Okay gals- no one has posted anything- so I will! How was your Mother's Day- at home AND at church?
Mine was....
At Home-
Very nice and peaceful. I have to admit I didn't do anything after I got home from church! My dh asked if I wanted to go out for lunch and I told him, "Nope, I'd like to go home and have some of your awesome spaghetti!" So, he went and bought groceries and all and cooked me up some spaghetti! My girls made a salad, bread and strawberry cheesecake.Then they gave me my gift- an Apple iPod- which I have been wanting! I was surprised and thrilled! I LOVE it because I can download my CDs- or music from Limewire (which is awesome too!) or sermons from some of my favs.... Then after the kids went to bed, dh and I settled in and watched The Phantom of the Opera. It was a really nice day.
At Church-
We had an AWESOME time. Dh and I and our team worked SO hard last week prepping for Sunday. We are a new church so we are using every opportunity we have to be evangelistic and for growth opportunities. I made two very sweet PowerPoint presentations, one to Martina McBride's "Blessed," and one to "She's Not Just a Pretty Face." They went over BIG time- and very powerful- not a dry eye during Blessed and shouting during "Pretty Face"- if you have heard the song you know how it runs through the jobs and doings of women- that they are more than a "pretty face"- they have everything it takes to do and be more- well, at the last thirty seconds, I tied it up with photos of powerful women in ministry- a slide for each with their name and a dynamic quote made by them- I used Aimee Semple McPherson, Juanita Bynum, Darlene Bishop, Kathryn Khulman, Mother Theresa, Paula White, Martha Munizzi, Vernette Rosier, and Karen Wheaton. It was awesome. Then I did an illustrated message called, "Desperate Housewives: Squashing the Source of Desperation." And yep- I used the tv show- we actually set up a white picket fence and garden scene, used trees, flowers, etc. and had life size cut outs of the tv show characters standing behind the fence. I compared the five women from the show with five desperate women from the Bible. Let me tell you, I THREW down- it was awesome- the Holy Ghost showed up and showed out- I KNOW it was Him- because physically I was SO tired from all of the prep.... we had salvations and so many women were moved by what God was doing in their lives. Then we gave each woman a hershey chocolate bar with a custom designed cover. I made about eight different ones- and they were so neat- I'm thinking of taking orders as a side business to earn money for our women's ministry or extra income. I also gave each woman one of the songs (Blessed or Pretty Face) printed out on fancy cardstock with a CD sleeve glued to the back which had the printed song burned on it.
We had 10 visitors and a wonderful day. I feel SO blessed by what is happening here and happier than I have ever been- what an awesome thing to KNOW you are in God's will!
Oh my gosh...you out-did yourself, PT! You did throw down, and believe me I wasn't even there to see it, but.....life size cut outs? CD's for every woman? You're the bomb. I know you must be exhausted. Those are some phenomenal ideas!!! I hope you don't mind me using a few in the future...
My day was great. I preached Sunday, and my message was, "Advice for Moms: How to Survive a Twister." I used movie clips from Twister, and talked about difficult circumstances we face in life. Funny you mention Desperate Housewives because one of my points was about that show!! It's amazing how that show speaks to the desperation in women's lives today -- and how many think what is portrayed on that show is the answer. I heard a statistic - on average, eight out of ten commandments are broken in every show. Very interesting! Anyway, I think my message went really well - I received a lot of great feedback on it.
I have been so busy speaking the month of April that time got away from me in doing the mother's day gifts I had in mind to do. I called our visitation pastor's wife, Judy, and she saved the day as she does many times! She made some beautiful gifts. They were little sachets of potpourri, with a special little message, and our church name on them. I told her to make as many as we gave out last year (we had some gifts leftover last year) Well, she did and after they gave one to every woman, we actually ran out but thankfully the only people that didn't get them were our staff wives. (And we were alright with that.) But the thing is -- we realized...we're growing! Next year I will up the gifts by at least 25, maybe more.
After church, my family took me out to "The Dish" in downtown historic Tampa, one of my favorite places to eat. Then we went to Clearwater Beach for the day. We had planned it and brought our clothes to change, and our cooler, etc. We spent the day there and came home later that night. That's my favorite place to go to. We just swam and laid out all day, then went out for ice cream. My dh bought me a new outfit, some capris and a very cute pink top. My kids gave me a card and a rose and my daughter made me a cute little sun catcher. My son Dustin wrote me a poem. It's hysterical. It starts like this: "Riddle me this, riddle me that, who is now skinny but used to be fat?" (me) You have to know my son, he's a real comedian. Then he writes, "Happy mother's day to a working Mom who always makes time for us." That brought tears to my eyes...he had a picture of a woman at a desk with all this stuff piled up. (that's me) with what caption. So cute.
Time sort of got away from us -- we were having such a fun time I didn't realize how late it was getting. We ended up getting home at 11 pm, so I took Savanna to school late and let Jordan stay home altogether since he goes to school at 6:30 am. Dustin elected to go...he's our studious one.
Well, that's about it for my day, but it was wonderful! Pastor Tara, I think I'm calling you next year before my mother's day service to get some ideas!
Our pastor's wife preached on Sunday. It was her first time ever preaching, and she did a great job. She spoke on "When God Seems Silent," and used the story of Sarah and Abraham. We had all the mothers come up with their kids and get prayed over at the end of the service. One of the middle-school aged kids came up to the YP and me after church and said, "Don't worry - you two will be mothers someday!" That cracked me up, because it's not like we CAN'T have kids; we've just chosen not to have them yet...
After church was the best gift of all. Between working full time days, being a children's pastor, and working on The Wizard of Oz (which was a smashing success this past weekend!), I haven't had a day off in months. So after church, DH and I, YP and her husband, and another friend of ours ate hamburgers and watched the play on video. Since none of us have kids or moms who live close by, we were just happy to have the afternoon and evening off!
After we left our YP's house, we went back home and I took a 4-hour nap.
My Mother's day started on Saturday. My Dh and kids took me to my favorite fastfood restaurant "Krystals" and then we went and picked out Crape Myrtle bushes for me to play in thedirt with. Sunday was beautiful! I sang a solo "Prayer Warrior" and my dad and mom came to church then we ate dinner at my house with one of my sisters and her familyalso . I was up at 6:30 grilling chicken.LOL My dh preached about the gift of praying and we had a young family come forward for salvation. ( we are baptizing next Sunday and my 6yr old will be one of them. Hallelujah!!! After my family left, we loaded up the kids and went to my in laws for a cookout. We were so tired. but it was a good day! By the way, Mother's day is extra special because it is my born-again day . I received Jesus into my heart, Mother's day 1979 I was 9. Happy Birthday to meeeeeee!! Love to all R
First let me say to Pastor Tara, I agree with Deanna. You are all that and a bag of chips and you did throw down! I love to hear creative ideas to get the message of the word of God across.
My Mother's Day was great. I was relaxing, which is highly unusal for a Sunday. We went out to dinner after church and just hung out the rest of the day.
Then they gave me my gift- an Apple iPod- which I have been wanting! I was surprised and thrilled! I LOVE it because I can download my CDs- or music from Limewire (which is awesome too!) or sermons from some of my favs.... Then after the kids went to bed, dh and I settled in and watched The Phantom of the Opera. It was a really nice day.
Then he writes, "Happy mother's day to a working Mom who always makes time for us." That brought tears to my eyes...he had a picture of a woman at a desk with all this stuff piled up. (that's me) with what caption. So cute.
