Get to Know You

Get To Know Linda:

Describe your family:

 Husband Dan (Met our Senior Year at Arvada High School) married 21 years. Three sons - Joshua 15 - Aaron 12 - James 10

What are your passions?

Being a good mom & wife. Love to organize/clean!!

When do you become a Christian?

When I was 7 while at our afterschool caregivers house by one of the teenage daughters.

Where is your favorite place that you have traveled?

Dan surprised me with a trip to Germany for our 20th Anniversary to see my favorite castle in Bavaria! Also loved England!

What are your hobbies?

Crazy I know - but I love to Organize and clean! Give me a mess and I love to fix it!

How long have you been attending Arvada Covenant and are you involved (or would like to be involved) in any ministries?

Been attending since May of 1999. Involved with MOPS and served as Co-Coordinator for MOPS A 2003-2005. Then served as Co-Coordinator for Women Ministries 2005-2009 and now serve as Decorations Chair for WM. Have served as a Sunday School teacher for 4 year olds when our sons were younger and also as a Captain for ACKC many years.

Name one way God has given you your heart's desire.

To be blessed with a faithful and loving husband and my three sons!

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

 Here in Arvada, but would love a beach vacation home too.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

All I ever wanted to be was a good mom and hope my son's will think so as they look back when they are grown.

When was the last time you laughed and why?

 Just watched the movie "Old Dogs" and I haven't laughed that much in a long time.

Thanks for sharing, Linda!!

New Oasis Class for Women!

We have an exciting new study being offered at Oasis on Wednesday nights!  Starting April 7th, Karen Johnson will be leading a study on a book  called:

Finding yourself struggling with questions of direction, purpose, passion, work and family balance, courage to make a change, or understanding with a definition of success? Do you wonder what the phrase 'you can have it all' really means? All of these questions deal with one challenge - living a strong life. Come and share in a guided discussion about Marcus Buckingham's new book, Find Your Strongest Life, What the Happiest and Most Successful Women do Differently, during a 6 week class, which will meet on Wednesdays, beginning April 7. Marcus has written many other best selling books as well, and has shared this information on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, The Today Show, Dave Ramsey, and others. He comes with experience in getting to the heart of the matter, via in-depth research by thousands of women. He is a solid Christian man who wants to help every woman re-ignite her personal passion and power to discover the role each of us was meant to play. Participant Study Guide will be provided free of charge! We hope you will check it out!

Get to Know You

Get to Know Jenny:

Nicknames:

Jen

Describe Your Family:

Wonderful husband Ron, and 2 fabulous kids, Toriana 13 (3/20/96) and Reece 10 (10/6/99)

What are your passions?

Entrepreneurship, Jesus, My Kids

When did you become a Christian?

I officially became a Christian in VBS when I was in about 2nd grade.

Where is your favorite place that you have traveled?

Amsterdam

What are your hobbies?

Going to my kids sporting events/activities, working out, walking

How long have you been attending Arvada Covenant and are you involved (or would like to be involved) in any ministries?

2006, Womens' ministries, small group coaching

Name one way God has given you your heart's desire.

My family

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I'm living in my dream house in Arvada.

What do you want to be when you "grow up"?

I got it...a mom, wife and business owner

When was the last time you really laughed and why?

I laugh all the time, but yesterday I belly laughed when my family was playing name that tune and we were all singing in the car!

Special thanks to Jenny for letting us post this!

Spring Retreat Update and Pictures

Our Spring Retreat was held at ALOFT hotel this year!  What a great place to have an event!  It was a time to connect with others, enjoy food, worship, play games, sleep (or not sleep for some of you), laugh, meet new people, and learn about restoration from stories in the Old Testament. Carey Scott, our speaker, mentioned that restoration often starts with going back in order to move forward. Like layers of paint on an antique table, you have to take it down to its original design before you can refinish it with stain and varnish. So it is that God uses the corrosive pieces of our life to eat away false identities and reveal who He made us to be. In essence we are all in the process of being restored! Whether you are in the midst of the harsh corrosive of life or in the healing, know that the Master Carpenter is taking great care of His masterpiece, YOU!  Check out this post for a recap of the weekend!

