Sweet Monday

At the recent Leadership Seminars at Pine Valley, we talked about reaching our own neighborhood with friendship and the love of Jesus. A few years ago, I happened upon an article called SWEET MONDAYS. I learned a stay at home Mom had been with Campus Crusade for years, but now at home with her child, prayed for ways to connect with neighbors. Her story has become a classic example of creativity and joyful outreach. Go to http://www.sweetmonday.com/ and check out how Kim Newlen's recipe for an all-gal, dessert get together at her home has spun off SWEET MONDAYS all over the place. email me if you can't connect with her website.

My sister in law has had great fun creating these important signs. I gave one to Pat for her birthday....she had just finished telling us about how she was complaining to the Lord and to all who would listen of the tough time she was having 'TRANSITIONING"....Let me know if you would like one for $3.00 -- perhaps we could make it a missions project -- is there anyone who doesn't need it occasionally?

Here is a trio playing DRESS UP at the KING AND I Retreat....

Joel Rosenberg - THE EZEKIEL OPTION

One of the books read last week is the Ezekiel Option by Joel Rosenberg. It is a prophetic novel, and a page turner. It is available in any bookstore, I imagine. Look up his website and get acquainted with him, his blogs, and be amazed at his insights. You will be fascinated at his perspective on current events in the light of Bible prophecy.

An anniversary?

Today is a DUBIOUS anniversary for David and me. It was 14 years ago this morning that David had a debilitating stroke at Bridgemont in San Francisco. As we prayed at breakfast this morning (which I bring into bed for us each day!) we thanked the Lord for all the ways His grace has been sufficient. Aren't you glad, along with us, that you do not know the days ahead -- but step by step the Lord keeps on leading. Job has said, "He knows the way thaat I take, and when He has tried me, I will come forth as gold, refined by fire." We are so glad that HE KNOWS and WE ARE GOING FOR THE GOLD.

For those checking who do not know, David was the Administrator of Bridgemont Christian High School and Junior High in San Francisco, when at a devotional time for staff, he was asked to lead in prayer, and dropped his Bible, lost his speech, and had a stroke. IT WAS A KAIROS MOMENT for us....God is faithful.

WHATEVER...

Whatever You Want, Lord...
W -- Whoever You put in, or take out of my life..
H -- However You want things to end up..
only You see the big picture.
A -- As much as I can take, Lord...
You know me best because
T -- Time is nothing to YOU...help me to be patient.
E -- Everything is in Your hands...Help me to let go.
V -- Victory comes with You as my Guide.
E -- Eternity with You will be worth it all!
R -- Restoration is mine through You.

+ + + + + + + + + + +

GOOFS are good for a laugh

+ If you can't do it right, do it yourself.
+ Arrogance is bliss.
+ No news travels fast.
+ Every clown has a silver lining.
+ Run it up the flag pole and see who sits on it.
+ Am I my brothers's beeper?
+ No man can serve two masters with one stone.
+ Rome wasn't burned in a day.
+ It's on the fork of my tongue.

The Cheerful heart has a continuous feast.
Proverbs 15:15

AUTUMN SPICE OF LIFE

Next Thursday we are having the first fall Get Together of SPICE OF LIFE here at the park. We are featuring APPLES - cool and crisp and ready for us to try a new dip that I learned at a Retreat. We will have an apple paring contest - to see who can carve the longest peeling, an since some of our women are returning from their summer get-aways, we will do a lot of catching up. And our lesson will be ALL ABOUT EVE, of course.
Here is the delicious CARAMEL APPLE dip...

1 8 ounce package cream cheese softened
1/2 cup apple butter (found in Jam section at store)
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix well together and serve with apple slices (kept fresh in a little pineapple juice.

Sherry Haberkorn did this demonstration as part of our NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF GOD'S WOMAN (Proverbs 31) Retreat. She works for Pampered Chef.

Summer Sip n Sees are over!

Here at Boulder Ridge, our manufactured home park, we have gathered in neighbor's homes every two weeks for a SIP N SEE. That is a southern term, I'm told, where women get together for a glass of tea (sweetened of course) and enjoy things like seeing wedding gifts, or a new grandbaby's antics, or vacation pictures, or treasures collected. We have discussed BAD GIRLS OF THE BIBLE, by Liz Curtis Higgs. What a grand time we have had getting even better acquainted while visiting in homes.

SLIGHTLY BAD GIRLS OF THE BIBLE is Liz' newest book. I have a copy in front of me, and she has done it again! Five 'slightly bad girls' of the Old Testatment come to life with all their foibles, scars, and idiosyncrasies.

SUMMER COACHING CLASS

One of my great joys is encouring women in their ministries. I often use the Mary Poppins' principle: A SPOONFUL of SUGAR helps the medicine go down. We have used many different themes - but this week we held a coaching class (under the sponsorship of LIFT - Leaders in Fellowship Together - be sure to visit the website LIFTAZ.com) with the theme GET IN THE GAME. Team names, and team building techniques, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, was in a fun baseball game setting. We had peanuts and popcorn and crackerjacks. Practice included mentoring others and multiplying our resources. The special challenge was THE ROAD TRIP from Luke 10, where Jesus sent out the 70 'rookies' while the home team watched.
We understood at the end of the day why Jesus said in Luke 10:23:
"How privileged you are to have seen what you have seen."
We thank God for the privilege of serving Him - and being confident of the win!

