Prize-Winning Weekend!

Wow! What a weekend this is shaping up to be. And it's only Saturday!

First off, we received word that Donna's Sunday School class (she teaches the elementary kids at church and has been for years) came in SECOND PLACE in a video contest sponsored by the Kentucky Waterways Alliance (KWA). Children (2nd to 6th grades) were invited create a video about Why We Should Love Our Waterways. They spent the last few Sundays brainstorming and then creating this video below, titled Every Drop.



For their wonderful efforts, they received Second Place in the contest! Woohoo! Way to go, Miriam, Lydia, Ellie, Laura and Katherine!! The winning three videos were played at an Environmental Film Festival today in Louisville and we just couldn't be prouder.

Then, we found out just this morning that a short video about homelessness - featuring my Donna's voice-over, speaking on behalf of the social service ministry where she works (Volunteers of America of Kentucky) - has won a First Place award in a separate video contest. You can see that video, A Place to Call Home, here:



I just couldn't be prouder of my Donna and all the hard work that VOA does in working with and for the down and out. You'd be hard-pressed to find two harder-working and more deserving non-profit organizations than VOA and KWA. Check them out.

All Are Welcome

Walker Jesse Sarah Blair
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

by Marty Haugen, one of the hymns we sing regularly at Jeff Street...

1. Let us build a house where love can dwell
And all can safely live,
A place where saints and children tell
How hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
Rock of faith and vault of grace;
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions;
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.

2. Let us build a house where prophets speak,
And words are strong and true,
Where all God's children dare to seek To dream God's reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness
And a symbol of God's grace;
Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.

3. Let us build a house where love is found
In water, wine and wheat:
A banquet hall on holy ground, Where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus, Is revealed in time and space;
As we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.