Barb and Linda: can't get much better than these smiling faces to welcome you

Our evening began with dinner and then worship led by Sara Bieri! She has such a gift for leading worship and it was a great way to prepare our hearts for the message:

Carey Scott introduced us to three Old Testament characters who play a role in restoring Jerusalem from rubble to its former beauty. Our first character, Zerubbabel, showed us that you must restore your relationships. In doing so you will face opposition, but God will send reinforcements to sustain you.  For Zerubbabel, these reinforcements were the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. Those men are the type of people that encourage and help you during your best and darkest of times. Do you have a Haggai or Zechariah in your life? Are you being a Haggai or Zechariah for someone?

Our next character was Ezra and he taught us about restoring our community. Community could mean your church, work, family, neighborhood, or any environment in your life.  Do you think that this is not for you or that God has someone better in mind to restore your community?  One thing we learned from this talk is that God has a purpose and a desire to use anyone who is available. If He can use prostitutes, adulterers, or murderers to make a difference, He can sure use you (no matter what your past is) to make a difference in your community. Are you willing?

Our last character was Nehemiah and he taught us that we cannot give into fear! Some form of "fear not" is used 366 times in the Bible. Clearly it is an important command! What fears or obstacles are keeping you from following God's calling in your life?

Carey shared a genuine and vulnerable message from her heart! I think we can all appreciate a woman who is willing to share with such openness!!

Friday Evening ~ Connecting with Friends, Playing Games, & Meeting New People:

 

 

Playing Games:

Saturday Morning: 

Cheryl and Jessica entertain us and give us some food for thought with their skit about restoration and strippers... a furniture stripper that is. We like to keep it clean at these events! Jessica’s character in the skit was a divorced mother navigating the challenges of single parenthood, relationships and how to restore an old chair. That's where the furniture stripper comes in...and he happens to be a single Christian man who leads a Bible Study (a potential match or what!) We learned that just like this poor chair, we all need restoration in life. See the previous blog post where we have some "Thoughtful Truths" regarding restoration using the analogy of the chair in the skit. Needless to say, I think they managed to make sure we were awake with their play on words!

Barb gives us an update on the Break the Chains event.  Look for info coming soon on the blog.

We also decided to spice the afternoon up by beginning with a purse exchange.  We encouraged women to bring a gently used purse and exchange it in a free for all.  Thankfully no brawls broke out this year! But as you can see we took this exchange seriously! Extra purses will be donated to Theodora House.

Enjoying the beautiful March weather before our Saturday afternoon session:

Cheryl and Kinsey after the retreat:

Are we really happy to have a Spring Retreat under our belts?

Or just delirious...Hard to tell!

We hope you will were able to grow spiritually through this experience!  One of many ways to continue this journey is by using the journals and heart boxes that contain application questions:

Or by investing in your relationships with women at the retreat!  Who is your Haggai or Zechariah?

What a great retreat!! Thank you to everyone who was able to make it. We really tried to capture the weekend through photos of everyone! However, there were a few pictures that didn’t turn out well and were not included! Sorry if I missed you in the photo collection because of that! If there are any specific photos you would like emailed to you, contact Kinsey.

Thoughtful Truths: Restoration

At our retreat this past weekend, I loved the spiritual lesson of the skit.  It's nice to have a little comic relief, yet at the same time provide a unique insight into life. 

I'm in a Bible Study on Monday mornings with a group of gals and we just finished studying redemption and restoration in the previous chapter of our book.  We even just finished the chapter the Monday before the retreat.  We had a story in the beginning of our last chapter that described a very similar situation to that of our skit.  Coincidence??? Well, let's put it this way.  Cheryl is not in my Bible study and I did not help with the skit.  I think God has a sense of humor and impeccable timing!

