Speaking of which, don't forget about the Valentine Extravaganza at Wapato on this coming Friday, the 16th, at 6:30 PM. Tickets are selling about as fast as you walk barefooted on hot sand, so you'd better call the church office and buy yours now! Don't wait until it's too late, as there are a very limited number of tickets left, and none will be sold at the door. You must purchase them ahead of time. Don your finest finery and come out for a lovely dinner, music, and dancing.
Congratulations to all the women who have started making Common Grounds on Wednesday night at 6:30 a part of their weekly schedule. You gals rock! As we continue to work our way through Beth Moore's study of Jesus The One and Only, we'll be concentrating this week on Luke 9:18-45. (And my sincere apologies for giving you the wrong passage in last week's blog.)
We'll be covering the same material Thursday morning at 9:30 at The Perk. We're so grateful to have a couple of home-schooled girls there to provide childcare for us. That's such a ministry! I'm so thankful for the wonderful bunch of you ladies who come out every week and share in each others lives.
Before reminding you about our WOW retreat coming up in April, I'd like to talk to you about something. I'm sure that with the amount of young moms and new babies we have in the church, some of you might be wondering why our policy for the past several years has been to not have babies be able to attend the retreat. Several years ago we did allow nursing babies as long as they weren't able to scooch around on their own. But for the past three years at least, the guidelines changed for the following reasons:
- Retreat is a special time for women to be able to leave the cares of their usual life and responsibilities and just be together with other women. It needs to be relaxing for all involved.
- Babies are a distraction--an obvious distraction if they're fussying and crying, but also a distraction if they're being terribly cute, as babies are apt to be! Retreat is a time to allow God the opportunity to speak into our lives in as much as an unhindered atmosphere as possible.
- Our schedule is such that our noisiness could easily infringe on baby's sleep schedule, and the baby crying during the night could infringe on our sleep.
- The paraphernalia inherent in taking care of a baby takes up needed space.
The bottom line (no pun intended! I could go back and change that, but I won't!) is that a woman's life is made up of various seasons. There have been times in the lives of we older women where we have not been able to attend certain events because of our family responsibilities. It's just what happens when you have a young baby that you're not able to leave home with daddy. If you're not able to attend this year, we will most certainly miss you, but hopefully you'll be able to join us next year.
So that brings us up to details about the retreat. April may still sound like a ways off, but believe me, it will be here before you know it. We'll be meeting at our gorgeous retreat house in Lincoln City the weekend of April 12th-14th. Amy completed The Book of Rooms and ladies have already started to register and select their rooms. We only have about 25 openings left, so get me your money as soon as you can in order to hold your spot! It only takes $80, which is a real bargain. It includes the beautiful lodgings, plus Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast and dinner, and Sunday breakfast. Our theme this year is Doing the Impossible, and will be led by myself and my daughter Christina, whom most of you know. Talk about fun!! So either give me $80 cash, or write a check out to WVC and hand it to me, and you'll have a place.
This Wednesday, February 13th, is the next meeting of the Christian Women's Fellowship no-host luncheon, and my own Christina Tarbochia will be the guest speaker. I'm excited about that! The group is open to everyone, and meets at Jake's Deli in McMinnville, just past Linfield College. The actual meeting time is from noon to one, but get there a little earlier to order your food. They have good sandwiches, soups, and salads. Just park in the back and walk through the door. I'll be watching for you!
And don't forget Beth Moore is headed our way two weeks after retreat! A group of us are going down to Eugene for the evening of Friday, April 26th and will return home the next afternoon. I'm asking you to take care of registration ($69) on your own, but then inform me you've done so, and I'll reserve a motel room for you for an additional $25 to $30. You can sign up by going to www.lifeway.com/livingproof
Hey, I'd like to add a new feature to the WOW-Zine, beginning next week. How about we have a section at the end where we can list items we'd like to sell or give away, as well as ask for something we need? For example, I know Chrissy's washer and dryer just broke and she is looking for a new one. Or maybe it's services you have to offer, such as childcare or house cleaning. Send me the information (can even do a photo) and I'll post it for you on here. So be looking for that next week.
In closing, I'll leave you with my newsletter article:
Wuv … True Wuv
I still have that ribbon-bound packet of letters we wrote to each other, safely stored in my hope chest. (Or as I now call it, my fulfilled chest.) They contain the dreams we had back then, the plans for our future. I especially remember the one where I told John how our days would play out—we’d live in a cute little house with a white-picket fence encircling it. We’d wake up to sunshine most mornings, and I’d fix him a big, hot breakfast while he was showering. I’d pack his lunch before he’d give me a kiss and walk out the door. My day would be delightfully filled with dusting, vacuuming, ironing, and some time for myself to read and relax. He would return each evening to be greeted by a loving wife and the aroma of a delicious dinner wafting through the air.
Yep, it was a pretty idealistic picture, wasn’t it? I don’t remember us ever envisioning the pain of going through four miscarriages, or ever imagining the Lord would call us to serve as missionaries in Nigeria for 3-1/2 years. I didn’t know we’d face dangerous illnesses while there, or go through the political uncertainty of living in a third-world country. I had no idea that years later we would deal with divorce, family disintegration, prison, and all the pain inherent in those things. Where did the white picket fence and sunny days go? This wasn’t what I signed up for.
Ah, but it was! When we enter into a relationship with another person, whether a friendship, marriage, or parenthood, we are in effect saying we’re willing to accept the good, bad, and ugly. Life is a mixture of all of those. We don’t have the option to pick and choose. Every day, the Lord allows what He knows is best for our lives at that particular time. It doesn’t mean we always like it, but I’m here to tell you if we accept these gifts, no matter how ugly their wrapping, we receive the benefit. We see they really are an expression of God’s love to us. Because wuv, true wuv, doesn’t always feel good. Love has many different aspects, and sometimes it has to be very tough, not touchy-feely.
The Distinguished Clergyman (that’s his name in the credits of The Princess Bride) lispfully pronounced the beautiful Buttercup married to the evil Prince Humperdinck, but she continued to hope. She longed for her true love, Westley, to arrive on the scene and rescue her from her farce of a marriage. Which, being her true love indeed, Westley did. And they rode off into the sunset and all lived happily ever after.
The movie versions of love are not always accurate, but God’s definition of love, as found in I Corinthians 13, most certainly is. In the paraphrase found in The Message, that familiar passage says it like this:
Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,,
Puts up with anything, Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back, but keeps going to the end.
We all need to look at our lives and see if we’re showing wuv, true wuv.
Sherrie Ashcraft, Women's Ministry Director
sherrieashcraft@yahoo.com 971-285-6699
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