Spring Sweet Spring

Oh Spring sweet Spring! How I have missed you! It is beyond amazing to step outside without a coat, scarf, boots, hat and ear muffs on and enjoy a nice warm breeze after quite a long bitter winter!

With the arrival of spring comes some really exciting things for Tony and I.

Church Planting Ministry is really picking up these days so Tony is no longer at his part time job. Between getting sermons ready, meeting with people in our community, and preparing for a summer full of mission teams-he has had his hands quite full.

We had our first ever mission team two weekends ago-YAY!

We had a group of nearly 35 children & parents from Trinity Baptist Church that helped us prepare our local community garden. They did it all from raking to painting pickets to spreading hay. We were extremely thankful not only for all the help getting the tasks accomplished but also the help in building relationships with the local garden leaders. We look forward to continuing to cultivate these relationships over the summer with our own plot in this garden.

At the end of the month we will be heading down south to meet with a church about a potential partnership in the future with our church plant. We’re excited that other people are excited by what God is doing in Cleveland! Please pray this would be an encouraging time both for us and for the church.

I am now off to make my first ever attempt at a bunny cake…..not sure how pretty of a bunny it will be, but it will be one tasty bunny! No worries there will be pictures! May each of you have a great Easter and be reminded that we serve a God that has conquered our sin and death-Praise the Lord!

The Never Ending Snow And Oma-Not!

What a winter we are having! I think everyone on the east coast has gotten their fair share of wintery weather. Even my poor parents in Georgia have gotten hit twice with massive snow and ice….well massive snow and ice for the south. The picture below sums up our life in Cleveland these days haha!

On the upside, this never ending snow has given us several opportunities to meet our neighbors and lend a helping hand shoveling them out of their driveways. With the help of our Missional Community we have helped over 8 different people in need whether elderly or disabled get out of their driveway. We have already been able to follow up with several of these people and hope to continue these relationships!

Speaking of neighbors, we were able to throw a Super Bowl Party for some of our friends and neighbors several weeks ago.

We had a full house of 22 which was a good thing! We needed to be distracted from that awful game! Peyton Manning’s normal Omaha was sadly more like Omanot!

Our original plan was to have a Pre Super Bowl Party for our neighbors at 4:30 and start a Super Bowl party for our friends at 5:30. Well 4:30 came and went and no one showed. We were bummed-but thought hey maybe the Lord knew we could use an hour to breathe before everyone came over.

Then wouldn’t you know it a few of our neighbors came the same time all of our friends were arriving at 5:30. This did mean we had quite a full house-but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way!

Some exciting things on the horizon! We will be having several mission teams in the Cleveland area over the summer. One of which will be holding a large Arts and Crafts Camp in our neighborhood. Please be praying that great relationships would be built this summer through teams such as this one.

Also Tony met at one of the local high schools in our area for possible future meeting space and it went wonderfully. The space seems ideal and they are excited by the thought of us using the space. We are by no means ready to meet there now- but we’re excited by thought of it as an option.

Please pray for us as we continue to build our core team…especially in the search of a worship leader and as we build relationships with those in our community and share the good news of the gospel with them! Thanks as always for your support!

Polar Vortex, Arctic Blasts, and Snow Oh My!

Well I can now say I survived Polar Vortex 2014. Don’t you just love the names the Weathermen come up with! Like a Squall Line or Polar Vortex-they seriously crack me up! However with as cold as it has gotten-I do think Polar Vortex or Arctic Blast or whatever they want to call it are appropriate terms!

I am proud to say I have yet to wreck the car…..thank you Jesus and knock on wood! I did however get stuck in our driveway though!

I was on my way home slipping and sliding the whole way due to all of the snow on the ground! I finally make it to our street-only to get stuck in our own driveway!

I slowly turned the wheel and inch in to the driveway and get stuck with my back bumper in the street. I get out of the car and due to drifting snow and my short legs the snow was almost up to my knees. I start attempting to shovel my car out so I can get all the way in the driveway. However I really have no clue what I’m doing. Thankfully our teenage neighbor came to me rescue and shoveled me out. Let's just say he got his favorite dessert (pumpkin pie) out of the deal:)

We have also had several visitors this last month!

One of my best friends Sarah Temple brought in the New Year with us!

Followed by another visit by some of our best friends Pete and Kristen Thoni. That is a frozen Lake Erie behind us in the picture below.

Please keep us in your prayers as we get ready to have a “Pre-Super Bowl Party” this Sunday. We are throwing the party as a way to launch our NextDoor Neighborhood. Which by the way is up to 22 people and counting! We’re so excited.

We’ve also had the opportunity to help several elderly people by shoveling their driveways. We’re thankful for the opportunities to help those in need and begin relationships with them. Pray that each opportunity we get to share the light of Jesus with them.

Our Merry Little Southern Christmas

Well I hope each of you had yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Tony and I sure did!

We kicked off our Christmas Weekend with seeing “A Christmas Story” at Cleveland Playhouse Square. I love the movie and now also love the play. You can see from the picture below my affinity for the bunny p.j.s!

We then packed our bags and headed down to Georgia to visit my folks and have a Southern Christmas! It was 78 degrees! So you better believe I put my sandals on as soon as I got down there. Unfortunately the socks, long johns, and boots had to come back on before hopping the plane back to Cleveland.

We got to hang out with my brother Ethan and his lovely wife Jamie and adorable daughter Abby. We hate that we live so far apart, but it makes the time we do get together all the sweeter! I must say my niece Abby stole my heart all over again as we hung out!

Great news-as of Thursday we got our 10 neighbors we needed to officially launch our NextDoor neighborhood. You may remember from my last blog NextDoor is most easily explained as a Facebook for your neighborhood. It’s a way to create more communication among you and your neighbors whether it be for a lost dog or recommendations for a plumber or even neighborhood safety.

