Monday Morning Wrap Up (through the eyes of the Pastors Wife)!

And you thought last weekend was busy? Not sure where to even start! LOL

Maybe with dinner Wednesday night at WABC. I had been craving spaghetti and meatballs for weeks...finally broke down and fixed it for our bible study.

Friday night I went out with my girlfriends for a girls night out. Its been like forever since I had a chance to hang out with some IRL girlfriends. We had a ball, and are trying to figure out a way to do this at least once a month!

Saturday morning Marc and I picked up the food for our Marriage Ministry dinner, and then later that day Nicki and I went back to set up decorations! We watched the Homegoing Service for Whitney while we set up. It was still going when I got home and if you follow me on twitter you got a play by play of sorts. It was amazing to see so many tweets from so many places and realize that for a time the world stopped to hear a message about Christ!

(courtesy of The Girl Creative)

The message all evening was about LOVE! And boy did our folks Love on each other! Some photos were too juicy to post. LOL

A few of the couples from our first ever Marriage Ministry dinner! We had 21 couples total and from all accounts they had a great time.

Each couple left that evening with a bag of sweet treats. I used several printables from Catch My Party .

Marc and I acted as host and hostess that evening. In addition to the photo session we played the Newlywed Game, Valentine Bingo and Pass the Heart (sort of a take-off on hot potato). I have to say that everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we heard from one couple who invited 20 friends that they received calls that night and the next day from them saying they really enjoyed themselves.

Sunday morning started the celebration of our Black History program. Our Men's choir decided to show off! I know I snapped about a bazillion photos of them! It was nice seeing the congregation enjoy themselves soo much and once again I was reminded of why I love serving at WABC. Seeing so many people from so many generations under one roof praising God together is a beautiful thing.

The afternoon service featured a speaker who was originally from Barbados. Followed by a "Soul Food" dinner with dishes representing the Caribbean, Barbados, New Orleans, North Carolina, Italy, and the Mediterranean!

This post started out originally as a Sunday Night Mind Dump but I actually fell asleep while typing! Finally I gave up and just went to bed! This coming Friday we have a Girls Nite In event scheduled and then next month I have a wedding and a Baby Shower! I have come to expect that my party planning skills can be used anywhere and that I might as well accept that my life is just a series of events. Oh and good food! LOL Who can complain about that?

Monday Morning Wrap Up (through the eyes of the Pastor's wife)

The Birthday Boy!

You can't have a party without gifts!

We started the week out on Tuesday with our staff meeting, then Wednesday evening the church surprised Marc with dinner, birthday cake and a cute sweater in honor of his birthday which was Friday. I for one was glad to have a free night (I cook each Wednesday for our bible study).

Love this man!

My beautiful daughters!

My mommy!

These two joke around, but they really love each other. LOL

Marc's bestfriend and his fiancee. He was the bestman at our wedding, and next month Marc will be his bestman.

My aunt and uncle cutting up! 

Friday evening we attended the Ministers Wives Annual Sweetheart Banquet. Each of us are responsible for a table of eight so I asked my daughters, my mom, and Marc's bestfriend to attend with us in celebration of Marc's birthday. My aunt and Uncle were also there (just at a different table).

Hubby's favorite thing about being a pastor!

The happy couple!

I loved making this bouquet for the bride!

You can't have a wedding without a little cake and some sparkling cider, even if its 10:00 in the morning! LOL

Early Saturday morning Marc and I headed to church so that he could perform a marriage for one of our church members. I had a ball watching these two get hitched! I also loved taking photos for them and surprising them with a few gifts. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs.Gray! Saturday evening we attended a family movie night which was almost interrupted by a snow storm which lasted a hot minute. If you snoozed you might have missed it! LOL

By Sunday afternoon we were all pooped. After dinner at Smokey Bones and a quick stop at Sam's for some price checking for our couples dinner this coming Saturday we came home and I got in my pajamas and in the bed! Spent the rest of the night watching and tweeting about the Grammy's (which I never watch) so that I could see the tribute to Whitney. Still in shock that such a beautiful and talented lady has come and gone. Whitney and I were almost the same age, and my daughters grew up hearing her songs. R.I.P Ms. Houston. I am praying for your mom and your daughter because I just can't imagine what it would be like to have bury my mom while soo young, or my daughter!

Mid-Week Decorating Update

Last night we had our bi-monthly staff meeting (which somehow I forgot). So in between printing out an agenda, monthly calendars, team building exercise, and setting up snacks and the meeting area I managed to took a few pictures of some of the decorative items I have been adding (yes, my decorating has spilled over into WABC...lol). 

