Lebanese and American beautifully entangled together creates this amazing woman in our community. She’s bold and beautiful, inside and out. Her hummus is the best in the world and her frankness may at first scare you, but will soon grow to be one of your favorite attributes about her.
Layla Varvoutis is the one getting things done while others are standing around talking about how to do it. She has great drive and initiative, letting no hard thing discourage her or stop her. Need a couch moved? She will grab one side. Help preserving veggies? She’s one to call. What about giving away unexpected extras? Oh yea, she will think outside the box.
Often ministry feels so intimidating. We all want to love people, to serve, to give of ourselves to another person. But, we get scared. How do we start a conversation with a stranger? What do we say? How do we show that we care? I think Layla is laughing inside when she watches some of us try to talk to a person we have never met. Not because she thinks we are pathetic, but because we are scared of the wrong things. See, Layla never sees anyone as a stranger, but as a friend she hasn’t met yet. We need to learn from her, seeing everyone as our equals, and not afraid of what we might say or do. Sometimes she says the perfect something, but sometimes she doesn’t. And when she says something that makes no sense, she just laughs. She does not think too highly of herself and that frees the other person to be who they are too.
As a homeschool and foster care mama, workout gym lady, produce coordinator for twenty plus families, gardener, friend to hundreds and servant leader, you really never know where you may experience some of Layla. She has this gift to relate to anyone and she is super intentional about spending time with all the “anyone’s” she meets. Maybe it’s a family from her son’s football team, her daughter’s dance, her foster care network, the lady she met at the gym, her neighbor, the girl she met at community bible study, the older couple she respects from church, her food delivery families, the single guy they have for dinner to share a good meal, the couple fighting for their marriage, another Classical Conversations mom, a friend from Monday Night Prayer, on and on it goes. She never runs out of love. The more love seeps out, the more she has to give away. Somehow, God gives her the capacity to pursue and invest in this myriad of people. If God can give her the capacity to love on hundreds, He will give all of us the capacity to love on people in our spheres of influence.
Every week, you can find Layla serving in some capacity with Grace Klein Community. On Saturday nights she is hosting an intentional dinner or helping sort donated veggies from a local farmers market. On Sunday’s she’s distributing Trader Joe’s donations to families they are serving. Every third Saturday, she’s praying with other volunteers and delivering food to her food delivery families, often recruiting other families to come along with her family. On Monday’s, you may catch her distributing Love Does to single moms or retirement centers. Monday nights, you can often find her worshipping, praying and sharing delicious food with Monday Prayer Night. She may even be caught teaching the kids a bible story. On Thursdays, you may catch her investing in community kids, while she has a foster kid on her hip. Friday mornings around 4:30am, she’s headed to the Farmer’s Market to secure produce deals so that many community families can eat healthy at a reasonable cost. On a Wednesday, she may be texting Ryan a list of items she needs from the Give and Take Room to share with a family she knows. Or she may be caught meeting a friend at the office so they can look through the Give and Take Room together. Find a Tuesday and she may squeeze in a cooking day to prep meals, wash discarded clothing from the Mercedes Marathon, or help with the Bemorerandom table at a Family Fun Night.
Please know, Layla’s life is not all Grace Klein Community. She fits in serving where she can and when she can’t, she says no. She’s fully present wherever God has here and she enjoys life in a joyful, fun, spontaneous, serving kind of way.
When Grace Klein Community hosts special events such as camping week, cultural gatherings or serve days, she invites many to come join the fun. She sees life as an adventure that her friends should not miss. Maybe she will burst into song or dance, cook a feast, ask the questions you needed someone to ask you, listen for hours, or give you a much needed laugh.
We are better together for members like Layla who remind us life is for living, for looking to what is eternal, not getting bogged in the circumstances and being creative with the resources we do have. She’s our reminder to love all people, fling open our front door to anyone, not panic if the toilet has a ring, share what we have, be ok to make a mistake, work hard, put others above ourselves, and trust God for what we didn’t accomplish today because we took time for people over our to-do list.
Lebanese and American beautifully entangled together creates this amazing woman in our community. She’s bold and beautiful, inside and out. Her hummus is the best in the world and her frankness may at first scare you, but will soon grow to be one of your favorite attributes about her.
Layla Varvoutis is the one getting things done while others are standing around talking about how to do it. She has great drive and initiative, letting no hard thing discourage her or stop her. Need a couch moved? She will grab one side. Help preserving veggies? She’s one to call. What about giving away unexpected extras? Oh yea, she will think outside the box.
Often ministry feels so intimidating. We all want to love people, to serve, to give of ourselves to another person. But, we get scared. How do we start a conversation with a stranger? What do we say? How do we show that we care? I think Layla is laughing inside when she watches some of us try to talk to a person we have never met. Not because she thinks we are pathetic, but because we are scared of the wrong things. See, Layla never sees anyone as a stranger, but as a friend she hasn’t met yet. We need to learn from her, seeing everyone as our equals, and not afraid of what we might say or do. Sometimes she says the perfect something, but sometimes she doesn’t. And when she says something that makes no sense, she just laughs. She does not think too highly of herself and that frees the other person to be who they are too.
