Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas from the Laras

May this day, and everyday, be a Christ-filled day.


// today i'm thankful for:
1. Deborah
2. Anna
3. Danielle
4. Julia
5. Rachel
6. Baby Jesus!
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|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 9:53 AM Comments: 0

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Tuesday, December 19, 2006

fa la la la la . . . la la la . . . la

it's that time of year again. we've got our annual Christmas Party tonight @ 7.00 pm at the church. hope to see you there. we'll have some munchies, games, videos, caroling, and some exciting news!

see ya tonight!

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 4:34 PM Comments: 0

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Friday, December 15, 2006

there's no sound


just a little weirdness from abe.

anyways . . . the movie night is tomorrow at 7pm. i'm not sure what the movie is (Holly said she had a great one, so she's bringing it). but we hope to see you at the church @ 7 on saturday. i'll be calling some of you to make sure you don't come tonight.

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 10:28 AM Comments: 0

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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

question of the week - Christmas

Christmas is coming, so i thought i'd ask:
// what is your favorite Christmas tradition? and why? //
i'd have to say that for me it was the drive to and from california almost every year. it was just fun to be with family all that time. and it was great to see our extended family too that we hadn't seen in a year. but mostly driving with my family and stopping at our "favorite" spots along the way . . . Biggs, Molly's, our 'big brother David's house', driving through the "grape vine", the Dinosaur. it was great.

i'm not sure exactly where we'd go, but i think i'd like to start a "road trip" tradition with my family now. maybe not in the middle of winter though. and obviously when we're out of debt and can afford to have fun along the way. who knows maybe we'd go to minnesota to visit my sister and some great friends of ours that live there?

so what's your tradition?

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p.s. just in case anybody's wondering what to get me for my birthday (this sunday) or for Christmas . . . i've been fascinated by the Wii. just round up 30 of my favorite friends (or strangers, basically anyone) who would be willing to pitch in $10 each and then head to ebay and snatch one right up! :-)

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 7:58 PM Comments: 2

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well my favorite Christmas tradition would have to be...... well there are a few, i will start from off the top of my head:

1) Hannah and I watch this movie, Nester the Christmas Donkey, while talking on the phone every year.

2)starting Thanksgiving we draw names with all of my family (about 30-40 of just cousins and aunst and uncles), and then on Christmas Eve we all go to my Grandma's house to eat and exchange gifts.

3)just spending Christmas day in my pajamas all day and watching movies with my family.

12/13/2006 03:19:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did we hear "road trip" ????

Anytime friends... the cards are on the table waiting.

12/14/2006 05:42:00 AM  

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Saturday, December 09, 2006

internet gem of the week - rocketboom

this website has a daily video on random topics, news items, or just interesting stuff. i subscribe to the podcast and at various times the videos i show on sunday nights come directly from this site:
Rocketboom
some are really cool and some are not. but it's almost always entertaining.

i've also got a bonus site this week:
Church Hopping v.2.0
i just found this site this morning so i haven't really gotten to dig through it all. but i thought you might find the article Ten Verses Never Preached On particularly interesting.

have fun - see ya tomorrow!

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 10:31 AM Comments: 0

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Thursday, December 07, 2006

videos as sermon illustrations

i saw this "conspiricy theory" from earl creps (you've gotta watch the video before reading my comments below or it won't make any sense:



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i don't really think movie studios/producers/directors etc. have really thought "that much" about the christian/evangelical community.

i would be naive to think that they don't think at all about 'us'. as of recent there have been lots of movies that are good wholesome movies that don't venture into situations that might offend the religious community.

i think of films like "National Treasure", a great action film that doesn't delve into "superficial expletives or sex scenes just to get the coveted PG-13 rating to draw a crowd," as a commenter on the movie's IMDB site states.

also most will farrell movies fall into the "jr high bathroom humor" category, but recently he's done some great "family" type films; Elf, Kicking and Screaming, Curious George.

even the film you refrenced "Nacho Libre" was refreshing. i was initially somewhat reserved about seeing the film because of Jack Black's other films/music not always being the most wholesome.

i think studios are seeing big profits from tailoring films for "families/religious communities"; not only at the box office, but also in the coveted DVD sales. thus the creation of more films such as "the passion of the Christ", "One night with the King", and "the nativity story."

are they glad when their film is featured in a sermon? sure i guess, i don't know how they'd keep track. are they tailoring scenes of their film for such a reason? i don't think so, not yet at least.

it's more of an after thought. kinda like this:


Food Services server: "hey, my cousin's girlfriend (who goes to church) was visiting the set yesterday to help us out, and thought that scene we did would be really great for her pastor's sermon series."

