PEARLS

Beauty of Submission

2010-11-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

The turn around to the monthly PEARLS meeting was rather quick this time. We were coming off an excellent retreat where we learned about being a beautiful woman with a gentle and quiet spirit and honoring our husbands. God must be trying to tell us something because this PEARLS was on being Submissive to our husbands (maybe He is just talking to me).

We met at Joy's house and began our evening with an ice breaker on different pies. All the pie names were scrambled up and we had to figure out what they were. Stephanie was the winner... and I think she got most of them!

Then Joy led us in a great devotional on being submissive to our husbands. It was another great reminder of the truth God gives us. All scripture is from Him and useful for teaching and rebuking. She reminded us that it might be hard to be submissive, but we are commanded to do so and it shows respect to our husbands when we are. It is honoring to God as well and will strengthen our marriage. If you missed it, you missed some great truth. Truth that we all need to hear.

Then came the eating part:)
Joy demonstrated her wonderful, easy, in the pan pie crust! She uses this one for her wonderful raspberry pie and for a lot of other pies, too. I never knew that making a pie crust could be so easy! Thanks, Joy, for sharing that one with us.
JeriAnn shared a dutch pie crust that is used for a crumb crust...mainly apple pie. Made from brown sugar, flour and oatmeal. Then we got to sample the pies...yum yum!

Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, December 7. We will meet at the church building. Please bring 3-4 dozen cookies or candy to divide into Christmas goodie bags so that we can show kindness to those around us. We will also be studying Kindness. Hope to see you there!

Beauty Mark Retreat

2010-11-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

God has truly blessed us with a beautiful fall and Friday was part of that beauty. The sun was shining and the air was crisp! What a great day for a retreat! Lots of time, preparation, and prayers have gone into this retreat. There was an excitement to see how God would work during this time.

We began the evening with an ice breaker game of finding various "beauty" items that women had brought with them. You could only sign your name one time to the sheet and these items ranged from a tooth brush to tweezers! Four ladies managed to find all the items so the grand prize was awarded to Julie H. because age goes before beauty:) It was fun listening to all the ladies laugh and talk as the evening got started.

Twenty-five ladies then headed to the food line! Thanks so much to Julie M. for all of her great food preparations and for Joy who also helped. The food was delicious!

Our speaker for the weekend was Angi L. We were so excited to have her share with us. Angi and her husband, Mike, had done our spring Bible conference on marriage and Angi's beauty, quiet and gentle spirit, was obvious. She shared her testimony with us that first session and opened up...she was real with things that she struggled with in life and things she cherished. It was refreshing to hear from someone who is like us. 1 Peter 3:4 "...but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God's sight." was the verse that she shared with us. She did make note that we are not to ignore our outward appearance, but we are to focus on the hidden person of the heart. We are to have a quiet spirit and sometimes that means BITING OUR TONGUES! Angi shared a great definition of gentleness...meekness which is power under control. Oh to strive for that. She ended that session by giving some practical suggestions for having a quiet and gentle spirit: 1. Be a woman of the Word. 2. Be a woman of prayer. 3. Look for a woman who you can pattern yourself after. 4. Memorize passages about the tongue. Ask the Lord to help you have your words under control. We ended the "organized" part of the evening at the fire pit. It was a beautiful evening...clear sky and bright moon. We enjoyed roasting marshmallows for smores and chit chatting...something women love...talking and chocolate!

Some then headed into bed, while others played games. The late ones finally made it to bed at around 1 am! Breakfast comes early:)

The next morning started with quiet time. You could do your own or use "A beautiful woman in Christ" by Julia Bettencourt. This is a great devotional that used beauty tips for our outward appearance and gave scripture verses to make our insides beautiful. Example: Cleanser: In order to make oursleves beautiful, we have to first cleanse ourselves of all unwanted impurities. Our cleansing agent works through our confession and God's forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

We then had another yummy meal:)
Felicia started our morning off by having us listen to the song "Praise God". It was a great way to quiet our hearts and prepare us for the day.

Angi came again and talked about the Beauty Mark of Honoring our Husbands. We are called to be submissive to our own husbands not to all men. Submission has always been in God's plan. It has to do with order and we voluntarily go under it. It requires FAITH and freedom from fear. It is a scary thing to relinquish control. The opposition to the idea of submission is found in our own heart. There are some practical ways to express respect. 1. Tell him what you like about him. 2. Thank him for providing for you. 3. Thank him for fixing things. 4. Join him in what he likes to do. 5. Work on the eye sparkle. 6. Meet his sexual needs.

Our final session was on the Beauty Mark of Kindness. Angi shared that kindness must be coupled with goodness. Kindness is the feeling whereas goodness is the action. Lasting kindness only comes from the Holy Spirit. There are 3 hindrances to kindness...anger, bitterness, and judging. To be beautiful...kindness is something to work on and strive for.

I am not doing the weekend justice in this small post. I know I was truly blessed by the time. Blessed by the woman who came. Blessed by the testimony of Angi. Blessed by the relaxation. Blessed by God's truth. I was challenged and I hope you were too....challenged to become a beautiful woman in God's sight.

September PEARLS

2010-09-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot going on at church the last few weeks with preparing to move to the temporary facility and getting ready for the 10 year anniversary. Because of those 2 things we decided to make PEARLS available for whatever needed done. Well, the city hall didn't need any other work and the anniversary celebration was all planned. That left us with an opportunity to pray for each other and that is just what we did. By now, you hopefully have received your registration form for the PEARLS retreat "Beauty Mark" to be held October 22 -23 (If you have not, please let me know). We took Tuesday evening and prayed for every woman at RHC! Yes, we prayed for you! We know that everyone has different struggles and joys happening in their life, so we prayed for you. We prayed that God is working in your life and that He will give you strength to carry on with whatever life is giving you right now. We also prayed for the retreat and how God is going to use it and our speaker, Angi. Each year the retreat gives a great opportunity to grow in God and to draw closer to each other...to encourage one another and get to know someone a little better. Be sure that God will work there! It is for His glory that we will meet that Friday evening and Saturday morning and He already knows the great things that will come from it! All this to say...DON'T MISS IT! It is close (right outside of town), it is brief (6PM on Friday to 1PM on Saturday), there will be great food, the facility is awesome, and our speaker is preparing truth that God wants her to say (Angi spoke on marriage with her husband, Mike, at our spring Bible conference).

Ladies, please join us! You must register by Sunday, Oct. 10, but don't delay! Mark your calendars now, turn in your registration and let NOTHING stop you from coming. The cost is $20, but there is definitely help financially if that is what is holding you back.

Please know that we want you there! You have been prayed for and we are confident that "wherever 2 or 3 gather in my name, there I am with them." God will work, come and allow Him to work in your heart!

Garden Party

2010-08-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful night! It was humid, hot, sticky, but it was awesome to be outside in God's beautiful creation with beautiful women that He created, too! The weather had been calling for rain, but once again God provided sunshine and a slight breeze for the garden party.
A very special thank you to Linda and Felicia for doing the decorating and most of the refreshments. Also thanks to Heather H. and Mary H. for bringing food as well. I think it is safe to say that it was a great evening for everyone!

The above pictures are of the 3 tables that were decorated in a citrus theme. The colors were bright and bold and there were lemons, limes, or oranges under glasses with candles. It was very fitting for a warm summer evening.
Welcome to the Garden Party...a patio transformed for a festive, fun evening.

We started with "speed interviewing" which was taken from the idea of "speed dating". There were sets of questions that were being asked with a time limit of 1 minute (this was dropped to 45 seconds later). When time was up. The lady being asked the questions got up and moved to someone new with a new set of question. Questions like...what is your favorite color? What is your most over-used word (ask Mary M. and Linda this question!)? What is your favorite restaurant? What would you do if you ha 1 hour to do anything? There was a lot of laughter and a lot of information gained in a short amount of time.
Next, Bonnie led us in our devotional on "The Honor of Working at Home." This is a wonderful chapter for all ladies! It stressed the importance of taking care of the home that God had provided for you and balancing all the work! Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a career mom, or even single it is still a command to care for your home and make it a place where God is the focus. Bonnie also shared some scriptures from Proverbs 31...that woman did it all:) Sometimes it seems hard to fathom all the work she did, but she did it to bless her home and to honor God.

Finally, we had a time of fellowship and FOOD! There was food to fit the theme, orange, green, and yellow. Pimento cheese sandwiches, Crab salad sandwiches, bright fruit salad, cucumber sandwiches, key lime pie, and citrus splash and pink lemonade to drink.

One of my favorite parts of the evening is the fellowship time when we can just sit in a relaxed setting and get to know the other ladies of our church. These are precious ladies! I hope you can take the time to get to know each one on a personal level. Every woman in our church has something special to share...find out what it is!

Our next PEARLS will be Tuesday, September 7th and will be held at the church. We will be using the time to prepare for the move into the temporary facility and to get ready for our 10 year celebration. Hope you can make it! Also, don't forget to mark your calendars....Oct 22-23 is our Beauty Mark Retreat!

Service Project...Care Packages for our Troops

2010-07-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

For PEARLS this month we sent care packages to two different servicemen and their units serving overseas. One of the young men is the grandson of Pat B. We spent time praying for our troops, their safety, their families, and for our administration. It was a good time to pack up 4 boxes and I'm sure they will be excited to receive the goodies. (I forgot to get out my camera until the end...those boxes were packed tight!)

Our next PEARLS is the annual GARDEN PARTY! It is Tuesday, August 3 at JeriAnn's home.
Also, please SAVE the DATE...October 22 & 23 will be our BEAUTY MARK Retreat!

Yummy Recipes!

2010-06-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Mac & Cheese ~ Sheral

1 Cup Macaroni
1 T Flour
1 lbs butter
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 lb bacon (2-4 slices)
2 cups shredded cheese

Cook macaroni
Fry bacon
In a sauce pan combine butter, flour, bacon, and milk and saute until a smooth, white sauce.
Combine in a baking dish (9x9) macaroni, white sauce, bacon, and cheese and bake at 350 for 30-1 hour. About 5 minutes before done dust more cheese on top until it bubbles.

Vegetarian Penne ~ Abbie
2 Cups uncooked penne
1 cup baby carrots, halved lengthwise
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T canola oil
2 cans (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes
2 cups frozen cut green beans
2 t dried oregano
3 T cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 T minced fresh parsley

Cook pasta. Meanwhile in large non-stick skillet, saute carrots and garlic in oil. til tender. Add tomatoes, green beans, basil and oregano; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until veggies are tender. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth, stir into veggies. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 more minutes or until thickened. Drain pasta, stir into veggies. Sprinkle with parsley.

Julie's Pasta Salad ~ Julie M.
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
Salt & pepper to tast
1 - 160z whole grain or wheat pasta shells cooked and drained
1 small onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 cup sliced olives
1/2 lb bacon cooked and crumbled
2 cups cubed cheddar cheese

Mix dressing, sour cream, salt & pepper. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine all other ingredients. Mix in sauce and chill

Greek Barley Salad ~ Joy
1 3/4 cup vegetable or chicken stock
pinch of salt
1 cup barley (pearled or hulled)

Bring to boil - reduce to simmer. Cook 30 minutes. Cool in refrigerator.

In food processor chop

2 cups (3 ounces) salad spinach
1 clove garlic
1 T fresh oregano (or 1 t dried oregano)
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 t lemon zest
1/2 t salt
2 T olive oil

Stir into barley.

Add
1 medium cucumber chopped
4 oz feta cheese
1 large tomato diced

Top with more feta cheese. Serves 6

Corn Salad ~ JeriAnn

2 cans whole corn, drained
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 bag coarsely crushed chili-cheese corn chips

Mix first 5 ingredients and chill. Stir in corn chips just before serving.

