Relentless Love

All the way back in September our Sunday school women's group had their annual tea. It was a lovely day of course. Our theme for the tea was "Relentless Love" and our guest speaker was Zondra Scott wife of Stuart Scott. They both co-authored the book, Killing Sin Habits, that we went through on our Monday night study last year.

My friend Angela was the decorator for the event and she did a wonderful job. She is so talented and has a great eye for detail.

Donna is on the left- she's our Sunday school pastor's wife and she has a real love for women's ministries. Zondra is on the right. We were all so blessed by her lesson. They're answering questions here.

Sosi is my co-leader this year. She is a real sweet heart!

So happy that Heather(L) and her husband are in our Sunday school now. Erin(R) lives super close to us and I've really enjoyed getting to know her and her family!

Angela is on the right and I've been so blessed by her friendship.

Women Walking Wisely

One of the biggest blessings about being back at my home church has been participating in women's ministries. Our Sunday school class hosts a monthly women's study called Women Walking Wisely. This past Monday we had a potluck and it was so encouraging to fellowship with the ladies who sit at my table. I have a real neat group of ladies and a Titus 2 older woman as my co-leader. This group of ladies consists of different ages and positions in life. We are all learning so much from each other.

Since we had a special time this past Monday the leaders all provided the centerpiece and paper goods for their table.  I am not creative at all but there is Pinterest.......thank God! So, I pinned several different pins and added a "spring centerpiece board" to my account. I combined a few ideas and came up with the following:

The centerpiece was quite inexpensive and most people probably have these things on hand. I bought a wooden tray at Michael's and painted it white. I used 2 tin pineapple cans, painted them an ocean blue, and wrapped some burlap around them. I had a mason jar which I also wrapped with burlap and white ribbon attaching a pretty paper flower. The pretty white bird was on clearance at Michael's. I topped off the "vases" with fresh yellow flowers.

My paper goods matched the centerpiece.....

The best part of the evening was getting to spend it with these special ladies.......

Tea Time

Over a week ago, the women's ministry of the Sunday School group we attend held it's annual tea. The purpose of the tea is to kick-off our monthly women's ministry called Women Walking Wisely. I was asked to be the hostess of a table and I have got to admit that I was a bit intimidated. I spoke at one of these teas a few years ago and I remember how absolutely beautiful the tables were decorated.
Here are some pictures of how absolutely beautiful these tables were set.....

I sort of struggled with how plain my setting was going to be .........it was a humbling experience for me but I was reminded that the most important aspect of the day was to be the fellowship. I also thought how I often compare myself to others and focus more on the external rather than the internal and eternal! 

 Here's a little view of my table......blue and white......my favorite! My friend Heather mentioned how "Russian" my table looked and I am thankful for that.

Our speaker was Heidi who is a missionary (along with her family) in Ukraine. I had the privilege of hosting her, her two daughters and mom at my table. It was really such a fun day and I'm looking forward to the start of our group at the end of the month.

Women's Conference Part 2

 Saturday morning opened with a special tea.

 All the wives from our Wives Fellowship

group baked for the event. My friend Olya

along with 2 other gals did a great job of 

organizing and decorating this part.

 Lisa taught 3 more sessions on Saturday with my friend

Katya translating. 

We also had the wife of a local pastor teach

one session entitled "Consolation for a 

Grieving Heart".

The musical group Anastasia opened the Saturday morning

session with worship.

Toliatti Part 3

After church we headed to our friend's home for a great lunch and for some fellowship time with his wife.  After lunch they wanted to show us the campsite along the Volga River where their church was holding their youth camp that week. 

 

One of the lookout points on the way to the site.  It was quite 

a ways to get there, especially as we got closer.  There had

been a lot of rain and we basically went on a dirt road with

potholes bigger than our car.

 

The boys happy that we finally got there!

 

Some of the campers.

 

On the banks of the Volga with my two boys where I got eaten

alive by mosquitoes.  

Toliatti Part 2

While we waited for daddy to finish talking and meeting people the boys and I headed to the car to have some snacks and to hang out. 

 

Nathan managed to touch every single button and knob in the car.

He even turned on the seat warmers so when the car started Jon's

seat was quite warm.  

 

Jojo acting a bit delirious!

The pretty flowers in the church's garden.

 

Jon gave us all a fair warning about 

the bathrooms.  He said they had

squatty potties, but since he had never

been in the women's bathroom little did

he know about the toilets in there!  I

guess the men get to deal with the other!

 

This is the little area where you wash hands, but I had to take

a picture because I thought it was so pretty.

Toliatti

At the end of June we made a trip to Toliatti where Jon had the opportunity to preach in the local church there.  One of the students who finished the Preacher's Help Program here in Samara currently serves in the church.  The trip there is 1 1/2 hours.............quite a long trip for the boys followed by a 2 hour church service!  The boys did real great though and it's always fun for them to watch daddy up front preaching.

 

Good News Church in Toliatti.

Jon making fun of "V's" attempt to grow facial hair!

The boys after church-they were acting a

bit silly after all that sitting!

Church Work Day

Once a year on a Saturday shortly after all the snow has melted our church has a work day.  Usually Jon goes to it but this year I begged to go and work.  I love yard work and since we live in an apartment there isn't any of that for me to do.  I got to collect trash!  Amidst a ton of beer glass bottles I found 2 car fenders, a rotten milk carton, a jaw bone with teeth (which I'm hoping belonged to a dog), plates, tile, and many more trinkets. 

Salt Dough Bead Crosses

This past week I made a big batch of salt dough.  I'm so thankful for this website where I've been getting so many craft ideas.  I thought I'd help out the boy's Sunday school teacher with a little craft today.  The kids really enjoyed making these and it really kept them quiet and busy for about 20 minutes.  As they were doing the craft I realized what a great fine motor skill it is and with younger children you could just use bigger beads to make it easier for them. 

 

This cutie was too little to join in but she loved watching the

kids place the beads on the crosses.

Pizza Dinner

Last night we had some men from the part time preacher's help program over for dinner.  It was a fun evening and a great time for Jon to get to know these men on a more personal level.  They are a great group of mature men.  One even travels from the country of Moldova to attend and two others come from Kazakhstan!  Pretty amazing how hungry these men are for God's word!