Ladies Christmas Dinner

I understand that this post is a bit past due, but I wanted to share one of my favorite Christmas activities.  Each year my church hosts a Ladies Christmas Dinner as a way to start off the holiday season and also a way to minister to ours friends and neighbors what the meaning of Christmas is all about.

For the past several years, I co-host a table with my mother-in-law.  She has all the dishes and most importantly the serving dishes we need.  The church provides a table, chairs and dinner, we bring the table setting, a gift for each lady at our table and the serving dishes for the dinner.

The day starts out with two hours of glorious, free baby-sitting to let the mommies set up the tables without little ones to "help"  My MIL and I have done this so many times and usually my husband's grandma is in town during this time so between the three of us, we can set that table in about 30 minutes.

The theme this year was Let Heaven and Nature sing, so our table had a burlap table cloth (nature) and the dishes were blue and silver (heaven).  It had a very Swedish feel to it.  Our gifts were silver, glittery ornaments and it was just a wonderful evening.

This is just a few pictures of other tables that night.  This event is special to me and I always enjoy seeing the other tables, seeing friends that I only get to see once or twice a year and an evening out with girlfriends celebrating the birth of our Christ, our Savior.

Day 87

Team 3 Performance
Mine is 9th in from the right

Day 337

Every year, Crossroads Bible Church hosts a Ladies Christmas Dinner for an opportunity to bring friends and family who may not know the true reason we celebrate Christmas. My mother-in-law and I have hosted a table for a few years and this year had a little hitch. We still hosted a table, but my mother-in-law ended up doing the bulk of the work due to my ill behaved children.

Our church is very blessed to have kitchen facilities and a wonderful lady who has a fantastic team that made our very delicious dinner. Our theme was blue, white, silver with snowflakes and the evenings gift was a ceramic loaf pan filled with chocolate topped shortbread cookies. After our meal, we were entertained by The Three Wisemen and one of the wisemen is our very own worship leader, Timothy James Meaney.
It was a wonderful evening of seeing various tables decorated, seeing friends I hadn't seen in awhile and meeting new people as well. The evening is usually one of the first parties of the season and I'm glad I get to be a part of it.

Day 291

Crossroads Bible Church has started another capital campaign to raise money to pay off our moving bill and a few other improvements to our facility. This campaign is called Moving Further in Faith and Mike and I received coffee mugs as part of the leadership dinner. This morning was the all church service at Meydenbauer Center in downtown Bellevue as it is one of the only places that could hold every single person who attends Crossroads. This service was our commitment service where families make a pledge above and beyond the normal giving towards moving further in faith. We find out next Sunday the grand total of money pledged, but God has been faithful in our church and I'm confident this will continue.

Day 263

After church today, Andy grabbed a hold of Mike's hand to walk across the parking lot to our car and low and behold, Aaron grabbed a hold of Andy's hand and I just had to get a picture. It was just too cute not to share.

Day 259

This week is the beginning of the fall activities and one of Andy's favorite weekly activity is the Wednesday night program at church called Team 3. The first couple of years is Discovery Kids and starts when they turn 3. This year the children are learning about the attributes of God and I am a leader once again in Andy's class.

Day 238

This evening our family had the opportunity to help out orphans in Africa. The Downtown Church is the daughter church of Crossroads Bible Church where Mike and I attend with our boys. Outreach is a big part of who The Downtown Church is considering they are located in downtown Bellevue where there is no place to worship. Tonight one of the ways to reach out was putting together 25,000 meals for orphans in Sierra Leone, Africa.

Mike and I thought it would be a good thing for our boys to experience and to see some friends we haven't seen in a while. Andy was able to help scoop out lentils and rice for a little bit, but we seemed to be at the enthusiastic table full of 10-12 year old girls. After a while of being told to be faster, Andy jumped ship and joined his friends elsewhere. It only took about an hour and a half to fill bags of lentils, rice, chicken protein and spices. Overall, it was a great experience and I hope our boys are able to do this again.

Day 237

This summer, the ladies of the Cornerstone Sunday school class and others have been studying I Thessalonians. As an end of the study craft, Amber, who lead the study, printed out cards with verses about hope, faith and love. I am turning my cards into a wall hanging. The plan is to run ribbon along the back of my cards and come up with a fun way to hang the cards. I think the colors will also look good in my bedroom too.

Day 235

Crossroads Bible Church is currently in the midst of repaving and adding new parking spots or as they call them, "ministry squares." Only it seems as if there are quite a number of compact spots and I am one of many non compact family vehicles. The east end of the building parking is complete and the west and back in should be done by October, I believe. All I can say is the new parking will be very nice and much easier to maneuver.

Day 157

I miss participating in the music ministry at Crossroads Bible Church and today I had the opportunity to join again. When I was pregnant with my oldest, my body decided at 19 weeks pregnant that I was done singing as I couldn't breathe, which is a little bit of a good thing to be able to do. Since then, our church has gone through a couple of music ministers and the program has gone through a few changes. I was able to participate in the Easter celebration when I was about 17 weeks pregnant with number two, so I knew my time was limited.

This past year we have had the honor and privilege of having Timothy James Meaney as our worship leader. He hosted a worship workshop for those who were interested in participating in some manner or just learning more. I have yet to sing for him so I can be part of the worship team on Sunday mornings, but I do look forward to being part of something I enjoy.

Which means......I'm not preggers, PRAISE THE LORD!!

Day 74

For some this could be a completely random picture, but it represents a big day in our church history. Mike and I are members of Crossroads Bible Church and one of the missions is to plant ten churches by 2020. Today we commissioned those who are going to plant The Downtown Church. It was almost like saying good-bye as some of our dear friends are going to The Downtown Church, but it's not like they are really going anywhere. The new church is in downtown Bellevue where it has been growing and changing and yet there is no place to worship.
Overall, it was a great time to worship our Lord God and begin to see the next great adventure.