Exciting News!

Hey sweet ladies! (Its Jaime).

First I wanted to announce that the Girlfriends Bible Group was given an award from the FRC..

'Volunteer Group of The Year'.

I have the award and I will be bringing it to our next meeting. We were not expecting an award at all, and I know we are all very thankful for this. It goes to show that good deeds don't go unnoticed and a big thanks for the volunteer work we have done!



A few upcoming things!

• Please remember to wear your GBG shirts to our next meeting! We want a big group picture of us in our shirts.
• IBC Food Giveaway Saturday May 21st. Please let me know if you can help out any time from 9-1. Any time at all is greatly appreciated!
• Backpack program Thursday May 19th. If you are available to help, let me know :)

Thanks girls for keeping everyone posted on our wall for prayer requests.

We also have a few of our girls graduating this weekend. We love you and are so excited to see what the future holds. :)

Also, if you have missed some or all of the meetings...do not let that hold you back from coming! Please come join us!!! It is very easy to get caught up and get notes from other girls.

And one last thing...HAPPY MOTHERS DAY WEEKEND TO ALL OF THE AMAZING MOMS IN OUR GROUP!!

See you loves soon :)

A Contest for a Queen

This past month, our study has focused on Esther 2, and the "contest" held to find a queen. We really got to know Esther this month, and it was interesting to learn some of the things she went through. At our meeting last Tuesday, we answered several questions together that were in our workbook. The main focus was the choosing of the queen and how it was done. Several of us girls, me included, were quite offended at the way a queen was chosen. It was basically a beauty pageant and a merry-go-round of women in and out of the king's bed. It was so interesting to hear the girls' opinions on this. Hannah pointed out that it's actually not that much different today with celebrities. Women, and some men, will do anything to be linked to a celebrity, including throw their morals out the window. But what we discovered after talking is that, while many were forced, some of these women WANTED to be there! They wanted that honor of being chosen queen in that way. Can you imagine the thoughts that were going through their heads as they were paraded in and out, just hoping the king liked them enough to see them again? I can't begin to think about what this process did to their self-esteem.

In the end, Esther was chosen not only for her outward beauty, but for her inward beauty as well. We still don't know what it was exactly that drew the king to her. My thought is that this is one area where we see God "written" all over the page! :)

The last part of our study and discussion centered around Mordecai and his saving the king. We all decided this is a pivotal part of the storyline, and we can't wait to see where this goes!

The video this week focused on a topic that apparently means a lot to Beth, mean girls! Oh she got into it this week! Ladies who missed our meeting, I would highly suggest getting the video and watching it. It was hilarious! Sounds like it's going to be an interesting month of study... :)

We had another great turn out this time. While we were missing several of our normal girls, we added a few new girls, who are great! I know we're all excited about following the story of Esther and learning more about ourselves and each other in the process! :) Enjoy some pictures Jaime took. Might I recommend a different photographer next time?? One that doesn't catch us as we eat, talk, or make a funny face? Haha. :) Love you Jaime! :)

~Meredith~

The Walker Run

On Saturday, April 9th, I was blessed with the opportunity to participate in The Walker Run. Our group has been following the story of Sara Walker for several months now. Sara and her husband lost a full-term baby in December, and during the tests after their loss, the doctors discovered she had stage 4 colon cancer. It has been a struggle for her, her husband and their two sons. She keeps everybody updated through her Caring Bridge site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarawalker. The thing I admire most about Sara is her amazing faith in and love for God. In a time where many people would withdraw themselves, she has put herself and her faith out there for everyone to see and follow. She gives God the glory for every milestone and triumph. I have grown to love and respect this woman so very much.

My friend Lori is actually Sara's husband's cousin (did you follow that?). :) So, Levi and I joined her, and we walked to help Sara. I walked on behalf of the GBG, and showed Sara the support she had from all our wonderful ladies. Lori walked to support her cousin and the battle he and his family are going through. We walked to glorify God and all the good He has done in all of our lives. 1200 people registered for this event, and they all walked to show Sara that she in NEVER alone-NONE of us are!

