We need whimsy and creative. The unexpected, disorganized chaos that turns into unbridled beauty. You know these type, the ones you are drawn to because they are different than you and you cannot imagine thinking like they do or living like them. Or maybe you are this kind and you know you can let your hair down and be free. Grace Klein Community is better when the order, label maker, planner types collide with the last minute, flying by the seat of their pants, dreamers. Something about our differences make us better together.
One such poetry lover, slat painter, chicken farmer, wild flower bouquet creator, hostess with the mostest is Jennifer Vines. She’s an educator and a field trip adventurer. A homeschool mom, retreat planner, the leader of our Grace Klein Community mission trips to Swaziland, fundraiser, craft making, lover of everybody. Jennifer is the one working a Grace Klein Community craft booth at a festival, preserving veggies, delivering meals to pregnant sick mamas, and hosting a yard sale while throwing together a baby shower, ladies night and doing laundry. Her life may make you tired, but she’s fun, passionate and praying with her eclectic jewelry and curly black hair. Her heart is tender, tears come easy and so do giggles.
Grace Klein Community has slats of love that are painted by volunteers and stored for the next natural disaster. Something about an encouraging phrase and a scripture on the back of a beat up board speaks volumes to families who have lost everything. Jennifer has painted countless slats to give away. Her art (along with a bunch painted by her friends) is scattered all over Oklahoma from the tornado that passed through there a few years ago.
When missionaries come to visit Grace Klein Community, Jennifer coordinates an opportunity for them to share with ladies, a youth group or a small group gathering. She also rallies homeschool families to serve with Grace Klein Community through food delivery, making homemade detergent and donating loads of stuff to our Give and Take Room.
As a mama of four, except when she’s a mama of more, she has experience with teenagers and toddlers and finds value in teaching her children how to serve, to be resourceful and to enjoy trying new things. She shops the Give and Take Room to stretch Kingdom resources and encourages her friends to do the same. The Word is a lamp to her feet and a light to her path and she’s seeking to live what it says. She would love to have you over for a cup of hot tea or a homemade scone. She wants everything to be beautiful, special and welcoming. She wants to really listen while making you laugh and telling you something amazing God did this week. She’s no super hero, but human like all of us. She gets tired, yells at her kids, can struggle with anxiety, and sometimes forgets to do what she says she will do or overcommits. But something about her realness makes you want to talk to her about your realness and to grow in Jesus together.
Maybe you will meet her at the park, surrounded by a herd of kids and mamas, or at the Grace Klein Community office when she has stopped by to grab a frozen meal to deliver. Maybe you will see a social media post she shares or purchase some cool wreath she made for our BeMoreRandom etsy store. She will be the creative one, dressed all cute and not even trying, with a smile on her face and eager to meet you. You will like her and love her and want some more of her. Isn’t that what community is … the creativity of how God somehow makes the good in someone else compliment and accentuate the good in us. She’ll bring the unexpected, crazy, last minute, I’m running late to something great. You bring you, the comfortable in your own skin version, and watch what God does. It will be good!