Cafe Mocha Punch ~ Felicia
Scoop 1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream into punch bowl. Pour 1 pint half and half or heavy cream and 1/2 cup chocolate syrup on top. Pour 1 full pot of hot coffee, brewed double strength on top of ice cream mixture. Ladle into cups and enjoy!

Oreo Dessert ~ Rhonda & Stephanie
1 pkg oreos (crushed) half on bottom rest on top
vanilla ice cream
hot fudge
8 oz cool whip

Put half of crushed oreos on bottom of 9x13 pan. Scoop desired amount of ice cream on top. Pour hot fudge over ice cream then spread cool whip. Place the rest of the oreos on top. Place in freezer.

Green Fluff ~ JeriAnn
1 pkg pistachio pudding mix
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple undrained
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 8oz container cool whip

Mix pudding and pineapple together. Add marshmallows. Gently fold in cool whip. Chill overnight.

I know there were a few more recipes that I did not get. If you wish to include your recipe, please give it to me!

Thanks to all who contributed.

The Pleasure of Purity

2010-06-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

The weather was thought to be questionable with severe storms on the radar, but God held off the rain allowing just a gentle sprinkle. Otherwise, it was a beautiful night to have a picnic at the park with some GREAT food!

We started off by....eating...

eating...

and eating some more!

If you didn't know it, there are some great cooks at RHC! Thanks to everyone who contributed some yummy food. I will give the recipes on another post, so keep looking at this site for some great foods for summer.

After filling our tummies and enjoying some great fellowship, we discussed the next chapter in Feminine Appeal... The Pleasure of Purity. We began our talk by some sharing their love stories. There were some great stories. If you get the chance you should ask Joy about her canoe trip, Felicia about Jeff's dancing sister, and Julie M. about dancing Craig:) Honestly, it was great to hear how God brought couples together.

This chapter on purity is an extremely important chapter! The world, media, everyone but Christians seem to be willing to talk about sex. Just read the Bible and you will realize that God intended for sex as long as it is in marriage! Sex is 1. God's Idea (Genesis 2:21-25), 2. He fashioned it for Marriage (1 Corinthians 7:1-9), 3. It is intended for pleasure (Song of Songs 5), 4. He designed it for intimacy (Genesis 4:1), and 5. it was created for procreation (Genesis 1:27-28).

It is great to be married and once in love and married, it is easy to think that "I will never sin against my husband...I will never be unfaithful." The sin of lust is "no respecter of persons". We are told to "be careful that you do not fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12&13) We need to set our hearts on things above, make no provision of the flesh, and pursue accountability. It is easy to think that men struggle with lust, but women can also lust when watching shows they should not or reading books that allow the imagine to wander. We, just like our husbands, need to stay away from things that could cause us to fail and think about Godly things.

Finally, we need to always be ready for romance our husbands!!!!! Ladies, always strive to be attractive...in your husbands eyes and theirs alone! Be available! You are the only one in the world that can, under God, meet your husbands needs! It should please you as well. Be anticipatory...allow your thoughts to wander...ON YOUR HUSBAND! Flirt with him and find out what is the most meaningful thing to him.

Ladies, God has blessed us with a great gift to be used in marriage to please our husbands! Seek to honor Him in all that you do!

Our next gathering is Tuesday, July 6 at Abbie's house. We will be putting together care packages for our troops overseas. If you know of a soldier overseas, please let us know. Look for a list of needed items coming soon!

The Safety of Self Control

2010-05-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

*Disclaimer: I am writing this a week plus since PEARLS. I do not like to do that and I know I will not do justice to all that took place and those who worked hard to prepare. If anyone has anything to add, please do so. It was a great time and I apologize for being so slow.

Felicia started our evening off by giving each of us words that we were to use in some form to describe ourselves (not necessarily in the order on the paper). These were words like angel food, cheese, devils food, upside down...yes these are all cakes, but we had to use them to describe ourselves. It was very interesting how each lady used her word(s). Megan's stuck out the most to me. She had tripped walking "up the side" walk causing her to fall down. That is my paraphrase, but it was a great use of her words.

Next, Felicia led us in a devotional on Self-Control. Yes, self-control. Something we all need, and probably all struggle with and will always struggle, but John 15:5 says, "Apart from me you can do nothing." Felicia reminded us of the Titus 2 passage, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." There are lots of different areas where we need self-control...going to bed at a reasonable hour, getting up on time, not eating too much, not eating the wrong things, not overspending at the mall, not overspending at the grocery store, keeping self from stomping around and slamming doors when angry, and the list goes on. In Feminine Appeal the topics were limited to eating, sleeping, thoughts, feelings, and meeting with God. We have to "Train ourselves to be godly" (1 Timothy 4:7). Proverbs 25:20 says, "A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." We have to practice self-control every day in every area of our life, but we do not have to do it alone! Carolyn Mahaney in Feminine Appeal says "self-control requires effort...however, it is not solely dependent on us". THANK GOD!!!!! We are reminded in 2 Peter 1:3-9 that we do have to make an effort, and with the help of God this is possible and we can be effective and productive for Christ. "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Then we practiced self-control! I personally went the entire cake decorating time without licking my fingers! I think that is a first, but when we were finished I tasted the delicious icing that Heather made!

Heather did a great job sharing with us the skill of icing cakes. She gave us same great tips and we all got to practice them on our own "cakes". Here are a few of the tips...

1. Start with a big spoonful of icing in the center of the cake and push the icing over the sides and down until cake is covered.

2. Slide your icing knife around the cake in the same direction then smooth out the top.

3. When making the fancy icing use a seashell movement or "c" movement.

4. Most of the supplies you would need for cake decorating can be found at Walmart.

Heather did a great job of teaching and there were a lot more tips that she gave. I know I learned a lot and really enjoyed the time. Thanks, Heather.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our June PEARLS will not be the Floral arrangements as listed in the bulletin. When new details become available, I will let you know. It will still be held June 1 at 6:30PM just the location and practical will be different, so you can still hold that date for PEARLS.

Service Project...church clean-up.

2010-04-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

This month we decided to clean up the church basement...specifically the furnace room, children's church area, kitchen, and nursery. The first thing we did though was to divide into groups and pray for specific areas in the church. One group stood on the stage and prayed for the worship team. Another group set in the pews and prayed for the people who would fill them. A group went to the sound room and prayed for technical difficulties (or for a lack of). A group prayed in the foyer for the greeters and visitors. Another group prayed in the nursery for the little ones. A group prayed for the children in children's church. Ladies prayed in Pastor Jeff's office for him and the preaching of God's word. And a group prayed outside the church for our community. These areas all need lifted up in prayer on a regular basis. If you think of it...add them to your prayer list.

Then we got to cleaning! We through out 2 garbage bags full of stuff and sent a big pile to the thrift store. In a short amount of time there was a lot accomplished. Thanks to all who helped out.

The nursery was rearranged in hopes to make the space a little more welcoming and easy to use. Of course there were some yummy snacks to enjoy after the hard work!

I forgot to take before pictures, but the furnace room was pretty clean after.

I forgot to mention this at PEARLS and so I will bring it to the next meeting. Last July we put together care packages for the troops. This thank you was sent to Sue who organized that PEARLS. If you click on the picture you might be able to read it. If not, I will bring it in May. It was a very nice note and a good reminder that we need to pray for our troops and remember them in any way that we can.

Our next gathering is May 4 at Felicia's house. We will be studying chapter 4 in our book...Self-control and learning some cake decorating tips. Hope to see you there!

The Blessings of Loving My Children

2010-03-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night we met at Karen's home for our monthly PEARLS gathering. It was like any other PEARLS night, but yet it was different as well. I definitely noticed a lot of chatting as everyone was coming in and excitement. The weather was sunny and nice, so I think spring is in the air!

Felicia began our evening with a "Match the Biblical parents with their children" quiz. There were definitely names that you were not sure of, and then there were the obvious ones...Joseph and Mary with Jesus!

Rhonda then led us in our devotional for the month of "The Blessings of Loving My Children". She began by reminding us of last month's lesson on loving our husbands and asked what we had done to show our husband that we love him. I don't remember them all, but one stands out...thanking him for the little things that he has done...taking out the trash, etc. Our husbands love to feel appreciated.

Then on to children:) Rhonda stressed over and over that the most important thing you can give your children is the love of the Lord. Teach them His ways. Start when they are young and continue as they get older. Be an example to them by being in the word yourself and allowing them to see that. Raising children is not an easy task, but they are only little for such a short time. Enjoy them as the precious beings that God created and entrusted to our care.

2Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Older mothers might tell you that the time goes so quickly, enjoy it because it is only a stage in life. Mothers with young children think about sleeping again and children who listen and obey:) Women without children might think we are all crazy:) Your turn will come:)
Rhonda stressed to take every opportunity with your children to teach them God's love and to spend time with them so that they know you care. Other women shared advice as well. For the young moms...seek out those older women who have already experienced the raising of little ones. They have lots of wisdom and encouragement to give. For those who are not yet moms...remember those older women someday!

Next, Karen gave us some great tips for taking care of our skin. There are 5 steps to follow to help give you healthy skin...Cleanse, Purify, exfoliate, moisturize, protect (foundation). 3 of us, Heather, Kelli, and I got to experience a facial. I must admit that this is not my cup of tea...but when I got home almost 3 hours later I jokingly asked Hinnerk if he could tell which side of my face received the facial. He felt with his hands and couldn't tell, but then he kissed each cheek and correctly chose the correct side. Maybe there is something to this:) Thanks Karen for sharing your expertise in this area. If you have questions...ask Karen!

It was a fun evening complete with yummy desserts...thanks Kelli, Gail, Felicia, and anyone else I missed for bringing the great food.

Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, April 6 and will be a service project at the church. We will be cleaning out the furnace room, reorganizing the kitchen area, and cleaning the nursery. I will be sending out an email that has a list of needed items if you wish to donate something to those areas.

The Delight of Loving My Husband

2010-02-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

Love is _
This was the question that Felicia started our evening off with on Tuesday night. How do you define love? Some of the answer were...
Love is...
a verb
blind

unconditional
patient
Love me tender (From Julie M. who shares the same b-day as Elvis!)

February is the month of love, but we did not purposely plan the devotional theme of the month. We just fell on chapter 2 of Feminine Appeal which is "The Delight of Loving My Husband".

Julie M. led us in the devotional about loving our husbands. She began by asking if we had any embarrassing moments when dating our husbands. If you weren't there, then I guess you missed out on the laughs.

We looked at Titus 2:4, "Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands..." The word love in this passage is actually phileo which is used to describe love between close friends. In Feminine Appeal it is described as "a tender, affectionate, passionate kind of love. It emphasizes enjoyment and respect in a relationship." Is this how we love our husbands?

Are we enjoying our husbands or are we busy serving our husbands? We need to Prize him, Cherish him, & Enjoy him. Think of some ways that you can do that today!

We then had the opportunity to learn Calligraphy which means "Beautiful writing" from a friend of Felicia's. Shelly lives in Belmont, and she & her husband work at a jewelry store in town. She has been doing calligraphy for over 30 years and does a great job. Probably the most important thing she taught was to hold your pencil/pen at a 45 degree angle to help get the thin and thick parts of the letters. She gave some other helpful hints like placing a lined sheet of paper and cardboard under the paper or envelope that you are writing on to keep the words straight and so that you don't tear the paper. She went around to each of us and looked over our writing and gave us some tips to make it easier. There were definitely those ladies who got it! Check out Meliza's handwork! Awesome!

Pray for our birthday beauties of the month and encourage them in any way you can.
Amy M ~ Feb. 1
Sue K. ~ Feb. 12
Becka M. ~ Feb. 15
Bev H. ~ Feb. 17
JeriAnn ~ Feb. 21

Our next gathering will be Tuesday, March 2 hosted by Karen. We will be learning about skin care and "The Blessings of Loving my children."

