Since about the first year I retired from teaching, I have been attending a women's luncheon group that meets every month. Alfreda invited me to come as her guest. It was a very good luncheon with an short informational program, some music, some eating, some conversation, and a Christian inspirational speaker as the main event.
I enjoyed it, so I went back the next month.
After that meeting, someone called me and asked if I would consider making the name tags. They had asked Alfreda, and she passed the honor on to me. This is about par for the course. Attend meetings of a club for two times, then they ask you to take a job or an office. Remember, I had just retired, so I hadn't learned this lesson yet.
Well, I did agree to do name tags, and Elaine agreed to help greet people at the door, and help pin them on. So we were in business. Now, here it is 14 or 15 years later, and I have held about 10 different offices or jobs with this group, including one three year stint as chairperson. Some people just never learn.
Today, I attended the monthly luncheon. And by now I really have only small jobs with the group. I attend planning team meetings, I still co-sign checks, and I am a table hostess. But, mostly, I just get to relax and enjoy the luncheons. And that is a very good thing.
Our group actually has two names: Anderson Christian Women's Club and Anderson women's Connection. At one time, our national headquarters asked the groups to take the word Chistian out of our title. Not that we weren't Christians, but that people of no beliefs or other beliefs would feel more welcome to attend. You see, the group is an affiliate with Stonecroft Ministries, a Christian outreach ministry headquartered in Kansas City. Every Stonecroft group is organized around the same plan: an informal meeting open to anyone, good food is served, a local informational or entertaining program is offered as an enticement, sometimes music is included, and the program is highlighted with a Stonecroft speaker provided by their speaker's bureau. These speakers are women just like all of us, who have an inspirational story to tell as to how accepting Christ into their lives, has changed them dramatically.
Over the 14 or 15 years that I have attended, almost every Stonecroft speaker has been very good. And we have had some wonderfully interesting local speakers and programs, too. The Days Inn provides us with a delicious buffet every month, and they do an exceptional job of serving us. And the core group that comprises the planning team, simply come together and get the whole thing organized almost without a second thought. It all goes very smoothly - well, almost always.
Today was a lovely luncheon. Jim, the banquet manager, provided us with a delicious salad bar, a baked potato bar complete with many toppings, and coconut cream pie! A great lunch for a hot summer day. Out local special feature was Jean Shockley from the county Extension Office. She is a master gardener who specializes in herb gardening and cooking with herbs. She was very into her subject, full of fun, and provided us with samples of her herbal cooking: olive oil dip with french bread, lavender lemonade, cold tomato soup. These were just tiny sample tastes, but very good. She also teaches, free of charge, healthful cooking classes to low imcome families in Anderson. She works hand in hand with the churches that have food banks.
Lolly, our resident pianist furnished dinner music. She always does a good job. Our Stonecroft speaker was from Columbus, Ohio. Her name is Susan Thomas, a wife, mother, and grandmother, whose husband teaches at Ohio State University. She was origianlly from Alabama, and had a delightful Paula Dean accent. Her telling of her life story was filled with wonderful humor, and at the same time was a very touching story of her discontents with life, marriage, motherhood, until she was able to accept Christ into her life as her strength and guidance.
All in all, it was a most enjoyable, informational, and inspirational afternoon. All this, and I was able to be with this group of women that I have come to know and appreciate as good friends through these years. And, oh yes, every month I get to meet and make new friends who attend for the first time. Often times, they stay on and become regulars. Sometimes not. Today, at my table, were two sisters, Jean and
Esther - delightful ladies - I will be glad to have as new friends.
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