Time Out at the Tea House

Wow, I guess I have some catching up to do. The ladies of our church went to a tea house for our July ladies mtg. a couple weeks ago. Even though time has quickly passed me by and I am just now sitting down to write about it, I just can't pass up sharing with you what a nice time we had.

We had 9 ladies who ventured out on a rather dreary, rainy Friday afternoon to be warmed through and through by the companionship of sweet friends and hands wrapped around warm, soothing cups of tea in any flavor imaginable. I, not being much of a tea fan myself, had some nice mint tea with plenty of sugar and that suited me just right :)

Reading my devotion

 I had the privilege (and job, boy was I nervous and it takes a lot of prep. work to speak in another language) to give a very brief devotion on the subject of friendship. I must admit I am a big chicken {bawk, bawk} and because I wanted to enjoy the rest of our time instead of suffering from a giant "brain-overload" headache, I had the whole thing written out. I took a few ideas from the life of Ruth (my favorite lady in the Bible) and tied it in with being a good friend. Needless to say, it was short, sweet, and to the point. (For me, the normal chatty-Cathy, it's hard to do much more than that at this point :( :) But, like most things in my life, I am working on it and God's still working on me, remember?!!!

Tasty treats 

Doesn't it look nice?!

Later, we all enjoyed these simply delicious little sandwiches and desserts, along with scones and pastries and an assortment of spreads to put on them. Of course, the best part was that we didn't have to make them or share them with our kids; just sit back, relax, and Enjoy!

Exchanging secret pal gifts

Me and my secret pal, Norma
We had each other as secret pals :)

We also had a lot of fun and laughs revealing our secret pals of the past few months. I think my secret pal was rather stunned to find out that I was her secret pal, too. (I am just so clever that I had it figured out--haha!)

I also thought that this would be a great time to introduce you to some of the sweet ladies at our church. They are all unique and they are all a blessing to me in their own unique way. I love each of them and am so glad that the Lord has given me this time to learn from, love, and work with these special ladies.

Me and my hard-working Pastor's wife, Angela
She is such a help and blessing to me in countless ways!
She gives of her time, talents, and treasures to the Lord, to our church, and to me.

Our Sunday School teachers:
Flavia (left) teaches the 4-7 yr. olds
Yanel (right) co-teaches the 0-3 yr. olds with me
Love these ladies and their sweet spirits!

Yanel and Claudia
Claudia joined our church a few months ago and is jumping in with both feet!
She wants to be involved and soak up God's Word. Such an encouragement to me!

My dear friends from church
Back (left to right): Angela, Claudia, Yanel, Me
Front: Flavia, Carmen, Marta, Esmeralda, & Norma

I am so blessed to count these ladies among my friends, especially since it takes them an extra special amount of patience to put up with me--Both in language skills and personality! It was so nice to have this little outing together with Christian friends!