Remember to let Felicia know who you are pairing up with for String of PEARLS! Don't miss a great opportunity to be a part of another woman's life!

Beauty Mark

2010-01-25T19:47:00.000-08:00

Where did 2009 go? I have no idea, but I am excited about 2010 and our theme for this year, "Beauty Mark". We don't just casually pick themes. We seek out ideas, we laugh, we debate, and we pray! That is what led us to this year's theme. There are really 4 themes that you will hear about throughout the year, but all go back to Beauty Mark.
1. A Beauty Mark is usually defined as a dark mole on the face which is considered an attractive feature. Our ultimate Beauty Mark is described in 1 Peter 3:4, "Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." As Christians, our Beauty Mark is the gentle and quiet spirit.
2. Mirrors! How often do we look in mirrors? We are women, right? We look LOTS! This year we handed out compact mirrors with the 1 Peter scripture verse written on the mirror. The whole idea is that you see the God's word and not yourself! You see what He desires you to be...a gentle and quiet spirit.
3. Pink!!!!! We are women and we are beautiful in God's sight! Pink is definitely a girl color! We want to be excited that God made us women and He made us unique!
4. Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney! This is an AWESOME book! Mrs. Mahaney has broken down Titus 2:4 for all women to learn from! Titus 2 instructs older women to teach the younger women how to love their husbands & children, to be pure, self-controlled, kind, busy at home, and subject to their husbands! This is very applicable to all of us! Even if you are a "younger" woman, there are still younger women or girls under you! Share God's truth with them too!

Our afternoon did begin with Pastor Jeff giving us words of encouragement! This is one of the few times we allow a man to come amongst us during PEARLS...mainly I think because they don't want to be in a room full of women:) We are thankful that Jeff came and shared with us.

We also had to go around the room and share one quality trait that we each admired in a Godly woman. Words like, gracious, selfless, guarding of her tongue were all used plus many more.

The Birthday Beauties were honored with a great singing of "Happy Birthday". The Beauties this month were Leta, Julie M., Mary M., & Rhonda. Happy Birthday, Ladies! Pray for these women this month as they celebrate another year of life that God has given them!

It was a great time to be together, to cast the vision for 2010, eat yummy desserts, and to just catch up again! One thing that is slightly different this year is the String of PEARLS mentoring. In the past three years, we have come to realize that there is a need among our women for relationships that may be outside the older woman/younger woman...more like a friend to friend. Titus 2 clearly instructs older women teaching younger, but there are also many "one another commands" like encourage one another, pray for one another. Some of you need a friend...a listening ear. Others need a prayer partner or accountability partner. While some of you desire mentoring by an older woman. Whatever your need is, the PEARLS leadership team wants to see the women of this church actively involved in each others lives...teaching, training, equipping, encouraging, studying God's word, sewing, cooking, cleaning...growing in faith & obedience. So, this year the responsibility is on you. We want you to seek out that friend, peer, older woman to form a purposeful relationship with this year. We ask that you do three things 1. Use the Feminine Appeal book as your guide. You may choose to do a Bible study as well. 2. When you have committed to a woman, please let us know so we can keep you accountable and have the men of the church pray for you. 3. If you want a relationship, but are unsure who to ask, we are more than happy to help connect you with someone...just ask. Don't miss out on the blessings of being involved in each others lives!

If you really can't be involved in the String of PEARLS program then please, still pick up a Feminine Appeal book! This is an EXCELLENT book and will still guide you through biblical lessons in life. The book is $10.

Remember, ladies, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and GOD IS WATCHING YOU!

Our next gathering is Tuesday, February 2 at 6:30 PM at Rhonda's home! We will be studying "Loving our husbands" and learning how to do Calligraphy. Hope you all can make it!

Freshwater Retreat

2009-11-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

Hosea 10:12 "Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, til he comes and rains righteousness on you."

The 2009 PEARLS retreat finally arrived! We had 21 ladies and two baby boys attend this year!
Once everyone found their room, we began our evening by filling our stomachs with great Chili, White Chili, and Chicken Noodle Soup with all the toppings and GREAT desserts! I can't think of a better way to begin:)

Our gathering time began with Felicia passing out packages of M&Ms (plain & peanut). Those who took plain later found out that they could only use 1 word to describe their self, while those with peanut M&Ms could use 5 words! Let's just say that it was hard for some to only say one word, while others had a hard time coming up with 5 words. It brought lots of laughter and warmed up the room (which you can tell by the pictures was a little chilly at first). During every session we spent some time in worship led by Heather H. & Stephanie. Thanks, ladies for taking care of the music.

Our speaker for the weekend was Wendy H. from Green Bay. Wendy's connection to RHC was partly through her son Peter who attended while he was in college. We were so excited to have Wendy come and share. She worked hard to study through the book (more than once), and did a great job expounding on some of the key topics. Wendy has a passion for studying the scriptures and teaching them to other women and it showed through the sessions she prepared. God used her words to share His truth to us.

The first session came from Psalm 69 and she titled it "Portrait of a Woman Who Seeks God". She broke the Psalm into 7 different parts describing a woman of God.
1. She seeks God as her salvation.
2. She is hated without cause.
3. She confesses her sin.
4. She cares about the spiritual welfare of other believers.
5. She knows and depends on the character of God.
6. She trusts God to be just.
7. While yet in trouble, she anticipates the salvation of God and praises Him for it.

After Wendy painted that picture for us we took a break, changed into our Bible costumes, played some crazy games and carved pumpkins (Check out the book The Pumpkin Patch Parable for a great teaching tool of salvation).
Those who dressed up (back row L-R):Wendy (Pillar of salt), Joy (Woman who killed Sisera w/ a tent peg), Rachel (Plague of Frogs), Julie M. (Martha), Abbie (Roman Soldier), JeriAnn (Rainbow), Maggie (Angel), Heather H. (Mary, Martha, Ruth...any woman in the Bible), Juanita (Peter)

Front Row: Lori (black socks = sin, red pants =Christ's blood, white shirt=washed white as snow), Julie J. (new man), Felicia (Nehemiah), Stephanie (Angel), Rhonda (Queen Esther).

Others who were there: Julie H., Dani, Karen, Heather R., Ellie, Jenna, Sue

Our first game was to represent "Freshwater" and was a water guzzling relay! There was lots of cheering and the one team won hands down with more people.

Next, the ladies carved pumpkins and boy were they creative.

This group was the winning group with their "Freshwater" pumpkin. They carved the clouds and then used toothpicks to hold the seeds or "rain" into the pumpkin. Pretty creative!

As everyone was finishing up carving, the ladies had the opportunity to try "bowling with gourds" ...

and seed spitting.

After a fun night, some sat around and chatted for awhile, but eventually everyone was in bed shortly after midnight! We all needed some rest to be refreshed for the day!

Saturday dawned cold, cloudy and a little windy, but the sun did eventually shine. We began with session 2: Discussion group on Humility. We divided into small groups and read through Luke 18:9-14 which is the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. This is a great passage on humility and pride, and verse 14 summarizes the end result well..."Everyone who exalts himself will be judged, but he who humbles himself will be justified."

Session 3 was a quiet time on Honesty and "Two coverings". Genesis 3:6-13 is the passage where Adam & Eve realize that they are naked and hide from God then lie to God. Wendy reminded us that when we are aware of our sin we often try to cover our faults and failures on our own. Through this passage we see man's inadequate attempt to cover sin and God's adequate covering (Jesus' death). We also read through Psalm 32:1-5 which is a writing of David where he tired to cover his sin by keeping silent and this only caused "wasting away". When he acknowledged it before God then he became blessed because his sin was covered.

Session 4 was on the Holiness of God from Psalm 99. Wendy divided it into 3 sections...

1. Worship our Holy God (1-5)

2. Relationship with God (6-8)

See Ephesians 1:1-8

3. Learn to reflect holiness in your conduct

See 1 Peter 1:14-16 * Read scriptures with a God-centered perspective not man centered.

We talked about the character or work of God and man's responsibility.

Our last session of the day was on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. John 16:7 says, "However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say, it is profitable-good, expedient, advantageous - for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you - into close fellowship with you. But if I go away, I will send Him to you - to be in close fellowship with you." Amplified Bible

We went through the definitions of the words that are used to describe the Holy Spirit and it was a great reminder that God promises us that He will never leave us or forsake us and that the Holy Spirit is that promise.

This blog doesn't even begin to touch the tip of the iceberg of what happened this weekend. Everyone came with their own problems and difficulties in life. God never promised that it would be easy to follow Him. God did promise that He would always be with us and He was there at the Freshwater Retreat! It is up to us to hold our cup under Him, The Source, and allow His love to overflow from us keeping us full and never drained of Him!

Thanks to Wendy for teaching and for her friend Rachel to drive her down from Green Bay! Thanks to Julie M. for all of the meal organizing and thank you to all who brought food! It was a great time and am looking forward to next year!

Accessories Swap

2009-10-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Sexual Purity: The Joy of Moral Freedom
1 Thessalonians 4:3 "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality."

It was a very windy night, but a group of us gathered anyway to hear God's truth and to help rid our closets of unwanted items while others snatched up the opportunity to have something new.

We began our evening by sharing something that we are thankful for this year that we did not have last year. Since our group was fairly young with quite a few newlyweds, that was one of the common (yet exciting) answers! Others were thankful for new friends or new jobs.

Next, Julie M. led us in a time of being in God's word and reflection on how to stay pure whether single or married. She shared a story dealing with her & Craig's family and how an affair caused great harm to not just the couple, but to extended family, church members, and a close-knit community. A lot of the discussion focused on the "making it personal" part of chapter 10. A key point was that "Every Christian needs to be intentional about safeguarding his/her heart and mind against immorality." There were 12 principles for sexual purity that were discussed.

1. Recognize your potential for moral failure. (1 Cor. 10:12)

2. Realize that you don't have to give in. (1 Cor. 10:13)

3.Resolve to stay pure. (1 Peter 1:13-15)

4. Remove all bitterness. (Hebrews 12:15-16)

5. Restrain your fleshly desires. (Romans 12:14)

6. Reject anything that could lead you into moral bondage. (Proverbs 7:7-9)

7. Run from every form of evil. (2 Timothy 2:22)

8. Renew your mind with the Word of God. (Philippians 4:8)

9. Recruit help. (James 5:16)

10. Remember the consequences. (James 1:14-15)

11. Refuse to remain in defeat and depression. (Proverbs 24:16a)

12. Rely on the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:16)

Unmarried or Married, Satan still will try to persuade you that it is ok to disobey God's command on sexual purity. We need to stay in His word, be on our knees, and encourage one another!

The second part of our evening involved shopping!!!!! Juanita and Meliza did a great job putting together our accessories store! Thanks to all you brought in their unwanted jewelry, purses, shoes, and scarves for this event! I believe everyone had a great time browsing over the items and I even heard a few ladies doing their Christmas shopping! $44 was received to go toward helping someone attend the retreat and lots of ladies now have new accessories!

The evening finished up with apple pie and apple crisp with ice cream, hot chocolate, and hot cider! What a fun way to spend a windy and cold evening!

Heather and Ashley enjoy some of the yummy food!

Don't forget about the Freshwater Retreat on October 30 & 31! Registrations must be in by Sunday, October 25, but the sooner the better!

We will not meet in November because of the retreat being so late in October! Watch for details about Decembers gathering!

Spa Day!

2009-09-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Forgiveness: Setting Your Captives Free
Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

We gathered tonight for a "Spa Day" to relax, rejuvenate, and to set our captives free. What a challenge! If you have ever been held captive by not forgiving, then you know the burden and unrest that your soul has. Why hold yourself captive, though, when Christ has set you free?

Our evening began with "Silky hands" which was wonderful to feel hands soft and silky after a hard day of work. Then we went around and shared two services we would receive if we went to a spa. Most ladies would do a massage and a pedicure, but here are some that stood out (I'll probably mess these descriptions up)...

