easter recap

We had a wonderful Easter this past weekend. Easter is a little crazy around here - being married to a preacher in the Methodist church requires a lot of planning, preparing and time at church. We had a Wednesday night service, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter egg hunt on Saturday and Daniel preached three times Sunday morning (sunrise, 9:30 and 11). We had about 800 people in worship at The Journey for Easter and that was such an overwhelming blessing. It's really incredible to think how much that service has grown in just five years. We ate lots of yummy food, enjoyed watching the girls soak in everything Easter means and worshipped our Lord and Savior. The beautiful weather was definitely an added bonus! 

Something I wasn't prepared for was how inquisitive Miss Emma was going to be this year. Let me tell you, nothing prepares you for the hard questions from a three year old about death, crucifixion, resurrection, etc... I was getting choked up talking to her about it! She was very sad about Jesus being taken from the soldiers, being nailed on the cross and had a host of questions about death and heaven. This was hard - it's hard for adults to grasp, how do you explain it to a three year old who does not put up with sugar coating and wants the straight facts? We worked through it, found a great book for children to help explain and are still talking about it. It really has been good for Emma's faith development and for mine! Even Claire has started to ask more questions. What special girls we have!

Here are some pics from the week:

after church on Easter at the Irving's house - love these girls (and their new shorts from Boden!)

Irving families on Easter Sunday

Claire finding eggs at MDUMC

Emma was very excited about her loot!

Claire's basket (left), Shared basket (center), Emma's basket (right)
no candy. empty egg (symbolizing an empty tomb). sunflower seeds (new life). 

Good Friday service for families and kids... if you live in our area, make plans to come next year - this is an incredible service for kiddos to learn about Good Friday and Easter on their level. Such a sweet time together in worship!

Christmas 2013

It's amazing how long you can prepare for Christmas... the decorating, shopping, wrapping, hiding, parties, Santa, baking and cooking... and then it comes and goes in a flash! I felt like Christmas went so quickly this year and I'm kind of sad about it! It was the best Christmas. Nothing is more special than experiencing Christmas through the eyes of two three year olds. Their wonder, their excitement, the thrill of Santa and the eight reindeer, lighting the candles at Christmas Eve... it was so sweet and beautiful. What a special gift to Daniel and me.

My mom and sister Katharine spent the week with us and we had a great visit! Daniel's sister Jessica is also in town so we hosted everyone over for Christmas Eve dinner following the worship service and for brunch on Christmas morning. Emma had asked Santa for a baby doll bunk bed set and a Doc McStuffins Doctor kit... Claire just wanted anything princess. Santa brought those things and a few extra goodies. They were blessed with a plethora of toys and clothes from family and they were giddy with excitement with entire day!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Amazing to think next year there will be a third Irving baby in the mix!

Women's Dinner 2013

Our annual women's dinner was on September 30th and it was a total success and blessing. I've worked my little tail off the past six weeks planning and preparing and I'm so glad it went so well! Hard work pays off once again. We had over 370 come to the dinner - 34 tables were decorated with a different theme. My MOPS group did a fiesta theme and we all dressed in our fiesta outfits. This is just some of the group pictured above - I so love those girls! We had Jason Roberts from Family Point Resources speak to us about the work they do in Nottingham Park. Michelle and KK - two students in SBISD - gave their testimony on how Family Point has changed their life for the better. They really stole the show. We raised over $9,000 for Family Point - woo hoo! God is good!!

Hill Country Heaven

We've been out of town so much the past four weeks, which is definitely a blessing! We actually have spent the majority of our time in the Hill Country, which really is the best part of Texas... it's so refreshing out there - the water, the hills, sunsets and sunrises.... Daniel and I talked often of how nice it would just be to live out there. We totally get why so many of our friends have moved to Austin!

