2010 Women's Retreat

Well, another year has come and gone. Where does the time go? All the hours of meetings and planning, registering and organizing, planning and making decorations, getting speakers, making gift bags, etc. So much work but so much fun and so rewarding to serve the women when the time comes. Just received word today of several ladies back in church and giving their hearts to the Lord as the result of the retreat. That's what it's all about.

This year had a sad note to it. Our Director, Kim Purvis, is leaving us to move to Alaska. Quentin will be the new Vice-President of the Alaskan Conference. Going to have to hook them up with our Michelle and Bryce. Kim will be dearly missed by all the women. Her southern ways have endeared her to all our hearts. Sweet smile, beautiful voice, dedication, willingness to try new things, have made our committee and Women's Ministries a success in Michigan. Alaska, you are lucky to be getting the Purvis team.

Well, Camp Au Sable couldn't let her go without a gift. This is what they hauled in. Took three of them to do it. So funny. Kim was truly surprised.

They also gave her a carton of Moose Tracks ice cream. We are preparing her for those big animals she can expect in her back yard. Hee Hee. A little different than a squirrel or a deer.

Our decorations were outstanding this year if I do say so myself. The banner is where we started. My talented daughter-in-law Natalie designed and made it at work. Thank you Natalie. It was perfect. Then Jane and I worked around that. God is funny how he can make it beautiful using two ladies from the other side of the state and only communicating several times during the year. When we get together, he has sent the perfect things we need to make it all come together.

The wonderful camp staff made everything possible. We brought the 3 chandeliers, and they constructed a frame, crawled into the ceiling to hang it without any holes, cleaned up the insulation mess, got it working so we could actually turn them on, hung our curtains and banner. Another big thanks. Couldn't have done it without you guys.

I put the Cricut to work making the centerpieces again this year. Each chandelier took 4 pieces cut out. Then all folded down the center after which I had to glue all the sides together. Little gems were then put on. Maria glued the skewer painted silver on at the camp. I spray painted all the styrofoam blocks with silver glitter, wrapped the ribbon around, and put a beaded string on top with straight pins. The candles were printed on wraps I found at Michaels.

Just put it this way, every step took twice as long as I had planned. Finished them in the nick of time. Whew ! We will use the white and black ones for our tea party/piano recital in a couple of weeks. Should be cute with a bit of pink thrown in for the girls at school.

I thought the sliver and black would be the nicest, but the pink and white showed up the best. After three weeks of moving and replacing all weekend, they started getting a lean to them. Drove me nuts every time I walked through the dining room I had to go and try to straighten as many as possible. Never ending job.

We also made the little pink cards on the table above as a favor. They were pink recipe cards we printed, cut out, punched, put on a ring, and tied a ribbon around. 600 of them. Sarah came over one day for about 2 hours and thought we could get them done. We succeeded in putting 400 together and had ribbons on 200 for the first weekend. Had to finish when I got to camp and did 200 more before the third weekend.

Our speaker couldn't have been better. Ruth Ann Thompson if anyone is interested in using her. So sweet and down to earth. Originally from MI so she had fond memories and many friends from the "olden" days of Camp Au Sable and Cedar Lake Academy that she got to see.

Our retreats are always the first 3 weekends of April. Can't wait for next year. I go for sure the 1st and 3rd weekends and some times all three. Would love to have all my friends from church and around the state join me. Keep in on your schedule. Prices are not going up again and there are many comfortable places to stay if you get your reservation in early enough. Just call me if you have any questions. Start planning early. You will be blessed and come closer to God in this day and age when we need him more.

Candyland Baby Shower

In case you hadn't heard, our Natalie and Adam are expecting their first child May 6th. It's a BOY! Can't wait. The ladies at Oakwood Church threw a shower for Natalie on March 28th. It turned out so nice. There was a great group of ladies and we were excited to have Natalie's mom and 4 sisters with us. Also 6 nieces and 1 nephew. Guests came from Berrien, Chicago, and

New York.

Since Natalie really loves candy, Melissa Williamson suggested the theme of "Candyland", the childrens game. We had a great time decorating for this. I posted some random pictures so in case you couldn't make it, you could still enjoy some of the fun we had. Of course they are in no particular order cause I still am not a pro at this blogging.

I asked my hairdresser Liberty if she knew of any cute ideas done at a shower. She loves Natalie and was excited to share. She told me about putting a smaller basket of baby essentials together. Then you buy lots of cute baby clothes in all sizes and put them on a clothesline with clothes pins. Next you lay those in a basket and place the first basket on top so she can't see the clothes. So that is what Sarah and I did for our gift. It turned out pretty cute. We found so many beach theme, off roading theme, surf themed, Lions/Tigers, Quicksilver, and Harley themed clothes. The best was the Harley leather jacket, gloves, and hat we ordered off line. Nat loved those. Here we are holding the clothesline.

Natalie's Berrien nieces helping with the gift opening.
Leah took this "wonderful" picture of me. Gotta love the angle.
Lily hiding under the table eating a lollipop. We see you girl!

What a wonderful bunch of daughters with their mom. So glad they all could make it.

Gram, Nilza, and Lily enjoying the party.

Lily following the "Candyland" path. Check out that backside. She kept messing up the pathway.

This is Madelyn, the New York niece. She loved Lily.

Sarah made these adorable "It's A Boy" suckers for the candy table.

Here's the entrance. Our walkway path was made of felt squares. Sarah even put them in the same order as the ones on the game. You can see one of the lolipops I made out of styrofoam and celophane wrapped with ribbon and put on a skewer. They turned out pretty cute. We clustered them around the room. Also made candies out of chinese lanterns but didn't get a pic or those. Natalie probably did. I was too busy to take pictures.

Here's our candy table. Every kind you could want. The take homes were chinese take out boxes. Each had a ribbon tied on them and a toothbrush stuck in the side so you could clean those teeth after you indulged. I think the ladies liked the candy cause a whole bunch was gone by the end of the party.

I made two of these candy topiaries using a foam form and mini lolipops. Just cut them off and stuck them in the foam. Then put in a pot and tied ribbon around them. So cute. We used them as the centerpieces on the serving tables.

Sarah had the bright idea to make rainbow cupcakes. You divide your cupcake batter into 6 different bowls and then color them like the rainbow. A layer of each color is then put in the cupcake paper. Very tedious work. Kept us busy until about 2:00 am. In the picture the paper has been removed and you are seeing the batter. I bought the surfboards at a cake decorating store since his room is surfing themed.

This is where Natalie opened her gifts. She received so many nice things. Can't wait to put them to use. You can see all the candy's we made around the bench.

Balloons are always a nice finishing touch to a great day. Thanks again everyone for supporting Natalie and all your gifts and hard work. Now we will sit and wait for his arrival.