Sarah, her family, and her wonderful PT class who put on the event

It was truly and honor for me to be able to walk on Sara's behalf. I know she has the love and prayers from all of our girls. I'm so proud to be a part of such a wonderful group of women!

~Meredith~

Coupons Coupons Coupons!

Hi ladies (and possibly a few interested gents). :) This is Meredith typing, so this post might sound a little different from the rest. I'd like to fill you in on the coupon class we participated in on Thursday, April 7th.

Beth with the FRC had mentioned to Jaime that the FRC was hosting a financial help seminar. Through conversations, they realized that couponing would be a perfect fit for this educational series. Malorie and I taught a coupon class several months ago, so Jaime asked if we'd be interested. We, of course, said yes! We both love couponing and love to share it with as many people as possible!

So we showed up Thursday with 4 bags full of coupons, a powerpoint, and the desire to share this with people who really needed and wanted to learn about ways to save money. Summer and Morgan both came to help and support, and we ended up with a crowd of around 15.

Everybody was so open and welcoming. It was super easy (well, for me-haha) to get up and talk to these wonderful people. Several of them couponed a little bit already, so we got lots of feedback and questions. They were all excited about the idea of couponing and thanked us many times for showing them how to do it.

Everybody who coupons does so for their own reasons. I started couponing simply because baby stuff is expensive. Now, it's my way of helping my family financially so that I may some day get to stay at home more with my son. No matter what the reason, it's ultimately to save money. We could all use a little extra money I'm sure! But this wonderful group of people doesn't need the extra money for a new car or fancy clothes. They're looking for ways to save money so they can have a place to live and food to eat. I'm sure I speak for the other girls who were there as well, but this was a very gratifying experience. I feel like we really helped them, and I pray that they are able to take the things they learned and use them in their everyday lives.

I want to say a special thank you to Beth and all those who helped with this. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of such an amazing work!

ROAR Run

Hey ladies! As most of you know, the 3rd annual 5K Roar Run took place this past Saturday. It started at College Hills Church of Christ and took you around Hartman, beside Byars Dowdy...and back down Leeville Pike. It was AWESOME! Way to go girls who got out and enjoyed the beautiful hot day :)

We wore our GBG shirts and got lots of compliments (way to go Libby). If you have not gotten your tshirt, Malorie will have them at our meeting tomorrow night.

There were lots of precious babies being pushed! :)

Byars Dowdy's PE teacher, Jaime, and Anita (BD 3rd grade teacher)

Just showing everyone how its done. hahaha.

Nice form!

Malorie, Bobbie-Jo, and Jaime

Summer, Bobbie-Jo, Jaime, and Malorie...and the babies :)

I haven't gotten the info yet, but while the Roar run was taking place...our GBG girl Meredith was supporting Sara Walker. If you remember...Sara is the lady we have been praying for who has two small boys, she just lost a child, and was recently diagnosed with cancer. Way to go Mere, we love you! :)


our next meeting...

Is tomorrow night (Tuesday) at the same location as last month. We hope everyone can make it and dont forget to bring a few dollars for pizza and drinks :)

GBG teamed with FRC at IBC!

Ok---that all means:

Girlfriends Bible Group teamed up with the Family Resource Center at Immanuel Baptist Church! (for those who may have had a confused look on their face)



Food Giveaway!

We had 7 of our GBG girls helping out at the food giveaway on Saturday. Personally, it was my first...and I didn't know what to expect. I did prepare myself for what I may see, just because it doesn't take much to get me emotional over precious children.

I can not put into words the awesomeness of Gods work that day. Before we knew it, people were pouring in and taking a seat around us waiting for their turn to get good to help them make it through Spring Break. Me, Malorie, Bobbie-Jo, Marci, and Hannah's jobs were to help the people with surveys, lend a helping hand to those who couldn't see well or write or even read, and walk the groups over to get their buggy full of food.

