Two fabulous days

I just got through a little earlier today with two great days at church. We had our annual Ladies Luncheon this morning and into the early afternoon and it was just fabulous. I took yesterday off to help get ready for it, then today was the luncheon. A lot of work, planning and prayer has gone into it for months. God was faithful and everything went off perfectly. There were 400 women there and I don't think anyone could have been more pleased.

Our guest speaker was Erin Smalley who co-wrote the book 'Grown Up Girlfriends' with her friend, Carrie Oliver. Unfortunately, Carrie died earlier this year, but Erin did a fabulous job in her speech and it is a blessing that Carrie's insight and part in this book is still blessing others. Actually, another touching thing is that my friends Bev and Cindy were supposed to be part of today's program too, but as many of you know, Bev passed away in September, so it really left Erin and Cindy to kind of carry on the message that the four of them were supposed to share. It was a heartfelt day for many of us in our church who knew Bev and we were fortunate enough to honor her a bit as well.

When I learned that Erin was going to be coming to speak back in July, I bought her book and poured over it. Being single, if there is one topic I am interested in and committed to, it is friendship because those relationships are what I rely on in everyday life. It really is a very good book and if any of you need a good book on this topic, this is it. Here's a description from Amazon.com:

Book Description
Even when life is hectic and harried, every woman has a God-given longing for relationship, and her female friends play an important role in filling that. Oliver and Smalley help women distinguish between self-centered, insecure, childish relationships and other-centered, healthy, "grown-up" relationships. Using personal anecdotes and scriptural principles, they explain ten characteristics of a grown-up friend and offer ideas on how readers can develop these attributes in themselves. Finally, they tackle the tough issues of friendships, such as how to support a friend in crisis, how to work toward forgiveness when a friend has injured you, and how to determine when it is best to let a friendship go.

Below are a few pictures from the day:

Me and friends that I invited, Joan, Christy and Gwen (they're sisters).

My table was hosted my my friend Rosemary. Her husband, Rick,

is our Minister of Music and this is him being our waiter for the day.

Our table decoration. Each hostess was in charge of decorating their

table and Rosemary did a great job with ours.

A shot from the back corner of 400 women, literally,

having a great time of food and fellowship.

This is my friend Cindy, introducing our

guest speaker, Erin Smalley.

Cindy and Erin.

Erin sharing wise insights on friendship.

One great book.

As an added bonus, I was fortunate enough to meet a fellow blogger, Angela, aka 'Terrible Speller' on my sidebar, (I couldn't get the link to work), and had a great time talking with her today as well. I saw her a little earlier this year but I was hurried and didn't have a chance to speak, so I was thrilled to see her at our luncheon today. I'm not always one to just jump into chatting with someone I don't know, but it really was like running into an old friend and I was thrilled to have that time to chat and laugh together. That time with her was a blessing to me today as well, so if you read this, thanks Angela! :-) I'm already looking forward to running into you again!

And just for the record, I am about 95% well, so a couple of more days should do it. YEA!

This really has been a great couple of days. I am SO blessed!