Happy Birthday Jesus

From our very first birthday we celebrate each year with gifts and

songs and sweet fellowship with friends and family.  What kind of

birthday gift can we give the Savior, the Son of God?  It is not

like we can FedEx a holy bauble to bring a moment of pleasure

to the Creator of the universe.

Several years ago the Single Sisters and Friends decided to give

Jesus a birthday gift, one that comes from our hearts and our

hands.  It might look like miles of garland, unending numbers

of white lights and red bows, and too many wreaths to count

but to us, the "sisters" it is far more than that.  We give our time

when we could surely be doing other things, we give the work

of our hands when our fingers are sore from fluffing greenery

and ribbons, and we give of our hearts as we pray to Him with

words of worship and thanksgiving.  We give Jesus the work

of our hands and hearts and we call it decorating.

Friday and Saturday...  From bulletin boards to decorated trees
to snowflakes, Tyke Town is made ready for Christmas.

 

 

Not everything goes smoothly.  The tree in the Childrens Lobby

refuses to light except from the middle down.   Judy heads

for the restroom with a suggestion to pray for the tree lights

while she is in there.   When she returns, the lights are

still off but she puts her hand on the tree and

instantly, it sparkles from top to bottom!

How is that for an answer to prayer!

 

The Knight from the Academy did not escape our

garlands and bows!

As the Children's area was being decorated Carole and
Rick Batten were stringing garland, wreaths and lights
all around the walking track.  Miles and miles of decoration!

 

Sunday afternoon was the day we decorated the Worship Center

stage and we had to call in the reinforcements.  Men to the rescue.

Rick Batten, T.J. Ford and Sam Parker did the work that

the sisters just cannot do alone.  They hoisted the trees

into position, connecting each section perfectly.

 

 

Sometime lights come on and sometime it requires some

crawling around under the trees to get the connections

working  just right.

 

 

Sam (on the left below) has helped us for years, since he was a

young teen.  Now he is a senior in high school and soon

will be leaving for college.  Thank you Sam, we love you!

 

 

As the lights come on section by section, the stars are

carefully placed at the very top.  Sometimes a sister has

to make sure the star is not crooked!

 

 

When the trees are up and ready, decorations do not

magically appear.  They have to be hauled in boxes

and unpacked by a smiling sister....

 

 

Bows by the dozens and dozens have to be fluffed...

 

 

Garlands by the mile have to be fluffed from their

smushed condition after a year in a box...

 

 

And sometimes we have to hurry up and wait until we are

ready to do the next step.

 

 

The trees are covered with stars from the top to the

lowest branches reminding us of the stary night when

angels proclaimed the birth of the Savior to shepherds on

the hillside and the star that led the Wise Men from the East.

 

 

 

Some stars require some careful ladder balancing while

others are hung from a safer place!

 

Deep red poinsettias are carefully put in place, surrounding

the base of each worship center tree.  The Christmas

poinsettias are a reminder to each of us of the blood that

was shed for our redemption some thirty-tree years

after the birth of Jesus.

 

 

Then comes Monday morning...day 4 of decorating.

Years ago the Single Sisters and Friends asked Dale Boyer to

design and build a stable for us.  A stable that would honor

the lowly birth of the Son of God.

 

Each year Dale has erected the stable, this year the stable team

consisted of Rick, Stuart and of course Dale.







 

Dale is serious when it comes to the stable but once it was

constructed again this year, he was one happy fellow!

 

 

Stable is up and ready and now here come the stable decorators.

 

Our stable has three sections...

 

One side shows stable critters...donkeys, kitties, mice and birds.

 

 

 



The other side has shepherd children with their sheep.

 

 

 

 The center section depicts Mary, Joseph, and the newborn Christ Child.

 

             

 



 

He came as a newborn infant in order to bring us salvation,

to give us the example of true love,

and to seek and save that which was lost...us. 

You....and....me.

 



 

And so the work of our hands and the love of our hearts says

"Happy Birthday, Jesus"

Single Sister went to Africa!

    Our October get-together started with lots of food

from soup to dessert.

The sisters seem to always know how to put a yummy meal together

and this get-together was no exception.  I should have taken all the

aluminum foil off  the bowls and trays of food before taking this

picture but it would have just made you hungry if you saw it all!

After our meal, Judy Chance shared her story about her mission trip

to Rwanda and Ethiopia this Summer on behalf of the Orphan Care

Ministry of First Christian Church. 