As a homeschool and foster care mama, workout gym lady, produce coordinator for twenty plus families, gardener, friend to hundreds and servant leader, you really never know where you may experience some of Layla. She has this gift to relate to anyone and she is super intentional about spending time with all the “anyone’s” she meets. Maybe it’s a family from her son’s football team, her daughter’s dance, her foster care network, the lady she met at the gym, her neighbor, the girl she met at community bible study, the older couple she respects from church, her food delivery families, the single guy they have for dinner to share a good meal, the couple fighting for their marriage, another Classical Conversations mom, a friend from Monday Night Prayer, on and on it goes. She never runs out of love. The more love seeps out, the more she has to give away. Somehow, God gives her the capacity to pursue and invest in this myriad of people. If God can give her the capacity to love on hundreds, He will give all of us the capacity to love on people in our spheres of influence.
Every week, you can find Layla serving in some capacity with Grace Klein Community. On Saturday nights she is hosting an intentional dinner or helping sort donated veggies from a local farmers market. On Sunday’s she’s distributing Trader Joe’s donations to families they are serving. Every third Saturday, she’s praying with other volunteers and delivering food to her food delivery families, often recruiting other families to come along with her family. On Monday’s, you may catch her distributing Love Does to single moms or retirement centers. Monday nights, you can often find her worshipping, praying and sharing delicious food with Monday Prayer Night. She may even be caught teaching the kids a bible story. On Thursdays, you may catch her investing in community kids, while she has a foster kid on her hip. Friday mornings around 4:30am, she’s headed to the Farmer’s Market to secure produce deals so that many community families can eat healthy at a reasonable cost. On a Wednesday, she may be texting Ryan a list of items she needs from the Give and Take Room to share with a family she knows. Or she may be caught meeting a friend at the office so they can look through the Give and Take Room together. Find a Tuesday and she may squeeze in a cooking day to prep meals, wash discarded clothing from the Mercedes Marathon, or help with the Bemorerandom table at a Family Fun Night.
Please know, Layla’s life is not all Grace Klein Community. She fits in serving where she can and when she can’t, she says no. She’s fully present wherever God has here and she enjoys life in a joyful, fun, spontaneous, serving kind of way.
When Grace Klein Community hosts special events such as camping week, cultural gatherings or serve days, she invites many to come join the fun. She sees life as an adventure that her friends should not miss. Maybe she will burst into song or dance, cook a feast, ask the questions you needed someone to ask you, listen for hours, or give you a much needed laugh.
We are better together for members like Layla who remind us life is for living, for looking to what is eternal, not getting bogged in the circumstances and being creative with the resources we do have. She’s our reminder to love all people, fling open our front door to anyone, not panic if the toilet has a ring, share what we have, be ok to make a mistake, work hard, put others above ourselves, and trust God for what we didn’t accomplish today because we took time for people over our to-do list.
Often ministry feels so intimidating. We all want to love people, to serve, to give of ourselves to another person. But, we get scared. How do we start a conversation with a stranger? What do we say? How do we show that we care? I think Layla is laughing inside when she watches some of us try to talk to a person we have never met. Not because she thinks we are pathetic, but because we are scared of the wrong things. See, Layla never sees anyone as a stranger, but as a friend she hasn’t met yet. We need to learn from her, seeing everyone as our equals, and not afraid of what we might say or do. Sometimes she says the perfect something, but sometimes she doesn’t. And when she says something that makes no sense, she just laughs. She does not think too highly of herself and that frees the other person to be who they are too.
As a homeschool and foster care mama, workout gym lady, produce coordinator for twenty plus families, gardener, friend to hundreds and servant leader, you really never know where you may experience some of Layla. She has this gift to relate to anyone and she is super intentional about spending time with all the “anyone’s” she meets. Maybe it’s a family from her son’s football team, her daughter’s dance, her foster care network, the lady she met at the gym, her neighbor, the girl she met at community bible study, the older couple she respects from church, her food delivery families, the single guy they have for dinner to share a good meal, the couple fighting for their marriage, another Classical Conversations mom, a friend from Monday Night Prayer, on and on it goes. She never runs out of love. The more love seeps out, the more she has to give away. Somehow, God gives her the capacity to pursue and invest in this myriad of people. If God can give her the capacity to love on hundreds, He will give all of us the capacity to love on people in our spheres of influence.
Every week, you can find Layla serving in some capacity with Grace Klein Community. On Saturday nights she is hosting an intentional dinner or helping sort donated veggies from a local farmers market. On Sunday’s she’s distributing Trader Joe’s donations to families they are serving. Every third Saturday, she’s praying with other volunteers and delivering food to her food delivery families, often recruiting other families to come along with her family. On Monday’s, you may catch her distributing Love Does to single moms or retirement centers. Monday nights, you can often find her worshipping, praying and sharing delicious food with Monday Prayer Night. She may even be caught teaching the kids a bible story. On Thursdays, you may catch her investing in community kids, while she has a foster kid on her hip. Friday mornings around 4:30am, she’s headed to the Farmer’s Market to secure produce deals so that many community families can eat healthy at a reasonable cost. On a Wednesday, she may be texting Ryan a list of items she needs from the Give and Take Room to share with a family she knows. Or she may be caught meeting a friend at the office so they can look through the Give and Take Room together. Find a Tuesday and she may squeeze in a cooking day to prep meals, wash discarded clothing from the Mercedes Marathon, or help with the Bemorerandom table at a Family Fun Night.
Please know, Layla’s life is not all Grace Klein Community. She fits in serving where she can and when she can’t, she says no. She’s fully present wherever God has here and she enjoys life in a joyful, fun, spontaneous, serving kind of way.