Sunday, November 16, 2014

Favorite Things Party

I serve from the premise that ministry should be fun whenever possible!  I know ministry is work, I know ministry can be stressful....but it's just better if you have fun and build relationships along the way.

The highlight of my week was taking time to enjoy these women - not our full women's ministry leadership team - but 70% of us.

We've worked hard and long to plan a fall rally, Bible study sessions, find a retreat location, advertise our program, teach Bible studies, love on our ladies and each other, make announcement slide shows....

Friday night we pulled aside to simply enjoy being with each other.

We met at Jennifer's for our "My Favorite Thing" party. Everyone brought their favorite food item and a favorite item between $5 -7.  We started the evening by writing our favorite thing about each other on individual cards. We each had a packet of attaboys to take home with us. I may frame mine for those hard days. LOL  Each pink/white card has a members name and "my favorite thing about x is...."
 
We enjoyed dinner.
 
Jennifer put each of our names in a cup as we arrived. We moved on to sharing the story behind each of our favorite items and then she drew a name to give that gift to.
 
I thought the best part was the conversation, the stories and the LAUGHTER - ah the laughter. 
 
The biggest blessing of the evening is simply knowing each other a tad bit better. I didn't plan on making strong connections here....we won't be here long...but I've come to love these women - and many others not on the leadership team. The fun and laughter of this night will carry us through another couple of months of service...... It's a joy to work alongside women such as these.  I'm going to miss working alongside them when we retire. 


Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Fudgesicles (Fuhrman)

This recipe is from the Eat To Live Cookbook by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. They are totally healthy....nothing artificial and no processed sugar. I am o.k. letting the kids eat these.

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
1 C raw cashews
3 T natural, nonalkalized cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Blend all ingredients in a food process or blender until smooth.  If you don't have a vita mix (which is what Dr F uses)....Puree the bananas first, add everything else and give it a whirl. Then the cashews last. My Bosch blender will do a double recipe of this if I do it this way.

Spoon into an ice pop tray or ice cube tray and freeze for at least 2 hours.

This was supposed to make 3 but we made 4.  If it makes 3 it will be 251 Cal each; 7 g protein, 16 g fat, 3.5 g fiber, 22 mg calcium, 2.3 mg iron etc etc.

Notes - Arielle likes these. Michael likes these. I can't eat a whole one - the texture throws me a bit. The boys haven't tried them - but they are leery of any of my healthy recipes the first couple of times they show up.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...