Let's review parts of the skit!  The two sisters in the skit were talking about life and this old, worn chair. This chair that had been in the family for years.  I imagine the sister who was wanting to restore it (Jessica) chose that chair for a certain reason.  Maybe the relative who originally owned the chair had special meaning to her, maybe she saw it and had the perfect place in her house to put it.  But maybe she felt the chair, like herself, needed restoration and that process may help her in her own life. So Jessica chose to restore this old chair.  She probably had an idea of what she wanted it to look like and where she would put it when it was restored. Her sister (Cheryl) suggested stripping away the paint to restore the natural wood.  I imagine they would have to sand and stain the wood. They also probably had to put a coat of polyurethane to finish the chair and to protect it.  I would also imagine them having to repair loose legs or spindles of the chair that had broke over time.  In the end, it probably took a lot of time but I am sure this chair looked beautiful!

The book we're reading in our Bible Study had a profound quote that related to this.  The book is called He is my Freedom by Debby Alsdorf.  I highly recommend it.  The quote says, "Just like me and my little chair - what once stated out as a broken chair in the heap of junk pile became a treasured possession of mine.  Sure, it took a lot of work.  But the work didn't make it mine, the purchase did.  The work only proved how much I wanted that chair.  The work showed I could see beauty underneath those ugly layers.  The work showed I had a plan and a place for my little treasure and proved that I wanted it." 

Wow...Isn't that a profound picture of what Christ has done for us.  I can't help but think how this parallels our own lives. We too can be broken and worn from life just like the chair. We may also have added a few coats of paint over time to make ourselves look better on the outside. But the truth of the matter is that we all need restoration and redemption. One definition of restore says "to bring someone to an improved condition." What about redeem? It means "to regain, free, or rescue by paying a price or to convert to something of value."

What does the Bible say about these words?

Isa. 43:1: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine."
It could say ~ Fear not, I have rescued you by paying a price and converting you into something of value.  You are mine!

I Peter 5:10 : "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast"
It could say ~ God himself will bring you back to an improved condition making you strong, firm, and steadfast!

I hope the retreat was able to bring to light areas in your life where you may need a little restoration and redemption.  I'm so thankful that we have a God who is in the business of finding the "little chairs" who need restoration, redemption, and healing and making them into his masterpiece.  I hope you will picture that illustration as you allow God to restore and redeem you! I know I need it in my own life!

~Kinsey~

Get to Know You

We thought doing a "Get to Know You" post every few weeks with a different woman from church would be a great way to connect names and faces while learning something new about that person. To get us started we will interview the Vice Chair of Women Ministries, Kinsey Ringenberg:

Kinsey and her husband, Luke, on the top of La Plata Peak:

Nicknames: Kins, Kinzers, Kinsalou, KB, Brookster, Ringadingding

Passions: Jesus, Family, Friends, Women Ministries, Climbing 14ers, Hiking, Fishing, Rock Climbing, Skiing, Shopping, Sleeping, Photography, Decorating, Movies, Reading

Job: Besides being a wife, daughter, sister, and friend (which I think are my most important jobs) I am a pediatric physician assistant (PA). This means I get to see kids for their sick and well visits. I get to do cool things like prescribe medications, suture wounds, educate families and kids about important health issues, make boo boos better, talk with teens about anything (and I mean anything) in their lives, pull kidney beans out of ears and noses, make fashionable casts, do magic tricks, and the list is endless. I am passionate about my job and there is nothing like seeing a sick kid get better or supporting kids and their families as they go through tough times!

My favorite job story: I went in a room and introduced myself to a three year old girl. Me: "Hi there, I'm Kinsey." Girl: "You're Kinsey??!! You growed up!" Mom: "No honey, that's not your friend, McKenzie. She's still three." Girl: "Ohhhhhh =-(." She was so disappointed that I wasn't her friend that magically turned into a grown up over night.

Dream Vacation: I would love to go to either New Zealand or Italy before we have kids. I would also love to go back to Maui.

Challenges: I think the biggest challenge to my faith is my love for scheduling too much in my life and trying to control all those things. I like to think I know better than God about what needs to be done each day. I think our faith and walk with God is a lifelong journey. I keep praying that God would help me to let go of my will and plan for my life and let His plan be my guide. I love the verse that says "Be still and know that I am God." Being still is one of the challenges on my spiritual journey for now.

Hope you enjoyed getting to know me. Stop me in church sometime so I can get to know you!!