Laurie would have an earwax removal by candle.
Juanita would bath in chocolate:)

After we all started dreaming, we came back to reality with a devotional led by Karen on Forgiveness. This is a GREAT chapter...if you would like a copy, please let me know. Karen shared with us a quote from the opening story..."I realized that God takes all sin seriously an that for me to judge one sin to be greater than another was...well I was playing God. God is not partial, and He hated my sin just as much as He hated my husband's sin. I am a sinner saved by grace, nothing more. If I truly accepted who Christ is, then I had the ability to forgive."
Jesus shared the parable of the king who forgave his servant's huge debt, but then his servant would not forgive the small debt of his fellow servant. The king, in his anger, delivered the servant over to the jailers. "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." Matthew 18:23-35.
Joseph, too, Karen shared had to forgive his brothers. Joseph could have resented his brothers and used his power to harm them, but he remembered that God is sovereign over the hurts that were inflicted on him and that God used them for redemptive purposes...saving his entire family.
God has forgiven us through Christ's blood, we too should forgive those who have sinned against us. "To forgive is to set the prisoner free, and then discover the prisoner was you." Author unknown.

The Holy Spirit truly worked during this time at PEARLS.

Next, we set about rejuvenating our bodies (ok, our feet, but that works its way up our body). A woman is often on her feet all day, whether it is chasing after children, cooking meals, cleaning house, doing laundry, walking around the office, the list goes on... Our feet and our bodies get tired, so how about a little pampering! Karen & Felicia showed us how to pamper our feet. We headed out to the deck to enjoy the beautiful, yet chilly evening. As you can tell, Stephanie was a little cold, but we quickly warmed up with some really HOT WATER! The first thing we did was to soak our feet, but it took most of us a few minutes to actually submerge our feet because the water was SO HOT! Once in, though, it felt GREAT! Then "foot fizzes" were put in the tub to help us thoroughly enjoy the soak. After that we had to rub lotion on our feet, place them in plastic bags, and submerge them again. Once we allowed them to soak for awhile, we them put a foot scrub on them rubbing it in really well, and then rinsing it off in the foot tub once again. Finally, we were given another lotion to finish out the foot bath!
It was a lot of fun, VERY relaxing, and we now had silky hands and feet!

We topped the evening off with HUGE ice cream sundaes!

What a fun, challenging, relaxing night! I was very blessed by the evening and I hope many others were too! Thanks to Karen & Felica for sharing this great tip with us, and for Karen in allowing us to meet in her home! Also, thanks to all who provided food.

Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, October 6 at Felicia's home! This will be an Accessories Swap. More details to come! Hope you can make it!

As a reminder....PEARLS Freshwater Retreat is October 30 & 31...save the date! You don't want to miss an opportunity for God to work in your life!

Garden Party

2009-08-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Clear Conscience: Dealing with Offenses Toward Others
Acts 24:16: "Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men."

What a gorgeous evening God gave us! 20 ladies gathered for an evening of elegance, laughter, good food, and most importantly to glorify God!

What a beautiful group of ladies, inside and out! God has blessed my life with all of you!

Our evening began by taking in God's beauty that surrounded us and the creativity of the ladies who "hosted" tables. Special thanks to Linda and Felica for decorating tables! They looked marvelous!

Felicia themed her table "He is the vine and we are the branches". She was very creative!

Linda had a birdhouse theme with a gorgeous centerpiece.

Felicia led with a hilarious ice breaker game. Each table had a package that was to be passed around every time Felicia used the words "left" or "right" in a story that she told. Her story included directions to walmart, trying samples of Right guard there, leaving her windows down during the rain, and her attitude being right with God. Some ladies played pass back and forth while others barely touched it. In the end, the winner was the lady holding the package.

Stephanie won the chocolate bar at her table.

Rhonda & Linda were also winners!

Julie H. led our challenging devotional for the evening. (She gave us all a laugh when her skirt got caught in the chair and had to be pulled out in order for her to move! )

As the above verse states, we are to have a clear conscience before God and man! In Samuel, the prophet Samuel asks the people if he has ever done anything to wrong them, if so, then he will restore it. The people answer that he has "not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand." (1 Samuel 12:1-4) That is how our life should be as well. We should live in such a way that our slate is clean. Jesus teaches that in Matthew 25:37-40. He answers the righteous, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me...As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." Sometimes it might seem like an impossible thing to do...keep you slate clean with others, but listen to the Holy Spirit as He nudges you. Remember it is through the blood of Christ that we have been brought near...For He Himself is our peace...and reconciles us both to God in one body through the cross, " Ephesians 2:12-16. Christ's blood reconciled us! He saved us and we should have a clean conscience with Him and those around us. Our devotional book "Seeking Him" asks you to make it personal. Start by 1. Make a List of each person you have wronged or with whom you have an unresolved conflict. 2. Seek God's forgiveness...every sin against another person is first a sin against God. 3. Purpose to seek forgiveness from every person you have wronged...listing names does not clear your conscience; seeking forgiveness will. 4. Choose your words carefully. 5. Where necessary, make restitution. 6. Pursue reconciliation of the relationship. 7. Face the hardest situations first. 8. Don't stop until you have finished. 9. Determine to maintain a clear conscience. (and Julie added) 10. Listen to the Holy Spirit as He nudges you!

Not an easy thing to do, but a challenge and command from God. Matthew 5:23-24 says, "So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Once again the patio and deck were graced with corn tassel bouquets. They add a nice touch of green!

A great time was had by all (at least I hope!) The food was wonderful. Julie M. will you be kind and share your chicken salad recipe! It was great! Thanks to Abbie, Amy, Heather, & Julie for providing wonderful food!

Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, September 1 at Karen's home. It is a "Day Spa" to refresh both body and soul!

Our PEARLS Freshwater retreat is quickly coming! October 30 & 31! Hope you can make it!

Packaging Freshwater

2009-07-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

Obedience: The Acid Test of Love
John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."

We had a great night putting together care packages for our troops in Afghanistan. We will never be able to do enough to thank them for serving our country.

Our night started off by writing down one interesting thing about yourself. Then the cards were passed around the room and if that statement also applied to you, then you initialed it (we didn't know that until after we had written our statement). Rhonda and myself had the most initials. Sorry Rhonda, but I can't remember your statement. Mine was I love chocolate! Great one to put in a room full of women. Felicia awarded us with these beautiful petunias. Thanks, Felicia!
Next, Sue led us in a devotional on Obedience. There was a story in the book that talked about a business man learning God's obedience. In a couple of cases, he was challenged to do the right thing even though the wrong thing was not looked down upon in his business. He said, "When the choice between right and wrong is obvious, I have to obey God and do the right thing." Jesus told the parable about the "Wise man and the Foolish man". He begins each description by saying, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock....And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand." (Matthew 7:24-27) We have to obey God and do the right thing unlike Saul who disobeyed God as told in 1 Samuel 15:1-3. "Thus says the Lord of hosts...Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel, and donkey." Saul disobeyed and took the king alive and spared the best of the livestock. God was unhappy with Saul's disobedience and He rejected him as king.
One of the questions that Sue asked was what blessings or consequences have you personally reaped from some act of obedience or disobedience in your life? We all need to do the right thing and obey God's words.
Sue was triple stacked...she hosted, she led the devotional, and she was in charge of the service project. Thanks Sue, for all of your hard work!

Sue was in contact with a man who will send our boxes to a chaplain in Afghanistan. He requested certain items that the troops needed or would help encourage them, so that was our goal. We boxed up 8 boxes of toiletries, snack foods, coffee, and a whole bunch of other things and then we wrote notes of encouragement to put in the boxes. We prayed for the troops, their families, and the members of the military that are involved in our church. Our prayer is that these boxes will encourage those overseas and show them the love of Christ. We also made up a few backpacks that will be given to military children. These included a throw away camera, journal, and a few toys to help their time pass quickly while mom or dad was gone.

Thank you to all who helped by packaging or sending needed items. Please continue to pray for all of our military and their families.

Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, August 4 and will be our GARDEN PARTY.

Herbal Essence

2009-06-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

Holiness: A Heart Like His
Hebrews 12:14 "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."

WOW! What a great night if you left empty in anyway then you weren't there! It was a great time of food, fellowship, & Freshwater! A very special thank you to Issa, Mary, Heidi, & Hannah for opening their home, fixing great food, and cleaning up the huge mess we left you. It was a wonderful time!

The evening started with an ice breaker led by Mary H. She quickly discovered that we know very little (ok really nothing) about Herbs let alone cooking with them. She had 12 different herbs for us to smell and touch to try to figure out what they were. There were 16 of us there and Felicia scored the highest with FOUR CORRECT! We have A LOT to learn!
Heidi and Mary realizing that we know nothing.
Abbie trying to determine what the Herb is.
Juanita "tasting" ginger.

Gail and Amy using their sense of smell.
Our winner, Felicia trying to figure this one out...I think she put down the same herb 3 or 4 times:)

We were then led in a devotional by Tina on Holiness. She began by asking us wedding preparation questions. As women, we all know how important the BIG DAY is and there is a lot of planning that goes into it. Well, as Christians we have a wedding day approaching...we are the BRIDE OF CHRIST...shouldn't there be a lot more preparation that goes into that day than anything else we do? She asked three questions in regard to "getting ready for the Wedding"...
1. Are you preoccupied with life here and and not spending time becoming holy or getting ready to meet Christ?
2. Do you give it some thought and effort, but often find yourself distracted and consumed with things on earth?
3. Do you love Jesus and are excited about His return and are actively seeking to "get ready for the Wedding"?

Ask yourself those questions...where do you fit?

Tina also challenged us to not only "put off" anything and everything that is part of our old, corrupt flesh, but to "put on" those qualities of the Life of Christ. Don't live like the pharisees...live like Christ.

Since this was Tina's last PEARLS with us before she moves, we were led in a time of prayer and blessing for her as she begins a new chapter in her life. Thanks Tina for leading one more time. Your wisdom and encouragement will be missed.

Next, we headed upstairs to Issa's kitchen (at least for the night). Pastor Jeff had come along for some manly encouragement for Issa...I guess there were too many women:) I am in no way going to be able to fully share what we were taught, but I will do my best. Here are some of the highlights/tips that I remember.

1. Only keep spices in your cupboard for 6 months and then THROW THEM OUT!
2. When cooking with herbs, add them to your food in the last few minutes of cooking to keep their flavor.
3. At the end of summer, cut up any remaining herbs, put them in ice cube trays, add some water and freeze. Pull out and use when needed.
4. Find the right combination of herbs...sometimes combinations make a bad flavor.
5. Crushed pepper and "store bought" pepper do not have the same smell or flavor.

It has been too long since Tuesday night and I am not doing this justice. If anyone remembers anything else, please comment at the bottom of this post or email me and I will add the comments. There was so much information to take in for a non-herb cook like myself, that I didn't retain it all. So, please help me out!

Our herb guide for the night who made us excellent chicken, shrimp, dip, and tea all with herbs! The food was delicious! I think Pastor Jeff really just came along to eat:)
This is Saffron (I'm clueless about this one). I guess it is a really, really expensive herb that Issa bought especially just for us to see. If I remember correctly it costs about $3000 a pound!

Here Issa is explaining all the herbs that he uses and grows.
Stephanie, Felica, and Heather are discussing....what are they discussing?

Gail and Lori smelling crushed pepper...I think.

Issa then took us out to see all the different herbs he grows. He has an herb garden, but a lot of his herbs are part of his landscaping. He grows sage, oregano. rosemary, basil, spearmint, chives, and many more. It was extremely interesting to see and to hear how easy it is to grow herbs. Once again, a big thank you to Issa and Mary for the wonderful evening.