Assistant to the Director's Assistant: "that's cool, i'll mention it to my boss. did you have any more of those really good pickles cut in spears that you had yesterday?"

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what do you think??

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 7:01 AM Comments: 1

1 Comments:

Blogger maggie said...

i don't think they plan it - i don't know if they'd even like it. i know that there have been several books written that bring together movies and a great spiritual discussion. i think its more us wanting to use relevant methods to reach people. ways that will connect with them. finding out their interest and finding a way to "tweak" that to our message.

12/08/2006 05:00:00 PM  

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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

question of the week - first sight?

okay, i'm sure you've heard this question a thousand time's before:
do you believe in "love at first sight"?

let the comments begin!

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 11:53 PM Comments: 2

2 Comments:

Blogger holly said...

at this point, in my maturity, i would say that god can tell me a person is going to be significant in that department. at initial meeting, or at initial 'times'....

but, i also believe that blessing is contingent on obedience, and you need to walk in obedience for that truth to be true...

sometimes you won't know you cre called unless you have been walking in obedience...

So, an acorn seed is not necessarily an acorn tree (Aristotle), but it still is in the species of the acorn tree...

So, yes and no....

12/06/2006 02:38:00 PM  
Blogger holly said...

being significant, however, does not necessarily mean i will be married to them... but it may...

it may also be that God is using that person to teach me, shape me, or prepare me for my future husband.

thought i should clarify that..

12/06/2006 02:52:00 PM  

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Monday, December 04, 2006

need a hug??

last night at "sunday nights" we learned of a strange practice going on in l.a. and new york - cuddle parties! now if yo uneed a hug, let me say right now this is not the way to do it. if you do need a hug ask your 'reallife friends'. we'll share the love of Christ without compromising your morals.

i can't post the video that i showed on sunday night directly on the blog (mostly because i couldn't find it on youtube or googlevideo, and although i have the video downloaded on my computer; i didn't want to be the one to violate the copyright and post it to youtube. i.e. . . . i don't want to risk being sued!)

but you can go to abcnews.com's website and view it here: Want a Hug? Try a Cuddle Party!

we also saw this cute horse:
Smallest Horse: How Tiny Is the Sleigh?

and this muscle man (teen):
World Record-Breaker: 2,446 pull-ups
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anyways . . . in other happenings . . . we were treated to great discussion and pop with lemon/limes by holly this week. i'm thankful to holly for leading the discussion, i think she did a fabulous job and look forward to her being involved with the youth more in the future.
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p.s. don't foget to do your "good works that you were created to do" for the week. (we're going out to a friends house for dinner tonght, so i'll have to do the dishes tomorrow. ;-)

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 4:22 PM Comments: 0

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Saturday, December 02, 2006

of cats, needles, and God's heart

i recieved this great article from teri hendrickson yesterday with permission to post it here:
Okay today ( Friday the first of December) i was sitting there on the couch with Joe, and i turned to give him a hug. but i opened my eyes and i was looking at the table only to see my cat (Stewart) was on top of it.

When i started to get up to yell at him to get off of the table i noticed that he had something very shinny and long sticking out of his mouth, he seemed to be chewing on it. i got up and ran over to the table and saw that it was a needle ( like to sew something up). so i freaked i was holding him down trying to get it out of his mouth but he wouldn't let me, just when i thought he had swolled it i saw it again. i tried to pull it out but there was string attached to it and that was down his throat, finally i got it out and everything was fine again.

this really made me think about how fragile babies are how they need their parents to help them, to tell them "No!", and just to hold them. This is how God is with us, everyone is his baby no matter how old we are or how young we are, we are all God's babies and he wants to take care of us just how i took care of Stewart. even though Stewart didn't thank me i still love him and love everything he does no matter how evil or mean he can be with me. But we as people of God have the ability to thank God for taking that needle out of our mouths and saving us from eternal hell, but still people don't choose him and will be spending all of eternity apart from Him.

one thing that God has done is given me a heart that is broken for our world and i think that all people who believe in him should feel this way too. there are so many people, so many children in the world that have never had the chance to even know that there is an eternal life and that just hurts me to know that we have so many people who don't want to tell others about how God has saved us; that he took that needle out of our mouths and is holding us in his arms everyday.
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if you'd like to write an article for the reallife blog email me.