Talk about an overwhelming feeling. We sure do take for granted the necessities we have that come so easy to us. These people need help even just to have a good meal.

The kids were precious. So innocent and in need of our help. I admire the parents for going who did. I can not imagine how it made them feel to have to get help like that from strangers...but as a mom I know I would do whatever it takes to make sure my babies were getting what they needed as well.

Bobbie Jo and I realized we should NOT be paired up to do anything like this together. Every time we turned and looked at each other we had big tears in our eyes. Our hearts went out to these kids, and elders, and the entire families. At one point I had to walk completely away and get out a good cry.

How can I explain it better than God's work was in clear view on Saturday. And we are so thankful we could be a part of it.

Our other 2 girls were over helping to fill the buggies :)

Clothing Giveaway!

Tuesday, March 22nd is our clothing giveaway at the FRC. We still have time to get clothes together to send over there! Also if you are available to help volunteer that day let me know :)

I love you girls and I love what we are doing!

Jaime :)

March Meeting

Ok girls, are we all in agreement that the GBG just keeps getting better and better?!?!

I have known most of these girls for a very very long time. But seeing them in this way, in Faith, in hope, in prayer, and in the work of God is something new for me. And it's the best way I have ever seen any of us!

To those who had to miss our meeting, we really really missed you! And to those who got to come...

that was a phenomenal lesson from Beth Moore!

A few of my favorite notes:

"You can not amputate your history from your destiny!"
I am not sure. But I think that hit home for a lot of us. I know it did for me.

"History: Learn from and be humbled by"

Collosians  2:10
and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.


I learned a lot within our hour of study. I wanted to sit there and keep going! I hope all of our GBG girls are anxious and excited for our next meeting today.

If you havent had a chance to pay Malorie for your tshirt(s), please get with her and do so. Our shirts will be coming in soon!

The ROAR run is fast approaching. Remember to get your form in soon if you want the Roar Run tshirt, but we will be wearing our GBG shirts that day!

I am excited about the Food Giveaway this Saturday! Thank you to all who will be there to help. I keep reminding myself already to hold my emotions and keep it together...this is a GOOD thing and we need to keep a warm smile on our faces for these families! :)

One last thing.
Our meetings will change just a bit. We are going to try and keep our prayer list updated via Facebook, email, text, and phone calls. And unless its extreme important we will keep all info about 'roar run, community meal, and other upcoming events' on here..our blog, Facebook, email, etc etc.

Why do you ask?

Because we are going to take that time, and get to know each other better. If you have a story, share it. If something has happened in your life...look around the room and see the solidness of everyone to be there for you.

Many of us know each other, but there are quite a few who have a lot to learn. We have built a wonderful Bible group...now we can build trust, friendships, love, and prayer for each other.

It is a GREAT thing we are helping our community. But lets not forget that our main purpose is to be a Bible group...and we're expanding our minds and gaining more knowledge learning from the #1 book in all of our lives.

I sure do love me some Libby. Is she a mind reader? How did she know I needed someone to be my rock? hahaha.

This is also why we mentioned planning  the group trip to Dinosaur World, and to a Sounds baseball game. I promise I wont say "I told ya so" when some of you get to know others in our group and find how amazing of a friendship you have found ;)

Love you girls so much. Oh so much!

Thank you Leah for making our name tags! :)

Love this picture! This is a framer! :)

The Latest!

First I would like to thank the girls who were able to help volunteer with the backpack program last week! We got a lot accomplished pretty fast. Team work from women with the most precious hearts is phenomenal!


Tonight is our GBG meeting.

---Girls. We have a lot of info going out tonight to all of us. We have some very important dates coming up!

---Don't forget your tshirt money tonight! Malorie will be keeping up with the money until the shirts come in.