I'm sure I left a lot out...to truly experience it you needed to be there. So, don't miss out! Join us for the next PEARLS on Tuesday, July 7 at 6:30PM! Our theme is Packaging Freshwater and we will be making up care packages for our troops. A list of items should come via email shortly.

Blooming in God's Garden of Grace

2009-05-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

Grace: God's Provision For Every Need
Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Tuesday was a beautiful day and a very fun night at PEARLS! 19 ladies came to learn, grow, and laugh together! Felicia started our evening out with an ice breaker. We each had a bag of seeds and we were to use only words from the package to describe our self. Joy was a "dwarf". Tina was "packed for 2009", Pat was a "perennial". There was a lot of laughter as we each picked description.

Then Joy led us in a devotional on grace. She first reviewed what we have studied so far...Revival, Humility, Honesty, and Repentance. Then she defined Grace: act of showing favor; the love of God toward man; divine influence operating in man. She used a story from our book "Seeking Him". It is as follows and gives a great analogy of God's grace!

If a young man is killed through some random act of violence and his father tracks down the guilty person and kills him, we would call that vengeance. If, however, the father calls the police and the murderer is arrested, tried, convicted, and executed, we'd call that justice. If, at the trial, the father pleads for the guilty man's life to be spared and the judge and jury consent, we'd call that mercy. Now imagine this: in addition to pleading for the guilty one to be spared, the father actually appeals to the judge to release the offender into his custody and care. Miraculously gaining approval, the father takes the young man into his heart and home, adopts him, and raises him and loves him as his own son...that would be grace!

Mercy is not getting what we deserve...Grace (God's Riches At Christ's Expense) is getting what we don't deserve. God's grace is what saves us, sanctifies us and carries us through suffering. It is undeserved, But it is conditional.

We had a guest speaker tonight...Josie, Tina's Mom. Josie came to give us some tips on floral arrangements. The biggest tip of the night was that you can spray hairspray on your fake flowers and plants and it will eat the dust!!!!!! I thought that was an AWESOME tip! She worked with artificial flowers, but also gave some real flower tips as well.

1. The materials are rather inexpensive...the arrangement she made was about $4 in cost.

2. Buy a variety of colors and types...a yellow mixed with purples and pinks really allows the arrangement to "POP".

3. When using artificial flowers, use hot glue gun to glue stems into the floral foam. It helps it to stay if the arrangement gets picked up.

4. In any kind of arrangement, start from the middle as your focal point and work out. Ending with the fake grass to set the arrangement off.

5. When making corsages or boutonnieres with roses, wrap a water dipped cotton ball around the stem and then the floral tape. This will allow the rose to stay fresh longer.

These are just a few of the tips that Josie gave us. Thank you to Josie who gave her time to share with us.

We finished up with some yummy desserts and great fellowship. Thanks to Hannah C for opening up her home to us!

What's happening next: Herbal Essence on Tuesday, June 2 at Mary H's home.

Clean Sweep

2009-04-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

Repentance: The Big Turn-Around.

Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

This month we did a "Clean Sweep" of our hearts and our church. Heather H. led us in a devotional on Repentance. Repentance involves returning to the Lord, forsaking sin, and obeying God. In Matthew 3:2 & 4:17 Jesus says "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." Repentance must happen in order to draw close to God. Paul reinforces what Christ teaches with what he says in 2 Corinthians 7:10, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior. When we repent, we not only say "sorry", but we change the direction we were heading and head toward God without any regret and with great joy. Repentance involves taking action...God is waiting.

After the devotional, we starting right in with scrubbing the church! Thank you to Rhonda for organizing the cleaning. Many hands make the work light and that is what happened. There were so many busy hands, that I lost count, but I believe at least 16 ladies worked hard and quickly to accomplish a huge task. The lights were cleaned, the woodwork scrubbed, the landscaping cleaned out, the bathrooms now sparkle, the toys were cleaned, everything was dusted, and even the fridge was cleaned out! To top it off, we were eating snacks and enjoying fellowship by 7:45! That was some fast cleaning! Thank you to all who came and helped to make the church beautiful for Easter Sunday and any guests who may come! Your hard work is greatly appreciated!

Linda cleaning the woodwork while Rene' keeps her safe!

Heather showing the dirty duster and dust cloth!

Joy SCRUBBED the fridge!

Gail cleaning the pews.

Linda and Pat making the woodwork shine!

Becka pulled every weed and grass coming through the ramp.

Lori and Chani cleaning up the landscaping.

Felica cleaning the windows.

Rhonda and Julie had a great job...holding down the ladder while Abbie cleaned the fan and lights!

Juanita made sure the bathrooms sparkled!

Tina and Stephanie did a great job cleaning the nursery, but I didn't have the camera out when they had all the toys drying on a towel on the floor. There are a lot of toys in the nursery! I know there were others there who somehow hid from the camera...thanks again for everyone's hard work!

What's happening next: Blooming in God's Garden of Grace!

Tuesday, May 5 at 6:30 PM at Hannah C's home.

What a Tangled Web We Weave!

2009-03-04T18:35:00.000-08:00

Honesty: Silence is not always golden.
Proverbs 28:13 "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy."

What a tangled web we can weave when we are not honest to others and especially to God. In order to experience true revival, we MUST be honest with God and others about our true spiritual condition!

We began the evening with each of us introducing ourselves and telling 1 truth about our life and 1 lie. Can you figure out if Heather H. loves to read or loves to clean? What about Abby...is she one of 22 siblings or is her middle name Christine? Then there was Joy who has either lived in more than 25 houses or visited all but 1 of the seven continents! Lies... what a tangled web we can weave (and during an ice breaker what laughter it brings!)

Julie M. then led us in a devotion about being honest with God. She had us dig into the Word where we are told of situations that people were not honest with God. Genesis 3:6-13 is the discussion between God, Adam & Eve after Adam & Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Acts 5:1-11 is the story of Annanias & Sapphira who knowingly kept part of the profit from a field that they sold and then lied about it! Death immediately found them! God already knows everything about us...be honest with Him, you can't hide it anyway! Another passage that Julie shared with us was 1 John 1:5-9. This passage talks about God being light! If we walk in the light as He is in the light then we have fellowship with Him and Jesus' blood cleanses us from all sin! John reminds us that when we cover up or refuse to acknowledge sin then we deceive ourselves and can't enjoy true fellowship with God. Remember...no matter what you have done, you can still experience God's love & His amazing grace!

Pat then took over and attempted to teach us (some got it and some had two left hands) how to knit! Boy was this a riot! There were some natural knitters and then there were those of us who just couldn't get anything but a tangled web!!!! Pat is an EXPERT knitter! She brought samples of Christmas stockings she has made (over 40) and each one has a different pattern! She really knows what she is talking about! She taught us about the needles and the yarn! I didn't know there could be so many different sizes of needles! She then patiently showed us the four steps of knitting. 1. Casting On, 2. Knitting, 3. Purling, & 4. Casting Off. I am not even going to begin to try to tell you how to knit! See Pat if you want to know how! I can show you how to knit a knot:)
Pat has offered to give a second class if anyone is interested! She really knows what she is doing! Please let us know!

It was a great time together! There was lots of laughter! Thanks so much to Gail for hosting! We finished up our evening with delicious snacks that she provided!

Our next gathering will be Tuesday, April 7 at 6:30! We will meet at the church for a CLEAN SWEEP! Where comfortable clothes and be prepared to serve by cleaning!

Becka understood that you needed to start with a really long piece of yarn!

Becka getting help from Pat! I really think sticking the tongue out helps with knitting:)

Finally! Becka really caught on! She will be an expert knitter in no time! Maybe she'll be wearing her sweater at church! Ok, so let the truth be known (since we are talking about honesty), Pat really knitted, but Becka wishes she had:)

Here is Rhonda's creation (he he)!

Heather is concentrating really hard! I think I can! I think I can!

Joy claims she hasn't knitted in years, but it sure did come back to her quickly! Fast enough that she even taught Juanita how to do it!

That's a look of determination to learn!

Pat showing Abby the four steps!

Gail was enjoying trying to knit!

Wow! So this is what it is supposed to look like! I'm sure we will have an afghan in no time!

Humility with a Cup of Soup!

2009-02-04T16:58:00.000-08:00

Humility: Coming to God on His terms.
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 14:11 (memory verse for the month....you are herby challenged to memorize it!)

Our February PEARLS warmed us right up! In my case I was warmed in two ways. 1. You know the uncomfortable sensation you get when you know you have done something wrong? When you have sinned? Pride is a sin. That didn't warm me up, but knowing that God loves me and He is calling me to humble myself and turn to Him. Feeling His arms around me, warms me. 2. A cup of wonderful Broccoli Cheese soup and Cream of Mushroom soup!

We gathered at Linda's beautiful home and opened up with "Alphabet Soup". No, we didn't eat it, we had to pick two alphabet letter and then choose words starting with those letters that described yourself. There were words like vivacious, weird, diligent, waterbaby, exhausted, ready and the list goes on.

Next, Felicia led us in our devotional on humility. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." If we want to experience the revival that God wants to send, then we mus 1. Humble ourselves. 2. Pray. 3. Seek His face, & 4. Turn from our wicked ways. Pride is the opposite of humility and the Bible has a lot to say about it. Proverbs 16:18 is just one of numerous verses. "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." James 4:6 is another, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Why do you think God is so opposed to human pride? Pride causes one to think that God is not needed. Felicia shared the example of two kings in the Bible...Rehoboam and Asa. Rehoboam began his reign in pride, but after being told that God had abandoned him to the hand of the enemy, Rehoboam humbled himself and God did not destroy the people. Asa, on the other hand, started his reign honoring God and then ended it full of pride and rebellion. He was even given the opportunity to humble himself, but chose not to and he died from a severe disease. Both of these kings sinned and both were confronted. Rehoboam decided to humble himself and therefore was restored. Asa chose the way of pride and was ruined.
At the end of the devotional, Felicia and Julie read a list contrasting proud people and humble people. It was then asked what is your pride quotient? God says we must humble ourselves and He is waiting for us with open arms.

Linda then made us all cry...well, mainly she was crying from cutting up at least 6 onions!!!!!! Boy were the tears streaming down her cheeks! Why so many onions? Well, for the delicious soup she was preparing. I will probably not give all the information needed, but I will do my best.

The first thing you have to do is chop all of your veggies. Linda said she just scrubs her veggies really well even carrots. She doesn't peel them because that takes aways some vitamins. Next, pour a little bit of olive oil in the pan to keep the butter from burning. Add one stick of butter for each soup to melt. Then add your veggies to saute them. In another pan make the roux (cream sauce). Melt another stick of butter for this. Then slowly add some flour. Stir the flour for at least 3 minutes to get the starch all dispersed. Slowly add whole milk (Linda likes to use heavy cream). The sauce actually will be very runny once the milk is added. After the veggies have been sauteed, then add the cream sauce. For flavor, Linda added some minced garlic and she uses Kosher salt. I only had the broccoli cheese soup which was excellent, but I know others really enjoyed the Cream of Mushroom! Thanks Linda for sharing those tips with us and for raising our cholesterol:)

The Broccoli Cheese soup also had celery and carrots in it. Cheddar was Linda's choice of cheese.

Everyone watching and anticipating the yummy soup!

Wow! Is this delicious!

Rhonda, Felicia, & Pat warm up with soup and conversation!

Joy & Juanita savor the flavors!

The soup was great and the fellowship was even better! Our next gathering will be Tuesday, March 3 and we will be studying Honesty!

Freshwater

2009-01-27T18:53:00.000-08:00

Freshwater is our theme for 2009! It has two meanings. 1. Freshwater PEARLS are fine quality pearls. They are actually on the verge of becoming extinct because of the high demand. We, God's women, are also fine quality, but may we never become extinct. 2. Hosea 10:12 "Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, til He comes and rains righteousness on you." Rains righteousness paints a picture of fresh, clean water coming down on you. It is God's grace washing you, cleansing you. Freshwater is also able to quench your thirst. Drink deeply...because God is going to satisfy your thirst.

