More Ladies Retreat and This Weekend

It takes a while for a tired brain to remember all that went on at retreats, but I was really blessed by a sister named Brandy from Collinsville area. She is special needs, but there is nothing lacking from her Spirit and Worship.  Her sister brought her to her very first Ladies Retreat and this lady enjoyed herself more than all of us put together.  Brandy sang songs with her whole heart, made sure everyone knew she loved them, played and won games during fun time and sang a special song where she worshipped fully with her whole being.  Brandy was such a blessing to me.

Some have mentioned my devotionals, but really I just taught a bunch of fluff compared to the life changing topics that was taught in Sis. Smith's and Sis. Horne's classes.  Deep stuff that make us take a good hard look into our hearts and find stuff we don't like (God doesn't either), but we know has to be gone the very moment we acknowledge its presence in our lives.

When the other ladies talked about the Retreat, they would mention how Sis. Smith's FORGIVENESS class hit them square between the eyes.  Sis. Smith shared how serious unforgiveness really is.  We can't go to heaven without giving forgiveness, because without giving it, we won't receive forgiveness from God.  That "I'm hurt" is really a mask for unforgiveness.  She didn't need to flutter around like the Tooth Fairy like I did to capture our attention on this matter. (neither did I, but I thot it was fun :-) It is extremely necessary to guard our hearts from every root of bitterness and unforgiveness so that we can become perfect and make heaven our home.

Sis. Horns' class on the tribes that Isreal needed to eliminate out of the Promised Land was brilliant. We skim over those "ITES" very quickly, but God has a reason for mentioning the Hittites, the Perizzites, etc.  The meanings of those Tribal names resonate with all Christian lives.  Fear, Rebellion against Government, etc.  (I really wish I could remember them all without my notes) have no place in our lives.  Although I do not consider myself a fearful person I do recognize how satan uses fear to proclaim how strong he thinks he is.  Prayer is more powerful than he is though.  There were other "ITES"  I need to make sure have no living arrangements in my life.   I hope Sis. Horne re-teaches this class for VLB's one night.  I'd like to hear it again.

Last year at ladies retreat, I was in a room of menopausal women and the lack of a fan in the room made me scared. Ha!  This year, I brought my own fan as a survival bargaining chip and told the other two ladies in the room that they could have it, but don't point it towards me.  They actually felt the same way, just wanting noise and no air, so it worked out all right!
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This Weekend: 

This weekend we visited with Alaena and Chris for her birthday.  We thought about going to Ruby Falls, but ended up spending the morning with her running errands, going to a Farmer's market, buying groceries and stuff, and eating at Red Lobster with them both. We also went to McKay's Book Store.  I found a set of Matthew Henry Commentaries for $20.00.  They boxed them up and we left the store.  As we're crossing the parking lot, I notice what box they put the books in.  Cuervo Gold Margarita Mix!  Now I have a box in my trunk that I need to surrepticiously get rid of. :-)  I did open my trunk and show Sis. Allene Cox and Sis. Teresa Ard tho' just to amuse them. Ha! 

That evening we attended a play she was interpreting for the deaf at the Ringold GA Community Center.  That was very interesting watching her and another lady interpret the play with their backs to the actors.  Alaena interpreted about 4 actors and the other lady had about 5.   It was neat how Lae and the Lady signed and acted out the parts with their facial expressions and body language.  Really cool!  Got to see a side of my daughter I haven't seen before.   Congrats Alaena!!

The next day we attended Zion Hill church.  Alaena and Chris will be transferring there soon, since we had a business conf. in Bessemer last night.  Sunday was Zion's Mission's Fund Raiser Day and they had Sis. Sharon Griffith as their special speaker, who of course preached a great message.  Afterwards, there was the church dinner and a couple of quizz games and Zion Hill's attempt to do the Famous Bessemer Church Pay & Dare Fund Raiser in the fellowship hall.  However, they did it differently. 

I think Sis. Zimmerman had a "slave labor" idea and a few people paid big bucks to have someone help them paint or lay a wood floor.  Sis. Zimmerman was determined to allow them to either say "no" or "option out".  For large amounts you could say "no" and for small amounts, you could pay the same amount to "option out" and both persons would pay.  I explained a little how we have to "double the amount" to option out...but when someone pays $100 to get you to help them lay a wood floor...that wasn't really possible.  However, others paid smaller amounts to get people to do silly stuff, but they never hit the quality level Bessemer has.  Someone will have to explain it better next year....when I'm not around. ;-)  However, since Bro. Hopkins has insisted on making our Talent night BORING now (much to our's and the Horne's dismay) I might just be willing switch over to donating money to missions to have someone come over and paint or lay a wood floor.  Beware Sis. Horne...I'm looking at you!!! LOL! 

Mike threatened to make Bro. Smith skip around the room singing something and I joked "remember he can send you to Siberia".  While I was trying to remember the silly song Bro. Smith sang at some event in the past, the dare part came to an end time wise and they said they would resume it in the sanctury after the "singing".  Alaena was going to get me to sing in my "puppet voice", but the singing and prayer for the sick took longer than expected.  We ended up leaving before the serious part was over so we don't know if they resumed the "pay and dare" part.  We had to start making our way home. Enjoyable day all around.  I hear that Bessemer ended the Business Conf. about the time we pulled into our driveway.  Ha!

Note: I've lost 6 pounds since Ladies Retreat which is a nice side effect of trying to feel better without sugar. I'm still reducing the sugar in my diet. It's almost next to impossible to get rid of all hidden sugars unless you strictly eat at home, but I've doing what I can. Church dinners are next to impossible though. At Zion Hill dinner this weekend, I resisted all the desserts (except one tiny piece of Sis. Amy Anders delicious Pumpkin Roll). I tried to load up on Turkey, green beans and vegetables and only took tiny teaspoon portions of sweet potatoes, brocoli casserole, potato casserole and BBQ beef, so I wasn't sugar free, but I had less sugar than anyone else in that room. Alaena declared a "day off" for her Birthday (wait I thought that was last week!!!) and ate a piece of pumpkin roll and some bites of cheese cake and one other thing. However, she suddenly grabbed her head and wasn't enjoying the sugar headache at all and laid her dessert plate down in front of me and went to get more protien. (which is why I took a bite of her leftover pumpkin roll, but not the cheesecake...you know...to see how Sis. Amy's pumpkin roll stacked up to Sis. Powell's & Sis. Horne's. It was just as good!) However, later during the "Singing" in the sanctuary, she and I both started experiencing "the crash" and got sleepy and sluggish and tired. Since we have started recognizing the symptoms, we now watch other people's "sugar crashes" and there was a whole room of them to observe. On my way home, Mike and I stopped by a restaurant to eat some protein to help us on our trip, but Alaena let me know this morning that her sugar binge wasn't at all worth it because this morning she now has a "sugar hangover. tired, headache, blood pressue dizziness, heartburn, and nausea". When you know how bad sugar makes you feel, suddenly it's not so sweet anymore and definitely not hard to resist. I'm determined to figure out what to take to TN Ladies Retreat so I can eat something and feel good. I'm thinking a cheese plate and nuts.