*****THIS SATURDAY is the Food Giveaway. If you have any spare time that day to come help out so many families, please do so! This is such a blessing for us to be involved with. I can only imagine how Saturday will impact so many of our lives by seeing Gods work in action.

----I will be bringing ROAR RUN forms tonight. Our team will be GBG! (of course) The race is not until April...but forms are due before the end of March if you want your tshirt :)

---We are planning a "GBG parents day" to Dinosaur World in Kentucky. Malorie will be getting the info together for us!! If you don't have a kid....we'll find one for you to bring! hahaha.

---The GBG is putting on a coupon class in April. This is a wonderful opportunity to help those in our community. Get with Meredith, and Malorie for more info. What you can do now, is to go ahead and start keeping coupons that wont expire for a while! :)

---Cards!! If you have picked up any cards for us all to sign and mail out to those on our prayer lists, remember to bring those tonight! :)

---Clothing Giveaway is coming up soon! I cant remember if it is the 22nd, or 24th of March. Either way...get your clothes together you dont need! Make sure they are "gently used". We ALSO need volunteers that day. After I get the exact date, I will put out a note on our FB wall! :)

---The Community Meal is April 16th! I will not be there, I will be out of town with the boys...but if any of you can go ahead and mark that in your calendars to be there...that would be great! Leah and Jamie have the info from that meeting on Monday.

---Sounds Games! It's that time of year----lots of junk food, ice cream in the hat....and the Nashville Sounds Baseball team! Everyone get a schedule and we'll plan a good date for us all to go with our husbands, kids and whoever :)

---Birthday list! We need to get a birthday list together of all the GBG girls, their children, and even spouses if we'd like :) Every one loves a little birthday cheer, right!?


So excited to have Beth come to our meeting tonight. She will be going over important info with us :)

Be sure to get there early so we can chow down on some pizza and get on to our Beth Moore study!

Love you fanbabulous girls so much! :)

Jaime.

GBG T-shirts!

Girls, we have our tshirts going! We originally had them kinda plain...but thanks to Ms. Libby they are super cute!

Please make sure you get your quantity and sizes you need to us asap. We want to get them back before we run the 5K Roar Run for Byars Dowdy! :)

Here's the shirts.

canned food drive

Last week one of the local schools had a canned food drive, and the food was brought to the FRC. Hannah and I (along with our little ones) went to help sort and stock the food.

It was awesome to see the room go from "some" food to watching the storage get filled with food that will go to families who truly need it!

As always, we are grateful to the ladies of the FRC for allowing us to be a part of just a few of the oh so many phenomenal things they do for countless numbers of children and entire families in our schools.

Community Meal Meeting

Last night, 4 of us GBG girls met with a wonderful group of ladies to sit down and talk about our plan for the Community meal.

We learned that there are close to, or over 100 homeless people living at a place here in Lebanon. I'll leave the sites name out of this post for privacy reasons. That is where we are planning to have this meal take place. April is the month we are looking at, the exact date is not for sure yet, but I will post that as soon as we know it. We are going to be taking grills, food, games, etc over there to spend some time with these people, to build relationships.

Imagine yourself homeless. Hard for some of us to do, because we truly are blessed...but try. Imagine living in a tent. I know if that were me, I would very much so appreciate people coming in bringing a meal and hope that there's people I can lean on.

God has such a wonderful plan for all of us. And it seems like every time we turn around, we are catching on to how some of us may have grown up with others we're working with, or someones in laws helped raise another in a wonderful church home, or how we're neighbors and didn't even know it, or how we may have crossed paths in a different point in our lives and now are coming together in this miracle of a way. It's an overwhelming feeling of your heart is going to explode and tears are just going to burst from your eyes when you think about how perfectly God has placed us all in each others lives. Didn't you know, GOD IS SO GOOD!

I personally want to say what a blessing it is to have such a wonderful lady like Beth Petty to look up to. She is always going going going and handling SO many different things in her job and also outside her work to be so involved with our community. Thank you to her for showing us such a phenomenal example!

