Getting Ready For Ladies G.A.B. Night

Yesterday was Ladies G.A.B. Night and no matter how much I prepare

I always end up running all day getting ready.

 

 

For my devotion I usually use whatever God has been showing me

 in my personal studies.  This month I have been studying Number 14:24, where is talks about Caleb having another spirit.  This was a wonderful word study on what kind of spirit God wants us to have.  Also Numbers 14:24 tells how Caleb followed God fully.  We will have the right spirit in us if we are following God fully and totally with all our hearts. (Deuteronomy 11:1)  God had been putting this devotion on my heart and mind for the last two weeks so I was able to write it out in quickly.

 

I had just finished writing my devotion out when my husband called

and said we had gotten the date wrong for Food Bank and that they were here!  This is the second month we have been off on the weeks and not ready!  I ran over to the church and helped unload and get boxes ready to give out.   By the time we got done my morning was gone!

 

The last few days here have been rainy, dreary, and cold so I decided to throw together a quick pot of potato soup.  I set the potatoes to cook and came back later and mashed up the potatoes and added milk and seasonings.  The ladies said it was good and just what was needed on a cold day!

 

 

For our craft time I knew we were going to finish working

on the Kleenex boxes we started last month.  These will go in the sanctuary and match the remodeling we just did.  I took time to string all the needles and start the patterns on each square so everyone could just start in

and I wouldn't have as much explaining to do.  This has actually been one of the favorite crafts of our ladies!

 



 

We were missing a lot of ladies last night with vacation

and summer activities but we had so much fun.  Awesome ladies, great food, fun crafts and of course wonderful Words from our precious Lord and Savior.  What a great combination!

 

A Run Away Week

This morning I am sitting here, no makeup, hair in pulled in a pony tail and wearing an old pair of comfy clothes.  I told my husband I will not be leaving the house or doing anything, unless of course, that God says otherwise!  Last week was totally filled with so many things and I felt like I never sat down for more than five minutes!

 

 

On Monday I ran around town with Mason as he got ready to do a special teen game night for a few of his teens who had done all their Sunday School homework and had perfect attendance for the last three months.  I cooked sticky fingers for them as they laughed and had an awesome time.  My husband spent the day at the hospital ministering to one our ladies and her family as she had surgery.  He got home just in time for us to run to a birthday party for another of our church members.

 

 

I spent Tuesday we had food bank come in, so spent the morning setting out food and helping and ministering to those who came by for food pick up.  I then had to finish getting everything ready or our Ladies G.A.B. Night.  Chep helped me cut wood blocks for the craft and then I shopped for a few supplies for our craft and ingredients for the finger food I made.  Also put the finishing touches on my devotion.   I taught on the Barchart Gardens and how Jenny Barchart had a vision to transform an ugly limestone quarry into one of the most beautiful gardens in the world.  God wants us each to transform our lives from ugly barrenness to a beautiful fruitful garden!

 

For our craft we took the blocks of wood and painted them as books with the Bible names on the side.  One our Sunday School teachers is teaching her kids the Books of the Bible and will play games and review with these as her class learns and memorizes.

 

Wednesday, after I had spent the whole morning preparing for Bible Adventures and then sent the puppet skit and Bible story pictures to the printer.  My husband called from the church saying the stuff I had sent to the printer had not printed as the printed had broken down.  Since our copier guy could no come until the next day I was left with totally redoing what I had planned.  I ended up running to the store and getting supplies to act out our story and the Bible lesson I was trying to teach.  It seems like everyone fed their kids sugar before bringing them to Bible Adventures and the kids were bouncing off the walls with hyperness!   I must say I was very relieved when the night was over! 

 

 

Thursday I had a couple of doctor appointments and afterward my husband and I went shopping for candy and gifts for our Couples Valentine Banquet and Titus girls. We then made up candy boxes to set on each table for the banquet.

 

 

Did I ever mention that our dogs have separation anxiety?  Badly!!!  They hate when they know we are at church and can hear us singing but can't get to us.  Often when they really get upset they will eat things, like all the cushions of my chairs!  We went a week without cushions but since I knew we had missionaries coming over for lunch on Sunday I thought I should spend my Friday morning getting new ones made.  I found fabric I loved and also bought the heap pillows at Walmart to use as the inside cushion.

 

 

I think I made them a couple of inches too short but they are not bad

 for a quick few hours of sewing!

 

 

Friday Night was our Valentine banquet and it was a blast. 

I tried to get more pictures but the room we were in was so dark that I had a hard time getting any that were not totally dark.  We had a skit, a couple of games and devotion and laughed and had great fellowship as we ate. 

 

 

 

On Saturday we had Titus girls and the girls learned how to make homemade Chicken and noodles.  The girls loved chopping all the veggies and learning how to make a

rich stock for the soup and learning how to make noodles.

 

Miss Nel taught a wonderful devotion on the world's definition

 of love and the Biblical definition of love.