Our afternoon begin with an encouragement from Pastor Jeff. We are always glad to have him speak at the kickoff and allow him to see what takes place at PEARLS. After him, Felicia asked us all to share what our favorite refreshing beverage would be. The answers ranged from water, to mountain dew, to even milk! There were a lot of laughs.

Next, JeriAnn shared a devotional on Revival. The analogy was given that we all too often fill up our glass with strength from God, only to pour it out in ministry, relationships, etc and then return to God to get filled up again. What we really should be doing is sitting under the source and allowing God to overflow from our lives. Just like a glass sitting under a faucet. Once filled the water continues to overflow. When we have been busy pouring ourselves out, then it is time to renew, refresh, and revive. Revival can be a little scary. It will cause a person to confess their sins, forgive others, and depend on God. It also brings about hope. It draws you closer to God and allows you to return to your first love. God has always loved us. We are the ones who stray from Him.

Psalm 139 23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." This year we are going to be searched by God and we are going to search His Word. We are going to study Humility, Honesty, Repentance, Grace, Holiness, Obedience, Clear Conscience, Forgiveness, Sexual Purity, having a Spirit-Filled life, and how to seek God daily. This is not going to be easy for us. God is going to grip our hearts. He will work through 2009! Maybe only one life will be changed. Maybe that will be your life! Maybe every women who comes to PEARLS will be changed. Maybe every heart at RHC! Maybe every life in P'ville! Maybe every life in Wisconsin! Maybe, this will be a world wide revival! Isn't that AWESOME! God is going to Rock our world this year!

Felicia then talked about String of PEARLS which is the mentoring program! Quite a few women signed up for this! Those who did should hear in the next week or two who their mentor is!

Julie led us in a time of prayer! There were prayer cards handed out to help us pray this year.

*Pray that Jesus Christ will become the first love in each heart.

*Pray that you will have an increased desire to read & obey God's Word & to worship Him.

*Pray that any outstanding conflicts would be resolved.

*Pray that any family conflicts represented in your group will be reconciled.

*Pray that you would be set free from any bitterness, anger, & worry & that each life would be characterized by love, forgiveness, & God-centered trust.

*Pray that each one will cultivate a habit of turning to God first when faced with any kind of trial.

*Pray that God will renew your minds.

*Pray that each member of your group would experience true revival as you "Seek Him" together in the days ahead.

It was a great afternoon! Most of the ladies stayed and talked for an hour after the official gathering was finished! We are looking forward to seeking God this year and for His righteousness to rain on us!

Our next gathering is Tuesday, February 3 at Linda's home! Come and join us for Humility with a cup of soup!

The food table! Hot tea and strawberry smoothies were served along with fruit and dark chocolate!

Here is Julie preparing the smoothies.

Felicia explaining String of PEARLS! Titus 2 teaches that the older women should teach the younger women. That is the idea of String of PEARLS.

Fellowship time.
This year there will be a Friendship basket passed around. The idea is for the basket to be filled with something....cookies, loaf of bread, magazines, lotion, something that would encourage the women you will give it to. Then you give it to someone (Felica was the first recipient). They in turn will fill it and give it to someone else! There is a card in the basket so that you can see who has had it and try to give it to someone who has not had it in awhile! Let's do our best to keep this passed around so that we can encourage one another!
Too cute, Felica!

A Godly Woman is....doing service projects!

2008-12-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

Since this month was a little bit more labor intensive and more hands on, we did not do a devotional last night so that we could focus on the families that God brought into RHC. We truly did serve those who came.

Let me recap....
Monday night a group of us met at the church to set up backdrops for the photos, put together goodie bags for the families, and make sure the church was presentable for our guests. We had a good time laughing at our inability to put Christmas tree stands together, posing for numerous pictures to see if the backdrop would work, and just being together. Thank you to Tina, Felicia, Rene', Heather R, Jenna, and Karen who all came to work. It made Tuesday night a whole lot easier because you gave up your time! Because my camera was set up to take portraits, I did not take any candid pictures on Tuesday. All the pictures are from Monday night. Setting up the trees that had been in the attic for a couple of years!
Karen and Aaron posing!
What a dangerous job that Felicia had!
Backdrop #1. Rene' working on the spotlights.

Say "Cheese" for the hundredth time! Even after all that work, we ended up changing this backdrop!

Rene' being a good sport and posing once again!

The set up crew!

Tuesday night we arrived a little before 6 to finish setting up and preparing for the families! There was a craft to set up....hand print flower bouquets (they were adorable), refreshments to arrange, and the photographer to set up. Kaci, the photographer from Simply Stated also helped us and she will be printing the photos for the families. Julie M., Heather, Tina, Rhonda, Felicia, & I might have been a little anxious and excited when the first family showed up at 6PM and they were not scheduled until 6:30! I think we were excited about the potential that could come through the door! The first two families did their craft while we all finished setting up and then they had their pictures taken. The next family came a little bit later and did the same. There were three families that came through the church door who had never been there before. There were three families that were loved on and showed that God loves them! There were three families that will now have a family photo...maybe something that had never had or had not done in a long time. There were three families that left the church with goodie bags, (thank you to all who baked cookies, decorated hot chocolate bags, brought candy, or gave money) a devotional book, and a BIBLE! I know one lady thanked Tina for the Bible! What an awesome opportunity that we had! There were 7 families that had signed up, but why only 3...only God knows! Please be praying for those three families!

Let me just share a little about these families.....they were precious! The first family was of 4 little girls and their mom. Three of the girls had the tightest curls I think I have ever seen and some very pretty dresses. They wore precious smiles! The next family had 3 little girls and a boy! Two of the girls had on party dresses...one red and the other white with green. They were sweet. The other little girl had on a jean jacket with the collar flipped up...too cute! In this family, the grandmother came too to be in the picture with her grandchildren, son, & daughter-in-law! Three generations in one picture....priceless! The last family was another single mom who had two little girls and a son a little over a year. The mom mentioned that she didn't have any pictures with her in them since way before the boy had been born. What a nice thing for her to have now. All of these families were unique and all special!

We had originally told the families that they would be given a free 8x10, but because of the money we had already collected, we asked Kaci if we could go ahead and surprise them with more photos so that they can give them to family and friends! Thanks so much to everyone who helped set up, who provided goodies, who gave money, and who prayed for this night! Thank you especially to Heather R. who organized the whole event! I was overwhelmed with the thought of it, but Heather remained cool, exited and in charge!

We will have our 2009 Kickoff January 25 at 3:00PM! I was so blessed by this past year! It is our prayer that you were too and that God was glorified throughout the whole year! If you haven't had the opportunity to join in, please come! It is good for us to fellowship as believers! You have so much to give...all of us can learn from each other! I was blessed, and I am so EXCITED to see what God has in store for PEARLS this next year! We discovered that we are TREASURES....what next?

**** The extra goodie bags will be given to the college students on Sunday!

Discovering Treasures...A Godly woman is Loving!

2008-11-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

Tonight we gathered at Leta and Lori's home to fellowship and discuss how to be a loving mother and wife. We started with an ice breaker prepared by Felicia that reminded us how much we have to be thankful for in our life. She had written scripture verses of thanksgiving on leaves, we were to read one and then give a physical thanks and a spiritual thanks. My verse was...1 Thessalonians 5:18, "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." What would be your spiritual and physical thanksgiving praises be?
We then were led by Sue through a devotional of being a loving mother and a submissive wife. The verses she focused on were Proverbs 31:28 & 29, "Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." In this passage, the Godly woman's children honor her and her husband pays a tribute to her. So often we might feel that motherhood is a thankless job and sometimes even a "your a great wife" is hard to come by, but that is not why we love and submit. We do it because we are commanded to love our children, husbands, friends, neighbors, and even enemies, and we are to do even if they don't notice. There is an even greater reward than "thank you" coming someday!!!! Won't that be a great reward! To have our children arise and call us blessed and to hear our husbands say that we surpass others is wonderful, but God will give us a great tribute someday when He says, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
We then spent some time in prayer, praying for our country, our future president, and for us as Christians to be bold in our faith! Please continue to pray for our nation!
Finally, we wrapped up the evening with great pies (pumpkin and pecan apple)!

Picking up our leaves of thanksgiving!

Being thankful for yummy pies!

Sharing and fellowship!

Our last PEARLS for 2008 will be held Tuesday, December 2 at the church! This will be a service project led by Heather R. We will be offering a "Family Picture" Night where underprivileged families in our community can come, get their picture taken, enjoy some goodies, and receive a family picture all for free. The details are still in the making and I will get them to you as soon as they are finalized. There will be lots to do from baking goodies, taking pictures, interacting with the families, setting up and tearing down. This is a great way to get people into our church and a great way to love on them! I'll send out details soon!

Treasure Quest

2008-10-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Our 2008 PEARLS retreat was held at beautiful Bethel Horizons in their Barn Retreat Center. It was a spacious building that could hold up to 25 people and it was nice to know that we almost outgrew it! 19 ladies from RHC attended the retreat along with our speaker Fran. The setting was nice and quiet and the scenery was beautiful!

L: The Barn Retreat where we ate, slept, and grew in wisdom.
R: This was the view Saturday morning...the air was cool and crisp, but the sight was breathtaking!

This year we went on a Treasure Quest to continue to help us discover the treasures that God has for us as women. Our verse was Proverbs 31:26 "Out of her mouth comes wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue."

We began the evening with a delicious meal of stuffed shells, salad, bread, and a "Treasure Quest" retreat would not be complete without a "Treasure Chest" cake! It was delicious and the cupcakes had yummy "treasures" inside of them! Thanks, Julie, for your creativity and effort!

We then had a time of praise and worship followed by Fran sharing her testimony. Fran was asked to be our speaker because of her testimony as a Godly woman, her years of growth and wisdom, and her involvement in mentoring younger women. She shared with us about her family, marriage, acceptance of Christ, growth as a Christian, and how God worked in various areas of her life. She also shared marriage and parenting insights that were very interesting and helpful.

After this time of sharing, we had a Treasure Hunt! The ladies were divided up into three groups and given scripture verses to look up to lead them to their next clue or verse. For example....Proverbs 21:9 "It is better to live on the corner of the roof than in a house with a quarrelsome wife." This clue led them to the rooftop where there might be this clue..."Deuteronomy 23:12 "Designate a place outside the camp where you can go and relieve yourself." This led them to the bathroom. Finally, after some funny moments one group found the treasure!

L: Felica and Rene working on their "chicken" signal so that they could locate each other when searching for clues!
R: Stephanie and Rhonda heading to their next clue.

L:Julie looks like she can't find the clue...it would help if the right verse was written down:)
R: Fran, Karen, & Aaron enjoy some fellowship time.

So...how many women can you fit in a bathroom at one time?

Friday evening ended with yummy snacks and great fellowship! There were lots of late night conversations and friendships being made!

*****************************************************

Saturday morning dawned bright and cold! We took from 7:30 to 9:00 (even though some were up a long time before 7) to have some quiet time with God and enjoy the scenery surrounding us!

Juanita enjoying the beautiful morning and God's word!

Then we started the morning off by singing some beautiful songs written to glorify God. Julie led us in our praise time and then we were taught some more truth by Fran.