 

Judy shared many pictures with us including a picture of T.J. Ford

(son of Single Sister Joyce Ford) that was taken while the team was

entertaining each other at the airport.

 



 

Judy touched our hearts with her pictures and her stories about the

children she met and the opportunities the entire team had to serve

orphans so far away from home. 

 

The Sisters listened intently, pleased to be a small part in sending 

this mission team to places most of us will never go to.  

 

Before our time together ended one of the Sisters said

"Next time I am going!"

 

 

 

Laura and Tymm Hoffman (team leaders of the mission trip)

were in town and came to our meeting.  When clean up time came,

one of the little Hoffmans wanted to help put the room

back in order so we put her to work! 

 Looks like we have a little Single Sister in training!

 

 

The Orphan Care Ministry noticed that of the 7 Africa team

members from First Christian Church, six of them had strong ties

to the Single Sisters and Friends.

Of course Judy Chance IS a Single Sister. 

Gretchen Bennett is the granddaughter of Annie Hunt,

Carla Decosky is the daughter of Florence Santilli,

April and Joe Fjeld were team members and Joe is the son of

Sharon Lappin and TJ Ford, as previously mentioned, is the son of Joyce Ford. 

 

Team member Jenny Guyer is not shown in this picture. 

While Jenny is not related to any of the sisters,

the Orphan Care Ministry felt the Lord

opened many doors for her to go to Africa.

 

The Sisters worked tirelessly making bracelets, necklace kits,

 baby dolls in tote bags and countless other projects to assist the team

as they traveled to Africa. 

 Thank you Sisters!

 

 

Now, the big question is this...

How many Sisters want to go on the Africa trip

in the Summer of 2013?

 



Fire Station #41

The Single Sisters and Friends heard about a chance to feed a bunch of handsome fire fighters and we were all for it!  First Christian Church signed up to participate in "The Big Serve - 2012".  We were to feed all the firefighters at each of the Kernersville stations on three different nights.  We put our heads together and chose Station #41 on Bodenhamer Street.

In typical sister fashion, at first we could not figure out how to get inside the station! Once that problem was solved, we were escorted into a large, VERY CLEAN kitchen complete with the biggest cast iron frying pan I have ever seen, three refrigerators and three pantries!  Some of us were envious!

As soon as the food was on the kitchen island, we had a chance to pray

together and then it was time to eat.    We served a huge green salad,

hot-out-of-the-oven chicken pies, green beans, cooked apples,

enormous biscuits, lemonade pie, chocolate cake, tea and beverages.

 

 

 

 

All the "sisters" and all the firefighters ate together and we had time to

get to know them just a tiny bit.  One works at this Fire Station and 

volunteers at another Fire Station.  One is 6 feet 5 inches tall.  

Two are expecting their first child any day now -  both are little girls. 

Another has known Tim Snow since they were 5 years old

but has never heard him sing.  We told him he really needs to come to

FCCM the next time Tim sings - or better yet, come worship with us

any old time.  Another has been to First Christian when our fire alarms

went off for no apparent reason.

 

I have to admit that while we did not want the Fire Fighters to be

called out before our meal was eaten, it would have been so

interesting to see them in action.  Their station does not have a pole

like so often we see on TV but even so, it would have been so much

"fun" to see them jump into their gear, sound the alarms and pile into

the fire trucks.  One of the sisters asked for instructions on what we

should do in case they were called out but the Lord blessed us with a

meal without an emergency.

 

On a personal note, I have never met a more polite or more charming

group of young men.  Here we come marching into their kitchen,

going through their cabinets and drawers searching for plates and

utensils and they put up with it all.  Looking back, I have never had

to call 911 for a fire but I have had to call for emergency health issues

in our family.  Kernersville is greatly blessed to have such a fine team

of First Responders who are well trained, ready to help in time of need 

and have willing hearts to get the job done.   

Oh,  did I mention they are handsome, too? 

Of course some of us are old enough to be their mothers.

 

Please join with us as we pray for such a fine group of young men but

also pray for their families. The Fire Fighters are in harms way to look

out for our safety.  They have families who send them off to work

at the beginning of each shift knowing their loved one just might face

danger before he returns home.  Pray for the little baby girls soon

to be born, pray for the mothers that carry them

and pray for these two new dads who will soon be sleep deprived

even more than they are at the Fire Station! 