 

For our craft we made Coca cola bouquets using a can of coke as the vase and attaching half a foam ball to the top and sticking candy in it.  Of course they loved this and their bouquets were totally full of candy!!!  I spent the rest of Saturday getting food prepped for after church on Sunday before heading to bed early!

 

 

With all the busyness of the week I forgot to do the Sunday bulletins!  My husband called me and asked me to come over to the office and get them done.  This put a rush on me as I was putting food in crockpots and getting myself ready but God guided my and helped me put the bulletin together within a short time.  Our Missionaries were the Martin Family to Montana.  Such a sweet couple and such a great burden they have for the small towns of the West.  We had a great time of fellowship with them as we shared lunch with them.

 

Although it was a great week last week, praying that this week will be slower!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 



A Different Kind of Devotion

 

We had a wonderful group of ladies for this months Ladies G.A.B. Night!  This month I had my devotion ready a month in advance but as the month moved on God changed my thoughts on what to bring the ladies so I wrote another devotion and then last week I wrote another devotion and then yesterday I felt God did not want me to give any of the devotions I had written.  I prayed and prayed and asked God what he wanted me to do and He showed me something totally different than I usually do.  One thing I have been running into on the internet and even talking to people is that there is coming a belief that if you think something but as long as you don't follow through and act on that thought, it is not a sin.  I presented this thought to the ladies and asked what they thought about it and told them they needed Bible verses to back up and show what they believed and why.  It turned into a fantastic discussion with many, many Bible verses and stories being used to show that our thoughts can be and are sinful even without acting on those thoughts, and that we need to bring every thought under the captivity of Christ and into obedience to him.  The ladies loved digging deep into their Bibles and being challenged to show out of scripture what they believe. 

This may be a different kind of devotion I use in the future!

 

Of course we had so much fun and laughter as we ate and talked.  Of course Little Miss got passed around and she loved every bit of attention!

 

For our craft we worked on some new decorations for Valentines Day. 

Our main goal was to get a couple of wreaths and wall hangings done. 

We did not get the wreaths finished so it will be a project for later.

 

 

For the wall hangings, we cut foam board into the sizes we wanted and covered them with a red fabric.  Nothing with too much design or too girly of colors as these will be hung on the sides of the sanctuary. 

 

I still need to finish putting raffia on the boards so we can hang them but they turned out really cute for being such an easy and simple craft!

 

I just Love our Ladies G.A.B. Nights!

Happily Ever After

Last night was our Princess "Happily Ever After" Banquet

and we had a royal time!  A lot of our teens and ladies dressed in their Princess best and everyone looked so nice. 

 

I got some ideas on Pinterest for decorations

 and I think it turned out so cute! 

 

 

 I also found a Princess cake on Pinterest I fell in love with

(see the cake here)  and tried to make it  but as you can tell I am not a baker or a cake decorator!  Epic failure, but it was at least still edible!

 

For our devotion I shared with the ladies about having a Princess heart

 in this not so Princess world.   We talked about Eve and how she

was truly the first princess living in a totally perfect world. No dirty diapers, no piles of laundry or whining kids, no stressful job, no fighting with Adam, no stress, no drama, just total and utter peace, happiness and love............

well until she sinned and life went down hill from there.   It's hard to see all of God's goodness when we let sin rule in our hearts and then when our hearts are overcome with sin, we can't be filled with the peace, joy and happiness that God wants each of us to have.   We then talked about a princess heart, how God shows us how to have a princess heart and how we need to guard our hearts closely to keep sin out.  It was really a fun devotion

and many ladies told me they just loved it.

 

 

For our craft we took headbands and glued rhinestone gems 

on them to make simple Princess tiara's.

 

 

The teens and ladies really loved the craft

and I even saw a lady out shopping today wearing her tiara!

 

I ended the night by reminding ladies that when we live God's way

it is possible to have a "Happily Ever After" life because a true Princess starts on the inside, not the outside.

 

Thank You God for loving me and helping me through every challenge and circumstance this world throws at me.  You are my Prince Charming, you are my King and love me even when I don't deserve it.  Thank you for my my life because throough you I truly have a "Happily Ever After" life and I love it!

 

 



 







4th of July Banner

For our June Ladies G.A.B. Night, I gave a devotion on

2 Chronicles 7:14 and 2 Peter 1:3-5.  We talked about how we are God's people but how far away from virtue we have gone.  It was not the devotion I had planned on giving as I had another devotion written and ready to give.  After God pressing on my heart all day not to give the devotion I had already prepared and me telling God I didn't want to write another devotion, I finally sat down a couple of hours before our meeting with my Bible and concordance and wrote the devotion I felt God wanted me to give.   Several ladies approached me afterwards and thanked me as they said the devotion had touched their hearts.  I am so glad I listened to God and brought the devotion He asked me to give.

 

 

For our craft we worked on a 4th of July Banner

with 2 Chronicles 7:14 on it.  After backing fabric with double sided interfacing we traced all the letters we needed for the verse.

 

We then cut out all the letters. 

This verse had so many words and took so much time just doing the letters.  All the ladies were fabulous and everyone took letters home to finish cutting them out so we could finish the banner by this weekend.