Daniel and I spent a week at a marriage retreat in Kyle, Texas at the Inn Above Onion Creek. Y'all... this place was incredible. If you are looking for a great Bed and Breakfast, book here. The service was great, the food was incredible and the grounds are stunning. It was such a nice retreat and we really were able to relax and restore. This past weekend we were at The Hideout on the Horseshoe for a wedding just outside of Gruene, Texas. The girls went with us and we had the most amazing suite right on the river. We got to eat at the Gristmill (girls first trip!) and danced the night away at the reception. Emma and Claire are total dance-machines. It was so fun... we also went to the wildlife nature preserve outside of San Antonio and got to see (and feed!) lots of animals. I think Daniel was the happiest of the bunch after feeding the zebras. 

Hideout of the Horseshoe (view from our porch)

Inn Above Onion Creek (view from our room)

workcamp 2013

This week we went up to Fairfield, Texas to see our youth group in action. Over 200 staff, high school youth and volunteers headed out to serve others by painting houses, churches, building fences and handicap ramps... as well as building an entire fellowship hall at a baptist church (picture below). It was so amazing to see our kids at work and to see how they can selflessly give of themselves this summer. Workcamp is what every youth looks forward to - they have to earn service points throughout the year to go... because not only is workcamp a lot of work, it is so much fun! They have silly skits, worship, great food and fellowship all week. Daniel was preaching Wednesday night so we all went up so the girls could experience it for the first time. They loved it. Even though it was blasted hot, the girls were such troopers and even helped with a few projects. They stayed up really late at worship and even joined Steve on stage a few times (last pic). Once again, we are blessed by our church!

a/way :: mdumc family camp

This past weekend we were at Camp Tejas in Gidding, Texas for our annual church camp... There were about 150 people who went on the camp and Daniel was the main leader/teacher. I had helped with the overall planning of the event and it all went so well. Emma and Claire were in family camp heaven! We had a handful of family friends go, so we had a lot of fun sharing meals together, being in workshops with one another and just enjoying time with our families. We went swimming, rode a hayride, walked the trails, worshipped... the girls had a few firsts, too: slept in twin beds for nap time, saw fireflies, made s'mores, stayed up until past 10PM each night (!!), drove our car through the camp and Emma jumped off the diving board. We got home on Sunday night and while we were all exhausted it was a good exhausted... we had a great time and feel very blessed (again and again!) to work and serve at MDUMC!

We had major dance parties with the kiddos during worship so fun!!
Totally stole this pic from Brandi but it's so cute - Claire is hugging Hunter and Emma is wanting to jump with me! :)

Claire's first driving lesson - ha!
She actually did great steering the car all by herself - hysterical. 

ARTreach :: Houston

Yesterday I had the privilege of going to ARTreach in downtown Houston with my MOPS group. I am blessed to work and attend a church that supports several nonprofits/ministries both financially and with volunteers... ARTreach is one of those partnerships. ARTreach is a ministry that takes teenagers off the streets who have been involved with graffiti and teaches them how to use their artistic talent for good. MOPS (since we are in charge of decorations for VBS) and our VBS coordinators decided to commission these young men to do our backdrops for our main VBS stage. Well, they were so excited about the task that they invited us to come and help! 

So, about 20 of us went to ARTreach, shared our vision for the backdrops and Mark went to drawing. Using a fat, black marker, he drew each of the backdrops in about 10 minutes. It was amazing to watch. We basically did a paint by number - ha! The entire project took about 1.5 hours and was so much fun.  I love painting so this was a great project for me. I am so proud we (MDUMC) work with ARTreach - what an amazing ministry! They have church on Sundays, Bible studies during the week, art lessons and a street-dance performance group. The street-dance performers are going to come to our VBS and teach our older kids some dance moves as a break-out session. I may or may not be joining in on that!

getting to work - that's me in the bottom right working on the tree trunk - very proud of our finished product!

emma and claire do easter

Emma & Claire at Good Friday service

*just because people ask: Target dresses and Saltwater Shoes

We had a very blessed Easter weekend. Friday afternoon we went to the Good Friday service for families and it was awesome - it was such a "kid-friendly" way of talking about Christ's death. Emma and Claire loved it and were so excited to see the donkey (the service actually covered Palm Sunday - Good Friday so the kids could see how the story unfolds). After the service, the girls went home with the Irvings and Daniel and I went to the traditional Good Friday service. Our orchestra and choir performed Dubois' Seven Last Words - I felt like I was at the Orchestra. It was amazing. Afterward we cheered our Blue Devils with our Duke friends. So fun!

