Tea Time

This past weekend I was priviledged to act as a co-hostess at our church's Christmas Tea. Thanks to Stephanie, my co-hostess, our table had a wonderful time! Having never been to a Christmas Tea, Stephanie was my window into how the whole thing comes together. If you're like me and have never been to a Christmas Tea before, let me explain what this means...

The Christmas Tea is designed to be an evening of fellowship for women based around hot drinks, yummy desserts, fellowship, and the story of Christmas. This year our church was able to reach out to approximately 350 women from the community! How exciting!

Each year women from the congregation are asked to host a table for 8. This means making a dessert (or buying ones for those who are in a time crunch...or can't bake), decorating a table (dishes, decorations, and inexpensive favors), and being willing to serve those who sit with them. The exciting aspect to this women's event is outreach. Many women invite friends and neighbors who either don't have a church home or may not know Christ as their Savior.

Below I've posted a few pictures. You'll see the table Stephanie and I decorated, the yummy dessert we ate (chocolate cheesecake...mmmm), and the women who sat at our table. Two of whom I didn't previously know, so that was fun!

Stephanie, if you're reading this, thanks again for your hard work and help. We made a superb team and I really enjoyed this opportunity to become closer friends.

Reunited at Last

This past weekend I was priviledged to see my good friend Ryan. We were so happy to see each other that he made the face you see...

He's obviously happy to see you too!

Chili Cook-Off

This past Saturday was the Chili Cook-Off... something we think only exists in the state of Texas. Needless to say, it was a barrel of fun.

We were entertained by a band while tasting 16 different chilis of varying degrees of hot"ness". In order to counter-act the effect from all the chili (which was swirling around in the stomach), tums were placed on every tables so that those in attendance wouldn't pass out, blow up, or run to the bathroom in despair.

Below are only a few picture of the chilis that we preferred. Use the comments link or chatterbox to describe your favorite chili!

Thanks for Coming!!!

Thanks for coming Nora! We had a great time...

Love you!

Getting Off the Mainland

This past weekend we had the pleasure of having Nora, Erin's sister, come to visit! We had an absolute blast hanging out and doing all sorts of fun stuff.

On Monday, we took the day and went down to Galveston Island to relax and do some sight-seeing. Below is a sampling of some of the fun that was had...

We spent time on the beach, collected sea shells, road on a ferry, played in a destroyer and toured a submarine! We also saw all sorts of great wild life. Sorry, not all are pictured, but among those we saw are dolphins, seagulls, pelicans, jellyfish, crabs, snails and shrimp (but Brian ate those!)

Hope you enjoy our little adventure...

Confirmation Continued

Just thought you may enjoy the pictures: a picture of me and my birthday buddies (we had to line up according to birthday...25th is me, they are 24th and 26th), a small group attempting to walk on trollies during a small group buiding activity, and an adult leader who's willing to get active with his students.

Who Do You Rub Shoulders With?

This past weekend was the Confirmation Retreat; a weekend away at Camp Lone Star to study Holy Baptism in detail. The pictures below show the first activity of the day. John, our DCE (Director of Christian Education), split the 96 people into four groups. He then asked them to open up all the newspapers so that everyone could scan them quickly. When everyone was ready...the competition began (a little competition is never a bad thing). John asked people to find an article of theft...murder...Islam...poverty...environmental issues...etc. The first team to find such an article received a point. This continued until a team had 7 points.

Immediately following the completion of the game, John asked each team to crumble up each piece of paper so that we could have a paper bomb war. Each team diligently wadded up paper and poised themselves for battle. John blew the whistle and off it went. Newspaper everywhere, the sin of our world tossed with real force through the air. It was a sight to see.

When the game had ended, John asked everybody to look at their hands. Stained with newsprint!! He made the point that rubbing shoulders with culture can rub off. We are to be in the world...not of it. In baptism, God sets us apart and calls us to live as fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. In baptism, God wipes away the stain!

Creative Costumes

Here's a quick look at some of the fun that was had at Trunk or Treat outside of our wonderful whale (see post below).



Everyone really got creative with costumes and booths. As you can see there were angels, cats, carebears, fish, candycorn, and more!

What were you for Halloween?