Recipe for CHICKEN SPAGHETTI - Delicious!

We have enjoyed this dish at Sherrie and Rich Anderson's home on two occasions: Now I am getting the recipe out to you...

4 c. cooked diced chicken
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
1 1/2 c. chopped celery
1 c chopped bell pepper
1 sm can sliced mushrooms
1 sm.can sliced ripe olives
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can rotel mexican tomatoes
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 lb. spaghetti
1-2 c. grated cheese
salt, pepper, garlic to taste

Saute onion, bell pepper, and celery in oil or butter till soft.
Add chicken broth if necessary for desired thickness (about 1 cup)
Add chicken. Cook pasta, mix all together -

in a BIG bowl, or 9x13 pan.
Cover top with cheese. Bake @350 for 30 minutes.

GREAT BOOK!

KITCHEN TABLE COUNSELING by Muriel Cook and Shelly Cook Volkhardt, Navpress is a must for your women. It is subtitled as a Practical and Biblical Guide forWomen helping others.

We had the privilege of having Muriel come to the LIFT (see website LIFTAZ.com) Summer Seminar. Muriel has been teaching and speaking for many years, but her presentation was as warm and fresh as if it was being shared for the first time. Her life experience contributes to her wisdom of course, but the lingering benefit to me what the deeply scripture approach she has to serving others.

Let me quote a few do's and don'ts from her book:

Do meet a woman at her house, restaurant, or a car.

Don't invite her to your home.

Do listen to see if her thinking is correct. Biblical. Make her face the Truth.

John 8:32 The truth will set you free.

Do make them responsible for their own decisions.

Don't take that responsibility on yourself. Example:

If the Bible says it, do it. If not in the Bible say:

'If I were you, I would do this, but that is your decision.'

Don't submit to a driving force to help everyone.

See John 5:1-9 the man at the pool of Bethesda.

Luke 5:15, 16 Great multitudes came. Jesus slipped away to pray.

DO ask God, "Send me the person YOU want me to help."

GREAT BOOK!

Quote

After a wonderful retreat for The Church at Arrowhead, here in Glendale Arizona, I received a note with a quote that made my heart sing:

"It is not what a woman does that determines whether her work is sacred or secular, but why she does it....."

May we be certain that we are living AS TO THE LORD, according to Colossians 3:17

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Another great website is creativeladiesministry.com. We downloaded tea bag packets with scripture for a May tea we were having. Charming ideas and easily transferable. Wish I was smart enough to actually put on this blog a sample for you.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Brochures and Newsletters

A great idea for your ministry! Excellent full color 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 postcards available from VISTAPRINT.com. Try it and receive call cards free for only postage, templates for trifold brochures, etc. Check it out and try it out. Where was this 20 years ago?

A special visit

It was a joy for David and me to visit The Salvation Army Deeper Life Weekend, here in Phoenix. We had a reunion with Commissioner Israel Gaither, the present National Commander of The Salvation Army. 'Izzy" was a session mate of ours in S.A. Training School nearly 45 years ago in the Bronx, New York. Commissioner Gaither is a man of God and we were so pleased to see him again. He and his wife Eva have served in the United States, South Africa, and several years in London, England.

Salvation Army Event

Summer Ministries

Good friends at Mountain Bible Church in Payson, Arizona, have a 'good thing going' for their summer. One of the most helpful is that two of their 'team' members are free to cause this special time to happen. Read about it and perhaps use some ideas for yourself....

daisy,
lynda sent me your email asking for a paragraph telling about what our women are doing this summer. since i organized the summer study, she asked that i write the article.
feel free to edit.

To reach the women of Payson as well as the women of Mt Bible church over the summertime, the women's ministry team developed the idea to have a bible study in the evening that would meet only five times. it was hoped that we could attract the working women who are often "left out". We meet every other Thursday evening starting the end of May and through the end of July, from 6-7:30pm with a time of worship, a teaching lesson, and then we answer questions and discuss the lesson around the table as we eat a meal together.
We are using the book by Elizabeth George, Remarkable Women of the Bible, as a basis of our teaching. Each week we have a different teacher who speaks on a different chapter from the book.
We have encouraged women to come by telling them that there is no preparation needed- in fact they don't even need a book. Each woman comes with her own sack meal and the hospitality team provides dessert and drinks.
We have had women from several other churches attending with the attendance ranging from 80-100 women, so we are attaining our goal of reaching out to the women of Payson. We did this last year using the book by Liz Curtis Higgs, Bad Girls of the Bible, and it was attended very well also.

trust this is what you want. as i said, please feel free to edit as you need.
hope to see you at the prayer oasis.
love,
cindy

A WORD of Encouragement

Can you imagine how encouraging it was to get a note from a friend, haaving just inserted my name in this promise? I want to make the WORD just as personal as God intended!