Saturday morning was the Easter egg hunt up at church. Emma and Claire dominated the preschool playground... well actually, Emma took most of the pink eggs (she had told me that's all she wanted) and Claire just ran around like a crazy person (aka her dad!) picking up as many eggs as possible. We also dyed eggs that afternoon which is crazy with toddlers. Thank goodness I made them wear old tshirts!

Today was just a beautiful Easter day. We had record numbers at The Journey and Daniel did an awesome job preaching four different services. We feel beyond blessed to have such a great worship community. Emma and Claire looked like little angel dolls in their white dresses and we had a delicious brunch here at the house after the third service. While Duke didn't win the game today, we had fun all cheering on the couch together and stuffing ourselves with leftovers and candy. I hope you had a wonderful Easter and that we can all live in the truth that God has the final word above pain, death, hurt and disappointment! He is Risen!

Claire & Emma at the Egg Hunt - wearing Orient Expressed

Today after church: Claire wanted to pick flowers and Emma told me
that I "hurt her feelings" - this is real life with twins, people!! Ha!

change // women's ministry & umw

image via Pinterest

Okay y'all... I need your prayers. I'm giving a very big presentation today up at my church on change within Women's Ministry and more specifically, UMW (United Methodist Women). I know for most of you (especially if you are under 45), you have no idea what UMW is... but for those of you who are both Methodist and over 45 (or work with the UMC), hopefully you understand.

Basically, when I came on staff at MDUMC more than a year ago, I thought UMW was an organization within the church for the old ladies... the average age of our UMW unit is about 65. The average age of our new member is 45. As the year went on, I realized that I actually loved UMW... I loved the women in there - they are so kind, generous and wise. They raise over $60,000 for missions through their Hearts and Hands holiday market each year and do so much for our church. I felt God nudging me to do something to move UMW forward... and of course, just like that, things began to fall into place that made me realize I needed to change UMW... and I needed to change Women's Ministry. 

Church of the Resurrection up in Kansas has made all of Women's Ministry UMW - which has solved a lot of problems with member numbers and age. At first, my Task Force and I thought we would do this... but we soon realized (through surveys and a lot of research) that maybe what our church needs is an entirely new model of ministry. So, that's what I'm presenting today. I'll be sharing what my Task Force has done, the results from the survey (which some of it may be hard to hear for the UMW ladies - but hopefully it's stuff they already know) and how we plan to move forward. 

Rather than set a vision myself, I will be holding an event called "Open Space" (very well known across Europe) where all the women in the church can come together and co-create a new Women's Ministry... a ministry that is for ALL women in ALL stages of life. UMW hasn't really evolved with "today's" woman and quite frankly, neither has Women's Ministry as a whole.  

Please pray for my nerves and please pray for a sweet spirit to be at the meeting this afternoon. I'm moving forward blinding, fully giving this process over to God... allowing faith to be my guide. Pray that the women are open to change and open to allowing God help shape what our ministry can be. 

my heart is full.

Sunday afternoon I told Daniel that I was on a spiritual-high... if you've ever gone to church camp or on a mission trip, you know what I'm talking about. You feel "on-fire" for God and everything is just perfect. I am always so blessed when I have those moments, because they do come and go. So this weekend, I held onto that feeling of being so close to God and was thankful for all of His blessings. 

Friday night Daniel and I went to Brio for a rehearsal dinner. Daniel was officiating the wedding and we were invited to join them for dinner. As clergy know, rehearsal dinners and weddings for people you don't really know are always interesting because you never know who you are going to be seated with. Thankfully for us, it wasn't assigned seating and we asked the two photographers if they would like to sit with us. Within five minutes, I knew that Chris and Autumn (of La Brisa Photography) would be instant friends. We laughed constantly. We told stories. We shared about our lives. It was like we had been friends for ten years! It was such a fun dinner that I forgot that I was at a rehearsal dinner. When Daniel and I left, our hearts were full. I love great conversation. 