Fran started by reaffirming that the most important wisdom is from the Bible. The definition of wisdom is the understanding of what is true, right, & lasting...which the only thing that is all of those is God! There is worldly wisdom which exalts self and not the Creator and then there is Godly wisdom which is pure, peace loving, and willing to yield to others. Fran shared quite a few scriptures that discuss wisdom from God. She focused on the Proverbs 31 passage and shared an interesting tidbit about that passage. It was probably memorized by most if not all Jewish women and then recited on the eve of every Sabbath. That passage of truth is very important in the life of women!
Fran then went on to share that she is a seamstress, and so she used the analogy of making a garment. She called it "Garment of Marriage". It takes a lifetime to construct and you have to make adjustments to make it a perfect fit. You need a pattern...friend, lover, giver and then you need to piece it together using God as the underlying that will sustain the garment.
Another great analogy that Fran used was in relationships think of the cross. God is the vertical beam of the cross. He is what holds everything up and together. The horizontal beam is your relationship with others. Without the vertical, the horizontal will not stand.
Fran finished up by talking about time. We need to make time for God, self, husband, and others. Time is so hard to come by and most of us feel like we need more of it in a day, but it is so important in relationships to take the time to listen, care, and learn.
I'm sure there is more that Fran shared that I am forgetting, but feel free to talk to any lady that attended to hear what they took home from Fran's words of wisdom!

Fran's talk was then wrapped up with prayer time in small groups! Everyone in the group took time to share requests and then pray for one another. One group really had the Spirit working since they almost prayed all the way through brunch! The rest of us were enjoying devouring the delicious food that had been prepared! Thank you to everyone who brought food and shared some great recipes with us.

L: Heather, Rhonda, & Shelia.
R: Karen (holding Aaron), Juanita, Mary, & Stephanie.

Lori, Rene, Angie, Felicia, & Felica.

After brunch, Fran spent some time sharing with us her mentoring experiences, including both being a mentor and a mentee. She talked about how one-on-one time is very important, but that at least connecting in someway, whether phone, email, or briefly in person, should happen every week if at all possible. She shared with us about how other women had encouraged her and mentored her in the Word and in life circumstances. In return, she has had the opportunity to be a part of numerous college girls' lives and other younger women.

We then had Felica share about what it has been like for her to be mentored for two years, and Tina shared what it is like to be a mentor. Our String of PEARLS program is set up so that an older woman gets the opportunity to share in a younger woman's life for a year! It is based off of Titus 2 where the older women are instructed to teach the younger women to love their husbands and take care of their children, and most importantly to love God. If you are interested in being mentored, then see Felicia.

Our retreat went really fast, but I believe each lady took home a "treasure" from this "quest". It was a great time of sharing, encouragement, and growth! We look forward to another retreat next year!

Front Row: Fran, Shelia, Juanita, Heather, Angie, Lori
Second Row: Rene, Julie, Karen, Rebecca, Felica, Kim, Linda, Tina, Mary
Top Row: Stephanie, Rhonda, Felicia
Not pictured: JeriAnn

Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, November 4th (Don't forget to vote before coming to PEARLS!) at Leta & Lori's home! Hope to see you there!

Discovering Treasures...A Godly Woman is Creative

2008-09-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

Our God is the most creative being ever! He created the moon, stars, sun, plants, animals, us! He paints beautiful sunsets every day! He shaped the mountains to stick out in the sky! He creates new hearts in us...sinners! He is definitely creative! Heather S. led our devotional tonight and reminded us that God is the original masterpiece of everything! He gave us Jesus, yet Jesus was before even the created. God is AWESOME!

Proverbs 31:24 "She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes." This woman was creative. She used the creativity that God gave her to benefit her family. God has made all of us creative as well. Tonight, we spent some time using that creativity by creating scrapbook pages. Felica helped us bring out that creativity by sharing her supplies, ideas, and techniques with us! If any of you are interested in scrapbooking...see Felica!

We started the night by sharing why we chose the pictures we did to scrapbook. Can you figure out who brought pictures of their kids???? Can you guess who brought engagement pictures to put in their scrapbook????? Can you figure out who brought vacation pictures???

It was a fun night that gave us an opportunity to see how we can book together memories in a unique way. Maybe scrapbooking is not your thing, but God did make you creative, so ask Him to show you your creativeness and use it to glorify Him!

Felica showing Felicia how to layout her pictures!
All of us working diligently to show off our creativity!

Discovering Treasures...A Godly Woman is Elegant

2008-08-05T20:00:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful blessing of a night! God was so go to us to give us the beautiful evening to fellowship! Twenty-Four of us gathered tonight to learn that a Godly woman is Elegant! Yes, we made the evening elegant and dressed up, but that is not what makes us elegant Godly woman! Proverbs 31:22, "She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple." Felicia led the devotional and pointed out that the excellent woman was elegant in her home and in her person. Felicia read a story that told about visiting someone's home and God being in everything in that home, whether it was the color of the wall, the decorations, the people. The presence of God was there. That is how we make our homes elegant...not by the materialistic things that are in them, but God who is in them. Also, our appearance should be elegant. Not all the time. The Proverbs 31 woman spent her day being busy...she bought a field, planted a vineyard, helped the poor, sewed, made meals, etc...not every minute was she dressed elegantly, but when the time came, her appearance reflected elegance...fine linen and purple. Felicia reminded us that we don't have to be perfect...wear the right things or have a home made for HGTV, but we do need to have God written on every aspect of our life!

For those who could not make it, we missed you! It was an awesome time to get to know some new ladies, fellowship with old friends, and be in God's beauty. We started the evening by finding someone who had the same as you....Did you know that both Rhonda and Leta get up at 3:3o am!!!!! Did you know that Juanita & JeriAnn (that's me:) do not have middle names. Did you know that Julie and Sue are the same age. Did you know that Heather and Leanne have the same number in their family (yes, they are in the same family:). After the devotional from Felicia, we then had some great food! Thanks to those who brought food...Hannah, Glenda, Rhonda, Julie & Felicia. Special thanks to Julie H. and Amber who did an awesome job decorating their tables. It was so much fun to be dressed up and to sit down to fine china! What an awesome night! Glad you could make it!!! Thanks to those who cleaned up! That, too, was a blessing!

What a beautiful group of women!!!!

Everyone enjoying the beautiful evening!

Yes, those bouquets are corn tassels:)

"Tea time" table arranged Julie H.
"Paris" Table set up by Amber!

Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, September 2! Be watching for details!!!!!

Discovering Treasures...A Godly Woman is Kind

2008-07-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a night full of laughter & learning. It was a great night, but unfortunately, I forgot the camera. Oops!
We began the night with an ice breaker from Felicia that questioned our ability to accomplish tasks. She asked us things like...
1. Have you ever locked yourself out of your house?
2. Have you ever gone to the store and did not have any money with you?
3. Have you ever left the iron on?
4. Have you ever fallen up the stairs?

There were a lot more, but if I start giving all the details of PEARLS in this blog then there would be no need to come to PEARLS, and we WANT everyone there!!!!! Anyway, it was pretty fun to see who struggles with remembering things and who doesn't. We determined that the younger ones had a much better memory or just had not experienced all of life's blunders, yet!

Amber led the devotional & practical lesson for the night. She shared about Proverbs 31:20, " She opens her hand to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." It is easy to use one hand to get money out to share with the poor or even to use one hand to pull food out of the cupboard, but it takes two hands to show kindness when dealing with children, loved ones, and those hurting. It is important to show both kind of kindness, but when you use two hands then you are really focused on being kind to the person you are helping. Some days it is hard to be kind...what are some ways that you can show kindness to others today? Galatians 5:22 says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control."

Amber then talked about being kind to yourself by taking care of your body. She gave us a health quiz to see how much we knew and then gave us some pointers in how to take care of our bodies.

Did you know that the leading cause of death in women over 40 is heart disease? Did you know that some of the signs of a heart attack are different in women. Women tend to have a pain in their back or stomach...like indigestion. They also could have shortness of breath, sweating, & tingling. Did you know the three biggest cancers in women are breast, lung & colon. If you have had a family member with breast cancer, smoke, or are over the age of 40 then you are at a great risk for breast cancer. Did you know that you should do a self-breast exam every month. If you are premenopausal then it should be done about a week after the start of your cycle. If you are post menopausal then pick a day (5) and do it the same day every month. You self exam should take about 5 minutes and should be done in the shower. It is important to take care of yourself and the body that God gave you! Know the facts and stay healthy. If you have any questions, I'm sure Amber would be willing to answer them.

Our next PEARLS is going to be August 5 and it will be about a Godly woman being Elegant.
We are going to have a Garden Party!!! More details to come! Save the date!

Also, the PEARLS annual retreat is set for Friday, October 3 & Saturday, October 4! Mark those dates on your calendar!!!!

Discovering Treasure! A Godly Woman is...Persistent

2008-06-03T19:49:00.001-07:00

What a great night! We gathered tonight to put together care packages for the missionaries that we support! These people have so little and we have so much! Thank you, ladies, for giving of your selves, your time, and your resources to bless those who are doing God's work.

We started the night by pulling something out of Felicia's grab bag! In this bag, she had items from different countries. Each lady was to say what she thought the item was and how it was used to serve God. Some of the items were money, candlesticks, chopsticks, dolls, shawls, bowls, and a musical instrument made from some type of hoof (we debated if they were sheep hooves, or deer or pig...either way it was quite interesting). How these items were used to serve God ranged from hospitality to buying bibles to making music.

We then had a devotional on being persistent. The question was asked...what are some of the activities that you do at night? Are you using your time wisely? Elizabeth George defines being persistent as being able to discover & use more hours in our day by utilizing the hours of our night to benefit more people. Some definitions given by our ladies included "being on a mission", "working hard", "being determined". The Proverbs 31 woman was persistent. She planted a vineyard, made clothing, cooked meals, cared for children...the list goes on and on. She was not idle and what she did blessed others. Another definitions of persistence is "having the same goal over and over". Our goal is to share Christ! No matter how you use your time, it should be to glorify God! We should be persistent in sharing His love and blessing others!

That was our goal for the night...to bless those who are serving Him! We took time to talk about and pray for the following missionaries.

James ~ Gospel Harvesters ~ India
James was just here visiting. He helps to run an orphanage, a Bible College for men wanting to become Pastors, and he arranges the meetings when groups come over to minister to the people. Please pray for endurance for James as he travels a lot. Pray for the Bible College especially for books for their library, and pray for the children who have lost their parents. We were able to box up 2 boxes of clothes and blankets to send to India! http://www.gospelharvint.org/

The Wild Family ~ New Tribes Mission ~ Papua
The Wild Family (they have 4 young boys) minister to the Wano tribe. Where they live, everything must be flown in by helicopter. It is very primitive...in the jungle! Their mission is to translate the Bible into the Wano language. Pray for their safety, pray that the Wano people will be open to the gospel, and pray for the boys as they live and learn over there. They did not desire much...just chocolate, seasoning packets, and Jeff's sermons (I think to scare off the snakes:)!!!!! Their parents will be visiting this summer, so they will deliver the box! http://www.ntm.org/pray/

Jamie ~ Lakeshore
Jamie headed to Lakeshore 2 years ago and has not returned! She loves it down there and loves the people! She is in charge of the volunteers that come through to help rebuild Lakeshore! Summer is especially busy for her! She will have contact with hundreds of volunteers! This is an awesome opportunity for the church to reach their community! Pray that the people's hearts will be open. Pray that Jamie will have strength for the long hours. Also pray for the completion of her house (is it really big enough to call a house?). We sent Jamie some homemade goodies, chocolate, and soup mixes. She might have more needs when her house is finished.

Brad & Joy ~ Church! ~ Brooklyn
Brad & Joy and their girls moved to Brooklyn to start a church! New York is full of people especially people who do not know Christ! Church! and its coffee shop, Postmark, has a desire to reach people for Christ! They want to love their neighbors just like Christ commanded! They have numerous opportunities to do that....through the regulars at the coffee shop, through ministering at street fairs, through kids clubs and camps, and through just loving the person who lives right next door! Pray for opportunities to share Christ's love, pray for the hearts of the people to be broken & open for Christ, pray for strength & endurance as they attempt to reach people through their activities. We were able to send homemade goodies for their fellowship time and stickers for the story time that they host at Postmark. http://www.churchofparkslope.org/

Finally, we wrote encouragement notes to all the missionaries!