The snack table. I had it in my head to do something really healthy...but if I had I have the feeling the staff would have booted me out of the building! LOL

Close up of the plant centerpiece (a thrift store find) that I got last week for $4.00. Have you ever washed a fake plant? Well, this one got a bath! LOL

Our information table. I look forward to the day when we have an actual welcome area and a larger space to work with.

A close up of the info table and the centerpiece I picked up ($2.00 I think).

Remember the lamps I found last weekend that just needed a shade? Can you believe I found two of them this week for $4.00 ? I plan to glue new trim to the bottom of them as soon as I make a trip to the fabric store. 

And this is the centerpiece I created from the one centerpiece that ended up being used for four different purposes.

I'm close to deciding what to wear for Marc's birthday. Thank goodness for my black capri slacks. I have worn those pants so many times with so many different tops. Add some dangling earrings and a cute bag and your done. That and some bad shoes. Can't forget the shoes. LOL

Weekend Wrap Up.....Little Bit of Everything!!!!!

Our February schedule is crazy!!! So there is no telling what my updates will look like this month!!!

Sunday afternoon I pulled my famous Turkey Chili out of the freezer for the big game! Marc was tired after service so he slept through a portion of the game. I hung in there until after half-time. There is but so much football (heck any sport for that matter) that I can take. Thank goodness for HGTV. I spent the rest of the evening dreaming of a vacation home in Florida. LOL

My Valentine decorating box is steadily filling up. I'm soo excited about our Marriage Ministry couples dinner. I figured at the most we would have eight or nine couples who would actually sign up. Instead we have had 19 couples sign up and a few more are thinking about coming. Right after that dinner I will have to concentrate on our Girls Nite In event. Please pray that the women have a great time connecting and encouraging one another.

Speaking of growing....our children's church is doing very well. So well that we really need additional volunteers. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of our teens that were in the back helping out.

Last year Marc started praying that a few good men would join the church (we love our women, but men are just as important to the ministry and we were lacking in that department. Plus the men we did have were wearing themselves out). In the past year a large number of our new members have been men! Thank you Lord for so many answered prayers.

The remodeling continues (including a few updates at church.......photo's to come later). It started with a $2.00 basket filled with flowers at the local thrift store. From that one arrangement I created the two lovelies above and an additional arrangement for church. The basket even got a new purpose as a holder for church fans. LOL

All of the knickknacks above came from a local thrift store. Two wall sconces (the white ones in the back $4.00 for the two) are from Blue Willow and as soon as I figure out where my two Blue Willow pieces are (long story) they will have a new home on the shelves. The pink items in the back will be used at our "Girls Nite In" events at church. The small pink bowl was around $1.00 and will be perfect to hold mints in at our registration table. The short pink vase was $2.00 and will be filled with ink pens with pink flowers taped on top. When you put a bunch in the vase it will look like a floral arrangement. The large pink vase ($3.00) will be used for a table centerpiece (probably on a food table). The palm tree bath set was $3.00 and the floral votive candle holders I found at two different thrift stores! What is the chance of that?

My favorite purchase of the weekend was the two small table lamps. They were $5.00 for the pair! One will go in my kitchen and one in my foyer. I just need to find shades for them. My foyer is almost done I'm just looking for a small chest to replace the ugly medal shelf hubby has there right now (and a rug). As soon as the foyer is done I will post a photo. That will be the first redo that I can check off of my very long list of re-do's!

Marc actually picked this out. Not sure what the original use was for it, but we are using it to store long matches in. I think it was $3.00.

This little cutie pie was a last minute purchase. I popped a candle in it this weekend so its already been broken in. LOL I can't wait to get rid of that awful end table in my familyroom. I started sanding down my "new" end tables  Friday and would have had the first one completed but the weather changed on us this weekend...starting with rain, and now the temps have dipped to low for me to stain outside. Most of the items we picked up this weekend  were 40%-50% off . I even found a purple Creative Memories scrapbook for $3.00 (brand new still wrapped in the plastic) with inserts for my oldest daughters photos. If you don't know much about CM...their albums usually run around $35 (with an insert). Getting back to scrapping is another one of those items on my list for 2012.

This weekend we will celebrate Marc's 49th birthday. Its also the night of our Pastor Wives and Widows Sweetheart banquet. I'm excited because my mom and the girls will be with us. So be on the lookout next week for lots of photos! Can you believe I still don't have a clue what I'm going to wear? This is definitely a first! Well that's this weeks schedule...I didn't even mention our upcoming movie night or Black History program! And don't get me started on Valentines Day!!!