 

Sometimes it seems that our society has gone astray,

with morality often forgotten and serving others seldom seen. 

 After a meal with these young men, I am encouraged about

who America really is.  We still have people

willing to work, willing to serve, and willing to protect us

in times of great need.   We are greatly blessed.

 

 

FIRE STATION #41 - WE SALUTE YOU!



Salisbury, Here We Come!

   The September get-together started with a trip to Salisbury with

Beth Lilley behind the wheel of the previously red but now white bus. 

When we arrived in Salisbury
we divided into two groups, one group
spent the morning shopping at the Emporium while the rest climbed aboard one of Salisbury's
quaint motorized trolleys.

        

 

 

We saw incredible homes over a hundred years old, lovingly cared for

by generations of families in a town that has decided to preserve the

past rather than tear it down and build strip malls.

We saw church after church that have provided a place of worship for

the citizens of this quaint town.  One church building even has real

Tiffany stained glass windows.  We heard tale after tale about haunted

buildings and spooky trolley rides available around Halloween.

After spending the morning in Salisbury, we headed for Carolina Lily. 

The Lord blessed us
with warm sunshine,
mild temperatures and
gentle breezes so we
had lunch outdoors 
surrounded by century
old magnolia trees,
flowers and scarecrows.

We were served lunch in straw hats decorated with colorful flowers. 

It is so much fun to look through each hat to uncover tasty

sandwiches, salads, tiny muffins and desserts.

 

Florence Santilla wore her hat with purple tissue attached.







Joyce Ford and Annie Hunt tried on their straw hats

and smiled for the camera.

 

Donna Waters wore a big grin with her hat.

 



Bonnie Smith looked like a real southern belle.

 



 We enjoyed the flower gardens...

 

chuckled at the scare crows...

 

and posed for a group picture.

 

All in all, I think everyone had a lovely time but if you think

driving the bus for the Single Sisters and Friends is easy,

well sometimes you just have to go out on a limb to

get the job done!  It's a hard job but somebody's

gotta do it.  Thanks, Beth!





Thanks to all who had a part in our day in Salisbury.







Pool, puppy and pasta!

A Day at Joni's pool...

For the last several years, Joni Risch has invited the Single Sisters and Friends to spend the afternoon around and in her pool.  Some spend most of the time in the water while others fellowship around in comfortable chairs scattered in gracious groupings. 

In the past we have had a "no cameras allowed policy" and to be honest, it was supposed to be that way this year.  As I become more comfortable with my camera, I could not pass up an opportunity to put a few pictures on the new Sisters' blog.  So here we go...

The Olympics had just finished and many of us had been glued to the events night after night.  Some events, rather new to me, were absolutely amazing.  One such event was the synchronized swimming.  The Olympics had nothing on us!  As our swimmers did their thing, the observers all around the pool thought they needed a bit more practice.  Easy to critique when you are sitting in the shade and munching on goodies!

Come to find out, our hostess was once a

synchronized swimmer while in school! 

Maybe she will turn coach for the Sisters next year?

We also had a sliding board competition between Dawn Lamb and Donna Waters.  First attempts caused great excitement (fear?) as you can see on each of their faces.  Here is Donna flying toward the star-shaped float held by Joni.  Her landing scored a perfect 10! 

 

Dawn was not about to be outdone.  To the delight of the onlookers, she flew down the sliding board to land dead center in the waiting boat.  The boat shot clear across the pool as we cheered on the sidelines.  Both Dawn and Donna accepted the applause with grace and humility...or not.

 

 

Little Skipper did far more swimming than any of the Sisters.  He chased his toys, ran around the pool, and did some perfect dives into the water.  After retrieving his toy, he swam to the side, climbed out of the pool and  shook his fluffy hair all over the on-lookers.       

 

I have to admit that I was far too busy filling my plate to remember to take a picture of the main food table but I did come to my senses in time to photograph SOME of the delicious desserts.

 The Sisters always come up with a delightful meal.  This time we had tasty deli-style sandwiches provided by Joni and complimented by sides of every description from pasta to fruit.  If anyone left hungry, they must have slept through the entire afternoon.  Yummy!

 

Special thanks to Joni for her hospitality. 

She is one gracious hostess and

we thank you from the bottom of our hearts

for another fun time in and around your pool.

 

THANK YOU, JONI!