Obviously this will be a great tool for Tony and I to use to both get to know our neighbors and invite them to events we sponsor. I really wasn’t sure how we were going to get people to sign up let alone get up to 10 people, but the Lord was gracious and we made it!

Please pray for our neighbors to continue to join so we can get to know more and more of them.

Also please pray for other believers to join us in our efforts to reach Old Brooklyn with the Gospel. We are hoping to start building a core team of believers to help us in our hopes of planting a church. And you just give us a jingle if you think you fit that bill-we'd love for you to join us! That is-if you think you can survive a Cleveland Winter:)

Having A Holly Jolly Christmas

What an exciting Christmas season it has been in the Loseto house already!

Tony and I got our first real Christmas tree this year. No no we didn’t go out to the middle of nowhere to chop it down ourselves. After all, we do live in Cleveland haha! We did the city folk thing and happily went to Lowe’s on Black Friday to find our tree.

However I do believe we still looked like rednecks as we stuffed our 6 foot tree into the back of my Camry haha! You can take the girl out of the south, but you can’t take the south out of the girl!

Tony and I also (with the help of our Missional Community from Gateway West) threw a Christmas Party for our block!

One chilly Saturday we went door to door with invites and Christmas tree cakes inviting everyone to our party. We weren’t too sure of the reception we would receive, but you have to start somewhere right?

We had about 8-10 people open their doors to us. Which is pretty good for Cleveland! We had some great conversations and laid the groundwork for some great relationships!

We were so excited that a handful of neighbors actually joined us for the party! This is the first type of planned outreach Tony and I have done in our neighborhood, and we were truly excited by the outcome the Lord blessed us with.

What was even cooler was that it didn’t stop with the party! We had another 3 neighbors stop by just to introduce themselves and bring us goodies either before or after the party! How cool!

Please pray for us as we continue to cultivate these relationships!

We are also starting a “Next Door” site for our neighborhood. Next Door is like a Facebook for your neighborhood-if you haven’t heard of it-you should totally look it up more info. It’s a way to share information in your neighborhood such as someone lost their dog, someone needs a good plumber, or someone has a table they need to get rid of.

What we hope to do is use this as a way to invite our neighbors to events in the future so we don’t have to annoy people by going door to door. Please pray that Next Door would spread like wildfire in our neighborhood so we’ll have more doors opened to us.

Thanks for your love and support friends! 

An Alabama Girl And A Cleveland Chili Cook Off

Well today I participated in my first ever Cook Off. Sure I’ve attended many a cook off at state fairs etc. And I have even thought about entering myself in to a few of them…especially a bake off…..I make some mean baked goods! But this was my first time to ever actually participate in one!

The recipe I used wasn’t just any recipe I pulled offline. Although I must say Pinterest has given me some of my favorite recipes and cleaning tricks!

No this was my mom’s Chili recipe. Now my mom might be a bit of a goof ball….but this great woman does not mess around when she is in the kitchen! She’s gets down to business!

So wouldn’t you know that when I used her recipe…..I tied for FIRST PLACE at the Chili Cook Off! And I will have you know I was competing against 15 others! So what happens when an Alabama girl enters a Cleveland Chili Cook Off? She wins haha!

Now that I’m done gloating I guess I should share the recipe right:)

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 Cup Onion

1 Can Chili Magic

1 Can Diced Tomatoes (Undrained)

1 Can Rotel

1 Can Ranch Style Beans (Rinsed)

(Or if you’re up north, and they don’t have ranch style beans….chili beans will do just fine) (If it weren’t for Walmart-I wouldn’t have found the Chili Magic either!)

Instructions:

Brown the Ground Beef with the Onion. Once the meat is brown, add in all the other ingredients. Let simmer for about 45 minutes.

And there you go! Delicious and Simple! Let me know if you try out the recipe….or if you have some secret chili ingredients you love!

Teachin', Trick or Treatin', and Truckin' On

We got our 2nd dose of snow this week. However, I do believe the fun is just beginning. I am trying to embrace it by singing fun holiday songs, but in the back of my mind as I travel to work I know this amount of snow would shut Alabama down for a whole week!

My job is still going really well! Thanks for all your prayers out there-the Lord has blessed me with a great job and a wonderful company to work for.

Sorry for my lack of blogging since the start of my new job....shew the tub is lucky if it gets cleaned during the week let alone me sitting down to gather my thoughts. But I do so desire to keep everyone updated and share what's going on.

I actually got the opportunity to go in to one of the local Cleveland schools this past Thursday. The opportunity came through my job believe it or not! I was able to teach a class of 1st graders about different topics including family, neighborhoods, and the value of a degree. It was great to hear some of the kiddos tell me that God made their family and that God has the power to do anything. This school was not religious in the least. Nor was I allowed to make such statements. But I sure did a lot of head nodding as they declared such sweet truths. May these kiddos never doubt that they were created by God and that our God is powerful!

Please pray this would just be the beginning of opportunities like that.

Tony and I also had the opportunity on Halloween to meet some of our neighbors. We dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Waldo as you can see below! We had 16 bags of candy, 7 batches of popcorn, a bowl of doughnuts, and spiced tea for the adults-but we were still looking in the pantry for candy before it was all said and done. Such a great opportunity to see some of our neighbors.

Tony and I are finally getting in to a normal routine of doing life in Cleveland. Now that we're settled the next step is trying to find ways to engage people. We want to engage unbelieving people to share the good new with them and we want to engage believers to come along side us in our mission. We need your prayers friends for the Lord to guide our steps and start a great work in people's hearts.

We have several other events coming up such as a Game Day at the park this Saturday and a chili cook off our development corporation is sponsoring the following Saturday. We covet your prayers our friends and we will keep you updated!