Saturday morning I got up super early to prepare and get ready for my Women's Retreat. I was out the door by 6:45am to get coffee and last minute items from the church. I carpooled with a friend from church that I rarely get to hang out with - we laughed, talked and caught up on each other on our way out to Brookwood. The retreat itself was amazing. Really. Nothing went wrong. Everything was so smooth. Everything went better than I could have imagined. If you need a retreat speaker, I highly recommend Rev. Jessica LaGrone - she has such a sweet spirit and her teaching was so powerful. She talked a lot about how God has called us by name and has given each of us a story. I was drawn to her Biblical illustrations and stories from her own life. I was so richly blessed by my time with her and the 65 women from my church. I was proud of my planning committee and, I'll admit it, I was proud of myself. Brookwood was a perfect setting for our retreat and I cannot wait to have another retreat there. As the retreat came to a close, my heart was more than full... it was about to burst! I was so happy.

Sunday morning was like any other church morning. The girls and I lounged in pjs and slowly got ready for church. When we got to church, I saw Chris and Autumn - the photographers from Friday night - walking up to the entrance. I was so excited! I was so surprised! They got to meet Emma and Claire... I thought it was so sweet they came to church after photography a wedding the night before and being up so late. Worship was great - we sang three of my favorite songs and had a new worship leader for the day. And then Daniel preached one of the best sermons I have ever heard him preach. It was raw. It was honest. It was vulnerable. I was a crying-mess. I was so proud of what he had to say and you could feel it in the room. It was powerful. 

After church, Chris came up to me to say goodbye... and then he said, "I just really love what you and Daniel are doing here at The Journey and it would be my privilege to gift you guys a family photo session for free." You see - on Friday, I had asked for his card because I told him we had never had professional pictures taken and I had always wanted to. He told me he was so moved by the sermon and the service that he knew he had to gift us the package. Cue crying-mess again. I was so excited and so humbled. What an incredible gift. 

I'm not given such "perfect" weekends often... but I am so glad I had this one. God was so present in all of it... actually, God is always present. Maybe it was me who was present and able to accept the small gifts of the weekend. My heart is full. And thankful. 

Women's Retreat

After hours and hours of planning, my women's retreat is tomorrow. I really have three big events each year: holiday market, women's dinner and the women's retreat. I think the women's retreat is the most difficult to plan as you have to find something that will 1) draw in a lot of women, 2) meet the needs of the women in your congregation and 3) a place that can accommodate everyone.

This year's retreat just kind of came together pretty easily. Before I came on staff, the women's retreats were always a two day/overnight thing, costing over well over $100... I couldn't really do that with my time and money so I changed things up a bit last year... we did it locally and had the overnight optional. The retreat went from the normal 20 person group to over 50. This year, we changed it to a one-day retreat and sold out our 65 spots in two weeks... I wish I could have had more spots but Brookwood didn't have enough in the cafe to give out!

We are having our retreat at The Brookwood Community, which is a community where people with disabilities (physical and/or mental) live together... they have classes, they work there and they live there full time. My uncle Allen, who had Downs Syndrome, lived at a similar place in Mississippi. Brookwood is famous in Houston because of their cafe and shop. The residents at Brookwood make the most beautiful gifts (crosses, candles, food items, dishes, etc...) and the garden center is incredible. Having my retreat at Brookwood was a win-win because it's a beautiful facility and several of the women have never been.

What I am most excited about is having Rev. Jessica LaGrone be our leader. Jessica is a pastor at The Woodlands UMC and has just released her first book, Namesake, which is what our retreat is revolving around. Jessica is a friend of Daniel's and is a mom to two young children. I love her blog and she's so relatable. I know all of us are in for a treat tomorrow! I am looking forward to finally have the retreat here, but also - hopefully! - catch a little bit of a break.

Please pray that these 65 women who are coming find what they are looking for - that they grow to know and love God more. Pray for Jessica, that she would be anointed with authority and wisdom... that we would all be richly blessed with what she has to teach us.

santa and newtown

Emma and Claire got dressed up in their Christmas dresses on Friday. They spun around and kept telling us that they were princesses... they sure did look like it! They are the sweetest little dresses and they just look so big in them. 