Here are a few snaps I took last night. Sorry---when I am around just know there will be photos taken! LOL

These ladies are wonderful!

***For the GBG!

Girls. Dont forget this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon (Feb. 16th & 17th) from 3-5 we are helping sort, stage, and shelve canned food at the Family Resource Center at Castle Heights Upper Elementary.

Also.

This Thursday, February 17th is the: DARKNESS TO LIGHT: CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE workshop.

This is the workshop we passed out the fliers for about a week ago. Some of us will need to be there to mingle and greet! Let me know if you will be able to attend so I can give Beth a number :)

It's not too late!

Ladies,

If you are reading this and you have missed the last meeting, it is NOT too late to join us for our meetings and studies! We will get with you to get you caught up on the notes, as well as the Beth Moore introduction video.

Also...we are ordering GBG tshirts!  We will wear these to some meetings, and also when we are out in the community doing work. We haven't decided for sure on color, design, and the Bible verse we will be putting on the back. If you have any ideas or input please just leave a note on the GBG facebook page.

Coming up in April is the Byars Dowdy Roar Run! We are going to be involved in the 5k's and others here in town to be supportive of whatever it is going on :) If you girls know of anything like that coming up here in Lebanon...keep us posted!

Love you girls...and so excited about our amazing, eventful year ahead! :)

Meeting #2

by Jaime Forrest:

Last night was so wonderful! First I'd like to say how much we missed some of our girls last night. Lebanon and surrounding areas are getting hit hard right now with the flu and other viruses. A few of our girls were sick and a few little ones were sick too. We hope they are all getting better and we cant wait to see them again at the next meeting!

To start our meeting we had prayer requests. We all write down and keep track of these prayer requests. We put them on our Girlfriends Bible Group facebook page as well. And, we update each other on the progress or news of the people we're praying for. One person on our prayer list, is someone that we don't know personally. Her name is Sara Walker. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Not only does she have cancer, but she also has a husband and two young boys. Please visit her site, and let your prayers for her be endless. I, and the other girls who have looked at her site cry every single time. This woman is a BELIEVER. Please please, keep this woman on your mind...in your hearts and continuously in your prayers!

Here is her site. Take a deep breath, and click to read about her story. This is one strong, amazing woman.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarawalker

One of our girls, Meredith, came up with the wonderful idea to gather cards and start to send them out to those on our prayer lists. Who doesn't love getting mail? Who knows if that would absolutely make someones day? What is true is prayer, a kind word, and support can go a lot farther in someones life than you'd realize. It was such a great feeling to be passing around so many cards to sign to send to so many people in need of encouragement! God is so good!

Before we got started on our study, we talked about our community work. We are so excited to help Beth Petty with the phenomenal things she does for the kids and families in our home town. We are getting together a community meal, helping with canned goods, and even putting on a coupon class!  Meredith and Malorie are coupon queens!! They will be heading up with the help of us other ladies to do a coupon class for parents, single parents, homeless, and those who could really use any extra help when buying necessities. This is such a blessing to be a part of. We hope to help so many people!


Now, has everyone heard of Beth Moore?

This is what we are studying from the book of Esther in the Old Testement.

Isnt it true ladies? "It's tough being a woman"?

We are so excited to do this study. Some of us have done Beth Moore studies, and some of us havent. One thing is for sure...we have our workbook and we are ready to dive into this together! :)

Last night we turned on the dvd to watch our introduction to this study. It was about an hour long, and it was wonderful!  One of the best things we heard was "COINCIDENCE ARE MIRCLES IN WHICH GOD PREFERS TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS". Think about it...its very true!

Thank you to all the girls for making this group wonderful and possible. It's a blessing to be bettering ourselves as women, wives, moms and friends...and also reaching out to help others.

GOD is so good for bringing us together!

This is one amazing group full of incredible ladies!

Luke 6:35

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.