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 7:56 AM Comments: 3

3 Comments:

Blogger holly said...

So I was not going to reply to this, but I wanted Teri to know how much I appreciated her comment!

Thank you, Teri, for sharing this. You enriched my day by thinking (1) its not all about me....

[...if we are so dependent on God, just as your cat was dependent on your help from such a scary situation... then I can surrender my will to his.]

we all intellectually know this... but surrendering, in my life, has been a continual process.

So thank you! Your comment was a great oppurtunity to have God remind me of surrendering.

[Also, Jessika and Maggie, thank you for your help last night. I worked all through the night....its so bad!!!!! I should not have procrastinated. And when I work late I swear my mind goes blank a LOT! I constantly had to remind myself I was reading.... and such...

I was also appreciating this morning how thankful and dependent I was on your generosity.]

12/05/2006 12:26:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for telling me that, that encourages me too. And so far this week with the things that i am working on (from Sunday nights talk) is going well, even though yesterday i had a very ruff day i still am doing my homework and trusting God to help me get it done and do the other things i am dealing with.

Holly i thought that Sunday was amazing, i liked how you went about things. it really helped me to apply myself to all of the things i am doing not just what i want to, because in verse 13 (chapter 2) it says, "But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ." that just makes me think that now that i am close to God i need to work at everything as though i am working for him like Colossians 3:23 says.

12/05/2006 03:38:00 PM  
Blogger holly said...

Teri,


We are going to have one big continual appreciation party (hey, thats what heaven will be like!)

{and if we have the confidence in our hope (ch 1), and thus have joy in our walk, than we are really partying and 'throwing' the party now!)

"Thank you for thanking me for Sunday."

"Thank you for having me, too!"

>>>>>You all are so much fun.

Seriously, Teri, I am so happy to hear you have been seeing a result of your work (verse 13 reference). Try to celebrate all the victories! And it sounds like you already are doing exactly that! Cheers!

By doing that, and sharing, you helped me to remember that for myself.

Thank you for being in my life :o)

12/06/2006 03:23:00 PM  

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Friday, December 01, 2006

internet gem(s) of the week - blog goodness

this week's gem is actually a bunch of gems. and some of them are even yours. i think it's kinda cool how many people have begun blogs since i first began this one this one and our family blog.

so today i thought i'd highlight some of the other blogs i read, almost daily (if they post anything that is):

deb's blog: http://thepensiveprincess.blogspot.com/
my wife's blog, she doesn't post that often, but very insightful when she does.

maggie's blog: http://najeras.blogspot.com/
our children's pastor and my sister, fun stuff, thought provoking, and good dialogue

pastor jon's blog: http://time2team.blogspot.com/
pastor jon's beginning to get into the blog scene and i think everyone who reads it is hoping he dives in with full gusto.

jessika's blog: http://jessikab.blogspot.com/
very good writing, a fresh perspective, and fun wit.

jason's blog: http://the-jasonaters-blog.blogspot.com/
what can i say he's a fun guy, if not also somewhat eccentric, i love the stories

jen's blog: http://gma1918.blogspot.com/
 this is deb's cousin, and although i don't read this one daily, the one thing i love is her "today i'm thankful for:" section at the end of each post - and in fact may begin incorporating the idea into my blog.

my blog: http://abendeblara.blogspot.com/
okay, i know it's shameless, but i couldn't resist. :-)

there are actually more blogs that i read on a regular basis, but this is a good sampling of what i thought would interest this blog's readers. oh and for those who have started a blog that i may not know about, let me know i'd love to start reading!

p.s. i actually also discovered technorati tonight. it's a site that keeps track of the "blogosphere". if you have a blog you can sign up and "claim" your blog and then be able to see various stats on your blog, particularly what other blogs are linking to your blog, and thus see where your blog "ranks". ranking is determined by traffic to your blog and how many other blogs link to yours, and how high of a rank those blogs have. (stat counter, which i use, also has very detailed information about who visits your site, when, where they're from, and what computer they use, etc.)

|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 11:22 PM Comments: 1

1 Comments:

Blogger maggie said...

i'm so glad i made the cut! yes, we are competitive. i know that references your other blog but by now they probably read that post too.

12/02/2006 12:56:00 AM  

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