Before we left for the mall, Emma was holding a little red purse. I asked her, "Emma, are you taking a purse?" and she replied, "Yes, Mommy. It's for Santa!" Tickled, I asked, "Can I see what's in the purse?" in which Emma replied, "No, Mommy. It's a surprise." The entire way to the mall, Emma held onto the purse in her seat. The entire way through the mall, Emma held her purse. It was so cute. Whatever was packed inside she made put together just for Santa. It was their first meeting, so I understand why it was such a big deal.

We didn't have to wait long in line (about 10 minutes) and it was our turn. Claire, of course, immediately ran up to Santa and said hi. Emma stayed back, taking it all in... she had her little purse and held it up to him. I explained that Emma had packed a special bag for him. She showed him what was in it - Mary from the nativity, her favorite toy cell phone and camera, and a rattle. Santa was so thrilled to have a gift presented to him! I will remember that forever! The girls climbed up in their seat and wouldn't look at the camera at all... I tried to get them to do funny faces, but Claire was fascinated with the line of people and I think Emma was in Santa-shock. 

...

It was when we were at lunch after our Santa visit that Daniel got an update on his phone that there had been another school shooting - this time at an elementary school. I was sick immediately. Once we were home I was glued to the television. I couldn't stop watching. I even felt guilty that I had had this perfect day with my children and others had theirs taken away from them forever. I really was torn up. It made me think of all of my former students... how much they meant to me and still do to this day. 

I still am really torn up... just when I thought I wouldn't cry anymore, this morning as I gave my testimony, I cried again when speaking of my students. I talked about how Githens was really one of the only safe places for many of them... 

I pray for those families every time I think of it. I'm hugging and kissing my girls every chance I get, too. 

I don't know how to really end this blogpost except that I am thankful Christmas is coming. It's an amazing reminder of how much we need Jesus. "O come, O come Emmanuel" is repeating in my head...

kendra scott party

Last night was the Kendra Scott party in Rice Village. It was SO MUCH FUN! I had gotten very nervous before the party, thinking no one was going to show up. To my surprise, we had about 40-50 people come and shop. The store was busy and had great energy. Everyone looked like they were really enjoying themselves. I think almost everyone bought something which is a huge blessing because my ministry area at church will receive 20% of the profits back. I'm already planning my next party in the spring for the City Centre location. If you are in Houston, I'd love to see you there!!

Michelle, me and Lisa sporting our Kendra Scott purchases!

random thoughts...

I'm not feeling inspired to do any sort of blogging today, so instead I'm just going to write some thoughts and things that happened this week. Blog = online journal. Here it goes. 

- I have been really overwhelmed with the amount of trust women put in me at the church. I guess they really do see me as more than just the "Director of Women's Ministry"... women have been calling me to pray with them over the phone and reaching out for advice or just to listen. I've been humbled by the fact that they see me as a spiritual leader when so many times I feel like I'm the one who needs to be led. I do feel blessed to be in this position and have been praying constantly for wisdom and grace as I continue to move forward in my job. 

- We have a cold front coming through Houston tomorrow and I am SO ready for it. I think today is the last day I will wear shorts. I love the heat but I'm so ready for my girls to play outside for longer than just ten minutes. 

- I'm finally at the point where I'm a size bigger than I used to be. No matter what I eat/don't eat, how much I exercise, how much sleep I get... I'm this size now. It's not a bad number, but a lot of my clothes just don't fit the way they used to. I think some of this is age related - gasp! I know I'm super young (28), but my general practitioner just told me my metabolism is slowing down... yay. Also, I think my hips are just wider (which I thought wasn't possible) from having twins. I still need to figure out a way to burn off a few pounds, but even if I do that a lot of my stuff still won't fit. SO... I'm going to have a garage sale. I've taken lots of stuff to Buffalo Exchange and the rest is now just garage sale or donation stuff. Sadly, a lot of the stuff is really nice (Anthropologie, JCrew, etc...). Body image is hard for women and it's always been hard for me. I'm blessed with being petite, but let me tell you... sometimes I wish I was as big as a house so a couple of pounds wouldn't be noticeable or irksome! Thank goodness my legs still look good. Ha!

