Apples, Pine cones and Cinnamon Sticks

This weekend we were honored to do a Celebration for a lovely lady who is near to having her 6th blessing.  This was a long distance one, so we learned that it is a bit more challenging.  It was very worth the extra work and efforts.  We had been wanting to do an apple party with a small group of ladies just for fun and an evening out, but when the opportunity arose to bless another sister, we decided that the apple theme was given to us for her.  We went with the apple theme and used the Scripture, "Keep me as the apple of Your eye".  It's so exciting to see how He brings a theme to our minds at one point, and it may not be what we think it is until He reveals it's real purpose and who could be blessed by it.  This one was no different than the others in that it was for this mother that we honored on Sunday.

We like to be as frugal as possible with our Celebrations, so we borrowed things from friends and family and took from our own houses to turn a corner of a gym into a quaint sitting area that would feel both homey and relaxing.  The woodstove they just installed in the area worked out so nicely to bring an ambiance and glow to the area.  

Enjoy all the pics.  There's a lot of them!  I'll give detail on things that are worth detailing.     

Extra thank you to Scott Lepley for the creation of this amazing stand!  It worked so perfectly and was a great addition to our display.  We may have to use that more at Celebrations.  : )

The area in which we celebrated.

Here is the invitation that we came up with.  It turned out to be so cute and lovely.

We included on the invitation that ladies could bring non perishable food items for easy fixes for their family or frozen meals all ready to go.  She received several meals for the freezer and lots of other goodies to use for convenience. 

Ruth (Becky's mom) and Becky- Such sweet ladies!

Sharing words of encouragement, Scripture and humor is always a blessing.

Washing the feet of the mother is such a humbling experience and is a true act of servanthood.  Most of the ladies who washed her feet also took that time to pray over her.  It was a precious time.

She was given some baby gifts as well.  This quilt that was given was a super blessing to her.  She had been wanting to make one before this baby came and those were the exact colors that she wanted it to be.  She didn't get around to making one, but the Father put this on another lady's heart and what a blessing it was.  Those are the things that show us that women were seeking Him on what to give and share, so that it would truely be of great blessing to her. 

I am still blessing the Lord for this wonderful time to spend getting to know more sisters and serving them in this way.  There is a sweet presence when we use the time to serve and bless as opposed to play and party.  We do enjoy playing too, but sometimes we as women just need encouragement from other women and that's what these are about.  To put aside the way the world celebrates babies and to put on a more Biblical way of offering up a sacrifice of service to one another. 

Christi and Casie, the CLB's

We are blessed to have been given this gift to serve our sisters. 

Our prayer is that we continue to use this gift as He sees fit and as He opens the doors for us to do so.  

School Program- Fruit of the Spirit

We had a perfect little school party with family and friends to top off our school year. The theme was based around the Fruit of the Spirit, and we decided to go with green apples as the main decor. The children even did a short program to share some fun with everyone. I'll share details of that at the end of the post.

Pom poms, green apple cake pops, and decorative apples on the end of skewers to eat the meatballs and fruit accented the table.

Couldn't decide which style we liked best between the frilly and plain. Just playing around with ideas and had fun being creative.

The green of the grass and plants helped add to our party decor. And using the shed as the background worked out nicely with our colors too.

On to the program in case anybody is interested in doing something similar.

The children sang a song about the Fruit of the Spirit, then they each memorized Scripture that talked about each individual Fruit. I can send more details to anyone who wants the program in words and song.

One Dark Night is a favorite book of our family's, and we decided to make it into a play with the mouse, mole, and bear that are in the story. It's a tale about friendship, kindness, and self control. To add just a little more to the play we wrote a song to go along with the story. It really turned out cute and everyone seemed to enjoy it all.

The children passed out their party favors and thanked their guests for coming to their program. The party favors were brown lunch bags filled with a jar of apple butter and a loaf or muffins of pumpkin bread. The bag was clipped shut with a green, ceramic apple that the children painted and glued onto a clothes pin.

Casie and her family with Christi's children.

Then we always take pictures of the children with their guests. It's a memorable event, and I love capturing this party each year with their family and friends. It's a great way to see how they've grown from one year to the next and CeLeBrate their accomplishments!