Monday, March 7, 2010 WOW-Zine

WOW! All I can say is WOW! What a wonderful weekend we had at the retreat in Lincoln City. The house was everything we were hoping for, and we'll make reservations to return there next year. The rooms were spacious and beautiful, the kitchen well-appointed, the hot tub relaxing, and the 42-seat theater the perfect place to watch the Beth Moore video series Loving Well. We both laughed and cried as we were challenged to take seriously the commandment to love one another. Beth is a wonderful communicator with a passion for truth and a healthy sense of humor added to the mix.


Those of you who attended were very gracious in your thanks and appreciation for all the work that goes in to putting a retreat together. It takes months of planning and many, many womenhours of work to pull off something like this. Thanks to the Women's Ministry Team for working together like sisters, each doing their part. Janet can make delicious food for a group like it's nobody's business. Amy did such a beautiful job designing and creating the Loving Well. (Wasn't it fun to get home a read such affirming notes from other people?) Darci made those cute name tags to help us get to know each other better, and Susan took care of our needs for the communion service Sunday morning. (You probably didn't notice that she'd made the bread in the shape of a fish.) Karen made sure our coffee cups were never empty and she filled in in many areas behind the scenes. Debbie led one of our discussion groups. Tech Tami did an invaluable job of running all the equipment and not breaking anything! And those of you who attended seemed to go out of your way to include others and befriend those who were new to our group. And we can't forget Sherri B and her music assistants, Jennifer and Heidi. And Marci with her generous gift of homemade soaps for each of us. My heart overflows with gratefulness for the giving women God has blessed our group with.

Those of you who weren't able to come, still have the chance to get in on a lot of this as we have our Re-do Retreat at Ashberry Lane (my house) in Gaston the weekend of May 13th and 14th. Because it's in my home, I'm limiting it to ten women, and I'd like it to be women who attend Wapato. In other words, this will not be open to people outside the area, but for our local body. I've had several women tell me they want to attend, so if you'd like to join them, please let me know right away. It will only cost $20.

Remember saving the date of Saturday, April 9th? That's when we're having our WOW FemininiTEA. Yep, you read that right. Females from age eight and above are invited to tea at Wapato Valley Church from 10 to noon. We're asking for women to adopt a table to hostess and decorate with their own china. So far, Marcie, Becky, and Anita have signed up to do that. Let me know if you'd like to be added to the list. I'll be sending out an evite for each of you to respond to so we'll know how many tables to plan for. Breakfast will not be served, but there will be plenty of tea-type snacks.

Well, I must admit I'm pretty worn out from such an exciting weekend, so I think this is all for this week. I didn't take any pictures at the retreat, as there were already so many cameras floating around. So if you've got good pictures to share, please feel free. There were some great photo ops ... I'm just sayin'!!

Sherrie Ashcraft, Women's Ministry Director
sherrieashcraft@yahoo.com   971-285-6699