- Emma and Claire are SO different. Claire turns up the music full blast and Emma will run into the room screaming "too loud!" and turn it off. They both love playing with baby dolls but they play differently... Claire likes to play with them whereas Emma wants to mother them (if that makes sense).  Claire says things like "mommy hold you" when she wants to be held and Emma gives the best kises. Claire also will left up her finger and will say "I'll be right back!" when she needs to leave and Emma will say "excuse me!" when she needs to get through... They are both so smart. I know all parents say this, but I'm really in awe of what God has blessed us with in them. They are so funny and creative. I love my girls. 

- On the flip-side, the girls are wearing us out. Oh goodness. Is it bad that I cannot wait to go to Florida? I let them watch way more TV than I had ever anticipated... but Beauty and the Beast is a great movie and it buys me at least thirty minutes of peace and quiet in the morning and after nap. Daniel and I decided today that when we need to run errands or go "out and about" - we need to keep it to under two hours. After two hours, we become that family.

- I sewed two pillows (pocket opening in back) without a pattern and on a whim the other night while Daniel was out of town. They look so good and I am really proud of myself! I actually like sewing and hope to, once my life slows down - if ever, branch out beyond pillows. I really need a chair seat recovered and would love to do it, but I think I'm going to have someone else do it. It's too big of a project and what I want I can't really do yet. 

- I finally found a monogrammed white pillow for our bedroom. Ballard Designs has "perfect pillows" - I decided to let go of the need for a ruffle and spend the $25 on the pillow. Plus, it was a huge deal - I had a 15% off coupon and the monogramming was free. 

- Emma went through one diaper two days ago. I'm not even potty training and she used the potty all day. We've been doing "potty awareness" since they were about 22 months old. I'm not making a big deal about it and I know I won't really be able to do the whole potty training thing until Christmas time. Emma can take her diaper off, sit on the potty, go, wipe, get down and flush all by herself. I'm so glad we didn't do potty chairs - gross. Claire goes, too... she just can't get up and down yet. I'm hoping by the time xmas gets here they will sail through it. And then, once that's behind us... we will move them into the twin beds. 

- I need new shoes... badly. Boots, black flats and dressy heels. 

- I need to find a dress to wear to Jenny's wedding - it's black tie and I want something with either short or 3/4 sleeves since the wedding is in November. I'm stalking J.Crew and Nordstrom... NM Last Call, too... other suggestions? I would like to try the dress on in person!

- My MOPS group has grown and we are deep into Disciple I. I have loved watching this group form, change and grow. There are only like four of us who were original to the group when we started it two years ago... such smart, funny and fun people to be around on Tuesdays!

- Lastly, I contacted Kendra Scott about a week ago to see if they would host a party for the women in my church once their new store in City Centre opens. Well, not only are they going to keep the store open after hours for me, they are going to make it a "Kendra Gives Back" party and allow 20% of all profit to go back to my church. The date is Thursday, December 13th from 7-9PM in City Centre. If you are in Houston please come by! I'm hosting and there will be dessert and drinks! I'm really excited about this because 1) our church has never done anything like this before, 2) I get to combine two things I love - fashion and ministry - together, and 3) I think it will be a great way to get people to visit our church!

weekend update

We had a FULL week and weekend at our house... all on top of trying to get Claire well. Thursday night Daniel went out to The Houstonian for the LifeHouse Houston silent auction and gala. It was fun to get dressed up, drink wine, chat with friends and, of course, support such a wonderful ministry. Daniel told me on the car ride to the gala that we were NOT going to bid on anything at the silent auction... well, it was like a kid on Christmas morning. Daniel bid on about five things and won... all five. He's never allowed at a silent auction again. Ha!

Aunt Jessica came into town and we went to the Children's Museum to play. If there is a stage the girls will find it in seconds!! We had fun spending time together and church was really good on Sunday. Daniel introduced the capital campaign our church will start in January and it's so exciting to work for such an amazing church that is out to do amazing things! I took the photos below after church on Sunday and had to show off the girls cute fall outfits. I snagged these at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale for like $15 each! Oh, and Claire is wearing her new pair of glitter mary-jane style TOMS. Emma's are in the mail!

