The big reason why I haven't been blogging is that I have been focusing on a program our church does called Apples of Gold! We do it a little different from what the national program does. We have adapted it to our Church's needs and I think it is a bit of an improvement on what the national program does.
We start the program usually in September on Monday nights for 6 weeks. (this time we had to skip Halloween because it was on a Monday). We meet in the fellowship hall at our church. Ladies are assigned to a Mentor and are with that Mentor each week. The program has a cooking demonstration, a devotional time then a dinner.
I am a mentor which means I decorate a table each week, give a gift, and then do a devotional talk on the topic that evening using stories from my life. The idea is that you "mentor" the girls and bless them with a fun night out away from their normal lives. They come back to the table set filled with good food. They don't have to do anything but enjoy their time!
The theme this year was "The Ladies' Home Journey". Gene came up with the snappy title, (he's really good at that) while I came up with the concept. This year we followed the stages of a woman's life from birth to death and focused on how to be a Godly Woman (girl, gal, etc) within each stage of life. For example....we are born and are a daughter. So we talked about being a Godly daughter, raising Godly daughters, raising sons to find the right Godly daughter, etc, you get the idea. The topics for the weeks went as follows:
Week 1: The Godly Daughter
Week 2: The Godly Young Woman (unmarried)
Week 3: The Godly Wife
Week 4: The Godly Mother
Week 5: The Godly Older Woman
Week 6: Going to Meet our Lord as the Bride of Christ
It is a wonderful program. The kitchen staff demonstrates a meal and then while we break into small groups to do the devotional teaching they cook the meal and then put the dinner out on the table so when the ladies return from the teaching the meal is waiting for them!
These were my tables over the last 6 weeks. I was very proud of my ideas. Especially week 1 what had a horse head with a bit and bridle around the base! The "dishes" were pots all of it signified that we are on camping type trip, temporary time here on the earth and that we should allow ourselves to be guided by our Lord's eye and not by force (for lack of a better word) as described in Psalm 32:8-9. I thought it went along well with the topic of daughters!
These were my gift presentation each week! Each week there was a gift and a devotion. I tried to tie everything in to the topic of the evening.
This brings me to the give away portion of my post....one of the items I gave was a wonderful hand crafted necklace from Vintage Pearl! They are by far my favorite jewelry site. Anyway, I decided to order an extra one to give away on my blog!
Here it is....a beautiful hand stamped sterling silver charm with the word "hope" stamped in it. The giveaway includes the 18" chain and pearl along with the gift presentation! I can even do a special tag if you would like.
I gave this necklace away on week 5 it was tucked into the little Russian Nested doll. Yours will be sent to you as you see it in this amazing box with the ribbon and pearl attached! I believe this item is discontinued, so if you missed it here it is! Also, if you would rather have a $50.00 gift certificate to The Vintage Pearl, let me know that when you win and I will be happy to give that to you! I want everyone to enjoy their holiday season and this is my way of giving back!
How do you win? It's easy....just comment below....Choose any one of the topics or say whatever you want!
1. Tell me if your church does the program Apples of Gold
2. Tell me what you think of our program
3. Tell me anything you want!
4. Extra entry by twitting on twitter
5. Extra Entry by posting the give-a-way on your FB page
4. Extra entry by twitting on twitter
5. Extra Entry by posting the give-a-way on your FB page
I will choose a winner on November 16 at 6:00 PM using random.org.
If you post on your FB page, and/or tweet the giveaway then come back and leave a comment telling me you did so. So you can enter 3 times by comment/FB/twitter! Good Luck!
If you post on your FB page, and/or tweet the giveaway then come back and leave a comment telling me you did so. So you can enter 3 times by comment/FB/twitter! Good Luck!