 

Today I took all the letters and laid all the letters out

and began putting the words together.

 

I placed all the letters on the background and rearranged them until I got them positioned where I wanted.  I then peeled the backing of the letters.

 

I then ironed all the letters and stars onto the background

to permanently stick them in place.

 

I know, I know, the background is too busy and almost swallows

 the words but it really does look good.  The picture really does not show how good it looks but my husband loves it and since he is the one who asked us to make it, I think it turned out quite well.

 

My husband has asked us to make another banner for Thanksgiving

 so I will definitely be more careful to pick a plainer background

that will make the words pop more!



Devoted

The word God put on my heart for 2013 is "Devoted".  How devoted am I truly to God and His word and His gospel.  How much time do I spend at his feet everyday, how much time a day do I spend serving Him and thus others, is my daily walk sweet and intimate with Him?  I have asked myself these questions and more as I look to how devoted I am to God and what can I do this year to become more devoted to Him. 
Over the last 9 days as I have studied devotion in my Bible, prayed about devotion and also changed many things in my day to make more time for things that will center my time, my actions and my thoughts toward God, I have noticed how devoted I am not!  There are several things I am praying about and will share with you as God takes me through a journey of learning true devotion to Him this year.

We had our January Ladies G.A.B. Night last night
and we had so much fun!  We laughed and talked and each lady shared the things she is working on to build a stronger relationship with God and their families.  It was so amazing to hear the hearts of these ladies and I am fervently praying for each one!

Our devotion was on being "Devoted".  (I teach the ladies what God is teaching me!)  We talked about how we know when someone is devoted to us and then looked through the Bible at people whose lives showed such devotion to God.  So far my favorite Bible people that showed devotion are Zacharias and Anna.  In Luke 1 we see where Zacharias was visited by Gabriel and told about the birth of John the Baptist.  When Zacharias questioned this, saying he was an old man, Gabriel said he would not be able to speak until John was born.  Even though Zacharias was now mute and deaf, he did not return home until he had finished serving God his appointed time in the temple.  Anna was an amazing woman because despite her age she dwelt in the temple and served God with fasting and prayers night and day.  What examples for us to live by!

I hosted the food this month and brought several crock pots
 full of hot delicious soup!  Meatball soup, Ham and Bean and Pasta soup and my husband's favorite, Cheesy Potato Broccoli soup. 
It was so good and Keith helped Mrs. Robin eat!

For our craft I washed out all my empty candle jars,
(I love burning candles and had over twenty jars!) and the ladies decorated them to use as prayer jars, devotion jars or candle jars. 
The ladies are so creative and the jars all turned out so cute!

 

Another awesome night with our ladies, now to get

 busy planning for next month!

 

 

Our Favorite Things

For this months Ladies G.A.B. Night, I asked the ladies to bring their favorite things to put in a basket so we could send it to one of our missionary wives.  The ladies brought such wonderful things and filled the basket to overflowing. Candy, candles, lotions, and bath stuff.

 

  

We are sending the basket to the Philippines to a wife who is without her husband for year as he is here in the states on deputation. She is a Philippine National and works for the government.  Although she has put in for her visa several times, they will not grant it because they are afraid she will seek asylum in the States. She has had a rough time with getting into a car accident that left her injured and then her daughter being admitted the hospital for several days with a life threating illness. We really wanted to do something special for her to let her know we love her and appreciate her as she supports her husband in the ministry.

Our devotion was on our favorite things and self-control

and based on 1 Corinthians 6:12 and then for our craft we made building blocks for the nursery. First we took half gallon milk jugs
and taped the pointed end down.
 

 

We then cut contact paper and carefully wrapped each block.

 

They turned out cute and Miss Nel had some fun building with them.

 

We had a lot of fun and a couple of times we were all laughing so hard I was worried someone was die from lack of oxygen! 
G.A.B. Night is definitely never boring!
 

Ladies Dishtowel G.A.B. Night

We had an awesome time at G.A.B. Night!  We had 17 ladies tonight and we had such wonderful fellowship and we laughed and laughed!

 

My devotion tonight was on John 13 and how Jesus ministered to his disciples and how we too need to serve and minister to others. 

After the devotion we had a dishtowel exchange.

 

 

The dishtowels are to be a daily reminder to serve others! 

Everyone loved their new dishtowels!

 

And of course we had tons of food and it was all so good!

 

 

 For craft time we worked on several things we will be putting

in the YMCA craft fair.

 

 

Tiered serving plates are so easy and cheap to make. 

Nicole was playing Vanna White!

 

Several of the ladies made calming jars. 

 Everyone loved these and wanted to take them home with them! 

Very easy to make and they really are fun and calming!

 

Then we also made a I-Spy jars.  All the crafts turned out well and we had a fun time joking and laughing as we made them.  Can't believe how fast the night went and it seemed like we were cleaning up and saying goodbye just a short time after we started. 

 

I love our ladies and thank Gopd for giving me this ministry

So I can minister to them!