Speaking of fall clothes... we kept the door open all morning today. The cool breeze has arrived in Houston and the weather today was incredible. We played and played outside... the girls had a good day at school and I think Claire was so happy to see her friends and teachers again. 

Lastly, I'm in the process of planning Daniel's 30th birthday party. I've actually been planning and pinning ideas for about six months now. I have made the invitations and all I need to do now is buy stamps and mail them off. I have a few surprises up my sleeve... one of them includes pictures of Daniel... here's one I snagged from his parent's house this weekend. You see where Claire gets her blonde hair and blue eyes?!?

hello my name is jean and i feel overwhelmed... part 2

Sitting in the chancel area behind Epiphanie as she got up to speak.
Full house in our sanctuary - incredible!

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my blogging heart for all of the emails, texts, calls and blog-world/facebook-world support after my last post. Your prayers really were the rock to my sanity this past weekend. And guess what? I still feel overwhelmed! However, like I said in my last post, I am in total awe of how smooth the event went, how well the women received Epiphanie and the best news... we raised over $10,000 for ZOE Ministry. I had a few more checks come in today so when it is all said and done, I think we will be pretty close to $11,000. Amazing!!

From the second I picked Epiphanie up at the airport, I started to feel at peace. She is a beautiful person and she exudes joy. She spoke at The Journey on Sunday morning and Emma kept holding her hand and calling her "Mommy's friend" throughout lunch that afternoon. I worked like a mad-woman all weekend finalizing details, making phone calls, etc... I only had to deal with one mean lady on Sunday during the set-up. I was very happy it was only just ONE! 

The night of the event was perfect. It really was. All of the tables were decorated so beautifully and everyone - even the men who were are waiters! - were on time. Grayson, our chef at church, made an amazing meal and the women kept complimenting the timing, service, the food and atmosphere. I thought I would be a rambling mess (I can talk very fast) but God's peace reigned over me and I really felt comfortable and confident. 

God really amazed me during the second half of the event. All 340 of the women walked over to the sanctuary to hear Greg Jenks - founder and director of ZOE - introduce Epiphanie and then Epiphanie shared her testimony and talked about ZOE. As she shared her story, I could tell she had every person in there fully captivated. It was amazing. At the end, I urged the women if they haven't made a donation, to please consider it... and they did. 340 women came together to donate $10,000. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. 

I'm so thankful the event was a success and I'm so thankful the 60 something orphans we support in Kenya will have animals supplied to them for the next 2-3 years. Incredible! Here are some pictures of the event so you can an idea of what we did:

all the women at this table wore pink boas 

this was Sandra's table - she sold her pumpkin centerpiece for $100 which went to ZOE

I thought this was the cutest idea - how fun would this be for a children's birthday party?

"Etch a Sketch" place cards - LOVE IT

this table had gone to Kenya to work with the orphans and made a
mini-replica of what one of the "stores" looked like

some of my MOPS girls with Mahan who is our nursery worker
and keeps our kids when we meet on Tuesdays!

our MOPS table - we did a baby safari theme

Dr. Simmons speaking before he prayed over the meal...
and me watching the waiters to make sure things were running smoothly, ha!

One last thing, Claire does NOT have scabies... which I figured she didn't, but we did the treatment on her anyway... Claire actually has what I thought all along - a horrible eczema flare-up, cough probably caused by asthma/allergies. She spiked fever on Sunday night and has been going up and down between 102-104. We finally went to the doctor for a third time today and on top of her crazy eczema rash and cough she also has Hand, Foot and Mouth. Awesome. More poor, sweet baby girl. At least Dr. Emma Irving is able to take care of her! It does look like we are on the up and up. Claire is now on Claritin, Rx strength eczema cream, inhaler, Motrin and we've switched her bath soap and lotions. Emma started to get fever today and has a runny nose. With twins, it never ends. But, hopefully everyone will be sick-free by church on Sunday!