair nets? :) and patience with each other.  But that's the beauty of it, I believe...and the fellowship that comes when you're working like that with united believers is like nothing else...a little glimmer of the joy that awaits us in heaven.

So thank you to Deana from Network of Hope, and the World Vision staff, and Bobby from Meals of Hope who set us up with the food supplies we needed, and the men with White Fields Foundation, and the pastors, and church members and adults and teenagers who showed me what love looks like in giving up a Saturday morning to serve.  

I am blessed.

Photo Booth Fun

So this was my first experience shooting "photo booth style", and it was a blast!  My sister Bex wanted a photo booth at her graduation party, and she did the majority of the work in assembling all the props...she put together a fabulous array of dress-up clothes and props...

...the girls all loved it...

...the boys...not so much. :)

I learned a few things...

...like, make sure the backdrop is ironed next time...

...and strictly ban from the general area the use of water guns or
anything that might create spots on the backdrop.

It was great seeing everyone's personalities come out in how they dressed up...

Fun times!!  Definitely worth the little extra time and effort :)