Thank you to all who contributed your time, effort, and supplies! My prayer is that you were blessed as you blessed others! These people gave up their nice homes to live in smaller quarters, luxuries like restaurants, and just being close to family. We have so much...you don't have to be a missionary in another country....use what God has given you and reach others for Him in your own backyard!

Our next gathering is Tuesday, July 1! More details will follow!

Discovering Treasures...A Godly woman is Thrifty

2008-05-07T19:17:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful day God gave us! The temperature was great, the day was sunny and the breeze was nice! Isn't spring wonderful! It is a time of new life and growth! Maybe the Proverbs 31 woman was enjoying the same type of day when she purchased a field and planted a vineyard!
Proverbs 31:16 was our verse for yesterday's PEARLS. "She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard." This woman was thrifty. She thought about her purchase and then she used what she made to plant a vineyard to either provide for her family or to make more income.
We spent a great couple hours in Mary's beautiful home (thanks so much Mary for going out of your comfort zone to have us!) having great fellowship and being encouraged by Tina who led the devotional and gave tips on how to be thrifty. We began the evening with a game of "Who is thrifty". The idea was to have the most pennies when the game was over. You received a penny if you were thrifty, but had to give one up if you were not thrifty. There were questions asked like...
1. Do you reuse cool whip or sour cream type containers.
2. Do you hang clothes out on the line.
3. Do you pick up pennies off of the ground.
4. Do you wash your clothes in cold water.

Mary ended up with the most pennies and Tina was the second Thriftiest person! It was fun, but it also was a good reminder of ways that we can be thrifty in a day in age when everything is costing more!

Tina then led us in a devotional about how being thrifty is one way that God prunes us. One of the scriptures that she used was John 15:1-12. Since the Proverbs woman was thrifty and planted a vineyard, this passage was appropriate because it talks about Jesus being the vine and we are the branches who need to bear fruit for Him. As we bear fruit, we still need to be pruned in order to bear much fruit. Struggles and circumstances in our life will prune us. Learning how to be a godly woman who is thrifty is one way that God might prune us. As good stewards of what God has blessed us with, we should be thrifty.
Tina shared the story of Charles Spurgeon's wife. She was pruned by God when she came down with a serious illness. No longer able to really leave her home, she still was determined to be used by God no matter what her circumstance. She had been saving money here and there and was able to purchase 100 copies of her husband's book and place it in the hands of pastors who could not afford it and therefore they were able to better serve God through Spurgeon's teaching. Each time she saved, it wasn't much, but it added up to a lot in the end...100 books and probably a lot of lost souls being saved more than you could count.
So the true lesson of the night was that it is important to be thrifty, but it is more important to use the circumstances that God puts us through (learning to live on a budget) to be pruned and used by Him.
Tina did a great job sharing and I'm sure I still left out some key points that she made. Feel free to ask her about what she shared.

After the devotional, Tina shared some tips of how she is learning to be thrifty and led us in discussing how the rest of us are thrifty. Here are a few of the tips that were mentioned.

1. Buy in bulk. Ex. Tina buys a bag of wheat and then grinds her own to make all of her baked goods from scratch. This is much cheaper and healthier. (she did add that true junk food like brownies should not be healthy!)

2. Shop thrift stores or garage sales.

3. When you want something new...repaint it! Bev has repainted her canisters 3 or 4 times. She also repaints lamps. This way she gets something new without it costing a lot of money.

4. Garden to have your own vegetables.

5. Buy clothes at the end of the season for the next year.

6. Once a month grocery shop and meal plan.

7. Keep track of your expenses.

8. Wash plastic Ziploc bags and reuse them.

9. Buy generic diapers (Csilla said that target brand are great!)

10. Use old Christmas cards as the name tags on the next year's presents.

There were many more ideas. As prices start to soar, it is really important to count every penny and do the best you can to make ends meet. Being thrifty is just one way to help your family do a better job of being good stewards of what God has given you.

Our next gathering is June 3 and will be held at the church. We will be doing a service project and reaching out to the missionaries that our church supports. Please be looking for more information! I'll let you know the details as soon as they are all worked out!

Discovering Treasures...A Godly Woman is Enterprising

2008-04-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 31:14 "She is like the merchant ships bringing her food from afar."

We had a great gathering tonight at Karen's house! I did forget the camera, though, so no pictures of our April Fools Spaghetti that Csilla made! It was excellent! We had a time of prayer tonight...praying for specific needs of the women of our church. Please continue to pray for:

Felica N.'s Mom's Boyfriend's Dad and the critical condition he is in. Also pray for Felica as she desires to be with her Mom during this time.

Mary continues to have headaches. Pray for strength and wisdom for the doctors as to what to do to help her.

Joy is a strength for her family during this trying time. Pray that God will continue to give her strength and wisdom.

Kathleen's family!

Karen then led us in a devotional about being an enterprising woman. The Proverbs 31 woman lived in a different era than we do, but it still applies to us and the way we should provide for our family. She made clothing for her family...we need to provide clothing maybe not the most expensive, but still provide it. She planted a garden...that would help to cut grocery costs. She got up early...a lot can be accomplished when no one else is awake. We, as women need to be able to be creative to provide for our families. The definition for enterprising is showing initiative and willingness to undertake new projects. In what ways can you be creative to benefit your family?

We then took time to share what each of us does for a "living" and any creative ways that we can help to provide for our family. Some shared about preparing the supper meal early in the morning. You could also monthly meal plan or make extras and freeze to use when you need a quick meal. Coupons can always be cut out, too. Working from home whether it is babysitting or selling a product can also benefit your family. The Bible teaches us in Titus 2 that our most important role after serving God is to love our husbands and children and to be busy at home. So whether you work from your home or outside of it...remember to prioritize your time so that you care for your family first!

We have a lot of different ladies who have different occupations. Try to get to know someone new this week and find out what they do as a job or how they are creative in providing for their family!

Next gathering is May 6th! Hope to see everyone there!

Discovering Treasure...A Godly woman is GOOD

2008-03-05T06:00:00.001-08:00

This month at PEARLS we focused on discovering the treasure of being a GOOD woman. Proverbs 31:12 "She brings him good not harm all the days of her life." Julie led us through a devotional of serving which is exactly what we did. Tonight was to be a service night and we chose to serve Kathleen by cleaning her apartment! I'm pretty sure that her apartment has never been cleaned so quickly and with so much laughter! I heard Julie scream once as Mary accidentally sprayed her with the shower. I'm surprised Mary didn't spray anyone else since four women were in the bathroom at one time! We were able to help Kathleen by cleaning her bird cage, cleaning out the refrigerator, cleaning the bathroom, dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, and mopping her floor.

After all of our hard work, we enjoyed bunny food (Easter is in March this year)...celery, carrot juice, and of course carrot cake:) Thank you to all who provided goodies!

While we rested from our work and enjoyed our food, Julie shared some scriptures with us about the importance of being a good woman who serves those around her. She started off asking the question "What keeps us from serving?" Most of us answered our own selfish desires or wanting to use our precious time for our own use. Then Julie brought out truth in scripture of why we shouldn't let our selfish desires keep us from serving others. Matthew 20:26-28 says, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant" and Matthew 25:35-40, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Good truth to hear!

Finally, Julie asked as about our gifts that we can use to serve others. What are your gifts and how can you use them to serve your family, church, and community this week? Be challenged, ladies! God has called us to serve...will you?

Tina dusting! Cleaning up the kitchen was done by Felica, Csilla, & Felicia.

Cleaning out the fridge! Cleaning the bathroom and birdcage done by Lori, Mary, Rhonda & Julie. Glenda dusting (last picture).

Our next gathering will be Tuesday, April 1 (no this is not a joke) at Karen's house! More details to follow!

"Do the Right Thing"

2008-02-13T20:06:00.000-08:00

For all those interested there will be a group of us heading to a women's conference March 7-8. The theme is "Do the Right Thing" Choosing Obedience Above All Else.

If you are interested in attending this conference, please see me for a registration form! It is $30; Student cost is $25. This is always a great conference! It is close by, so we will commute both days.

A Godly Woman is...Faithful

2008-02-12T19:39:00.000-08:00

Proverbs 31:11 "Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value."

Tonight was a fun and loving night! Since this is the "love" month, it was appropriate to to talk a lot about love and being a Godly wife. We began our night by sharing about someone who models love. The examples ranged from Grandmothers taking care of their failing spouse to a father running a marathon while pushing his handicapped son to friends showing up at the hospital at midnight to check on a sick friend. Who pops into your head as someone who models love?

Rhonda then shared with us about being a faithful wife/woman. She shared how important it is for the husband to have confidence in his wife and to know that she will support him. She shared verses about a quarrelsome wife is worse than dripping water (Proverbs 19:13). All this to say that a godly woman will support her husband, respect him, and encourage him in what he does. She is not nagging or quarrelsome.

We followed the devotional time up with a game of "Family Feud". Teams were divided up by how long each woman had been married (Glenda ruled the roost with 31 years.) Some of the survey questions were name the basic needs that men need met. What 10 things do people want in a mate? What are the 3 most used scripture verses at weddings? (FYI...1 Cor. 13, John 15:9-12, & Matthew 19:4-6). For each correct answer the winners were given chocolate....everyone wanted to win this game:)

After the game, we had a Q/A time with some of the following questions...
1. Did you marry the person of your "dreams"?
2. Are "white lies" appropriate in marriage?
3. How do you handle the verse "do not let the sun go down on your anger"...Eph. 4:26?
4. How do you have fun with your husband...do you still date?
5. As a single woman...is thee anything you want to ask a married woman?

Each of these questions was answered with a lot of discussion and godly advice. The whole purpose was to allow the single girls to get a picture of a godly marriage and to allow the married girls an opportunity to be encouraged and to learn from other women. No matter what, we all learned that marriage and relationships in general need to be built on the rock...Jesus! Lots of prayer needs to be included in a marriage. None of us are perfect...marriage and relationships are not easy, but God will give you the strength you need to be a Faithful wife.

Of course, we ended the evening with lots of sweet goodies!!!!!! February is a great month for chocolate!

Our next gathering will be a service project at Kathleen's! Please come out and help us bless her by cleaning her apartment! More details to follow!

Discovering Treasures

2008-01-20T19:53:00.000-08:00

Proverbs 2: 4&5
"If you seek her (wisdom) as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasure;
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord
And discover the knowledge of God."

Today we kicked off PEARLS 2008 "Discovering Treasures". There was a lot of laughter, tears, good food, and great wisdom from God's Word. We are once again this year focusing on being a Proverbs 31 Woman of Excellence.

We took this opportunity to be women (Pastor Jeff did give us a few words of wisdom on taking every opportunity to teach others, but we quickly ran him out of the room)...we had an afternoon tea that included many delicious goodies served along with our tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. The high temperature today was only 5 degrees!

We also had a time of reflection...what is your greatest treasure. This time brought about lots of laughs and tears as we discovered what treasure each of us really cherish.

We learned a little bit about the background of Proverbs from its different poetry use to how packed full of words of wisdom it truly is. Then we took some time to talk about the character traits of a Woman of Excellence.

Each month when we meet, we will discuss a different character trait using the help of author Elizabeth George. We will also use our time to learn practical elements of being a woman of excellence.

For those who missed it, we really missed you and hope that you will put February 5th on your calendar to join us for the next PEARLS! There is a PEARLS profile sheet that we would love for all of our women at RHC to fill out so that we can get to know you a little better. Also, if you would like to participate in the Titus 2 Mentoring program, please let JeriAnn or Felicia know!

We are looking forward to a great year "Discovering Treasures" and we hope that you will come exploring with us!