Isaiah 26:3,4 “GOD wilt keep Daisy in perfect peace, whose mind (Daisy’s) is stayed on GOD: because Daisy trusteth in GOD. DAISY, Trust in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:”

Power Points

We are looking forward to having a one day refresher coaching class for women in ministry. It appears that it will be August 21, 2007. Please contact me if you are interested. We would love to have you join us - it is L.I.F.T. sponsored. If you are not familiar with LEADERS IN FELLOWSHIP TOGETHER, look up the website at LIFTAZ.org. We have had such encouraging responses from the women who have joined for that day of catching up and clarifying, coaching and sharing ideas and inspiration. This one will be held in Phoenix. Another day is scheduled in Tucson early next year. POWER POINTS was our title for our first coaching classes for Women's Ministries, but now we are naming the classes according to the topics discussed. JUST FYI!

The King and I

North Phoenix Ladies Retreat
October 26-28, 2007
Overgaard, Arizona

PURSONALLY YOURS!

You can throw the whole weight of your anxiety upon Him,

for you are His personal concern.

I Peter 5:7 JBP

We respelled the PERSONAL, and when it became PURS-ONAL we knew we had an idea for a Retreat. Such fun exploring purses… Messages on PURSON-ality PLUS, UP CLOSE and PURSONAL, THE PURSONAL TOUCH….well, you see how it could be worked out.

Weighing purses, purse scavenger hunts, purse fashion show with flair, one church had each woman bring a good used purse and all were given to a halfway house for women.
Trinity Bible Church had a good friend who was a baker par excellent, and she baked a giant purse cake, replete with change purse, credit cards, lipstick and mirror.

Check out THE PURSE DRIVEN LIFE, by Anita Renfroe, (Navpress)
Here are a couple of quotes

Traditional wisdom states, “You are what you eat,” and, “Clothes make the (wo)man.” But any chick worth her Premarin knows that the truer truism is “You are your purse.” We know this because we we have felt overwhelming panic at the thought that we may have lost our purse. This feeling is normally reserved for the possibility that we may have misplaced a passport or a child. In death, you can’t take it with you when you go, but in life you can take it with you as you go.
Anita Renfroe
The Purse Driven Life


Our purses are a combination of form, function, and fashion. Sometimes it takes years of searching for just the right one that is roomy enough for our necessities without being too big, has just the right number of compartments, transmits just the right message about our classiness/funkiness, and looks good on us when we carry it. This is a distinctly female phenomenon. We ‘try on’ purses. This is why there are mirrors in the handbag department. A purse must look good on us. Notice that there are no mirrors in the guy’s wallet or backpack department.
Anita Renfroe
The Purse Driven Life



Also, Donna Partow’s book A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO PERSONALITY TYPES (Bethany House) is another great resource.

Daisy Schedule 2007

Schedule – please handle with prayer (contact Daisy with questions)

Summer months spent in travel to family, and enjoying our Spice of Life SIP’n Sees here at Boulder Ridge. (See further along for the explanation!)

We expect to have at least one WOMEN’S MINISTRIES COACHING CLASS in August.

September
6 Spice of Life at Boulder Ridge
7 Glendale, AZ., Evangelical Free Church Women’s Kickoff
12 Women’s Connection – Stonecroft Ministries, Scottsdale
15 American Lutheran Church, Ladies Day, Prescott, AZ
20 Spice of Life Fall Reunion

October
4and 5 LIFT – Leaders in Fellowship Together, Phoenix
5-7 Desert Springs Bible Church Women’s Retreat – Williams, AZ
12-13 Glendale Ev. Free Church Women’s Retreat, Glendale, AZ
25 Evangelical Pres. Church Women, Sun City, AZ
26-28 N. Phoenix Baptist Church Retreat, at Bison Ranch, AZ

November
8 Morning Break in San Francisco, CA
9-10 Impact Community Church Women’s Retreat, Sacramento, Ca.
16-18 Pine Valley, California, Women’s Leadership Retreat

December
1 Gateway Fellowship Christmas Brunch, Mesa, AZ
5 Christ Church Lutheran, Phoenix
7 Christmas Evening, Sun Village Church, Sun City, AZ
8 Immanuel Bible Church, Scottsdale - Christmas Tea
11 Calvary Community Church Pastor's Wives Dinner
12 Scottsdale Bible Church Hearty Souls
15 Annual SPICE OF LIFE CHRISTMAS TEA Boulder Ridge


THANK YOU for your prayers…..

“May God bless you all.
Yes, I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will
give each of you His fullest blessings, and His peace in your
hearts and lives.” Philippians 1:2

David and Daisy

David and Daisy
Warm Beach Conference Center, 2006

Easter at SPICE 2007

Mary, Janet, Pat, Jean S., Barb
Our Easter at Spice, 2007