Our 1st Ladies' Meeting

{Here in the village, anyways.}

I know many of you have been anxiously waiting to hear how everything went and I'm so sorry that it has taken me an entire week to update you.

The Lord blessed and we had (I think) 12 ladies come, not including the girls and I!  How exciting is that?!  Our theme was "Have You Seen Yourself In God's Mirror?"

While I was waiting for Eric to bring the ladies, I thought I would take a few pictures for you, but, AHHH!  I had forgotten to charge my camera batteries!  I still managed a few quick shots before it completely died.  Eric was running all over the place that morning and still lovingly ran home to get my old camera.

We started by playing the game "What's in the bag?"  The ladies stuck their hands inside of the bag and had to guess what beauty items were in the bag.

 (Olya is the lady with the cream sweater and red phone hung around her neck.)

The second game we played was Design a Dress using only toilet paper.  Our models were Anna and Lydia.

After a delicious meal, made mostly by Lina and her mom, Lina and I put on a skit for the ladies.  It was of a lady who did not feel so beautiful and in an attempt to attain beauty, followed tips she heard would make her beautiful - refusing a mirror. 

I used this as a starting point for the devotional in which I compared that to us striving to be righteous but refusing to see ourselves through the mirror of God.  I did not actually see myself until the end of the devotional.  In closing I read James 1:22-25, and demonstrated the passage by walking up to a mirror looking at myself and shockingly exclaiming, "WOW!  I look pretty awful!"  I then walked and talked about how crazy it would be for me to see myself like that, then go to the store like all was in order and to a party, giving someone makeup advice while I was there.

Most of the ladies who attended are not saved and my desire is that they will not only look God's mirror and see themselves in need of a Savior, but also to repent and ask Jesus to save them.  I would like to ask you to specifically pray for a lady named Olya who is almost done with her salvation Bible lessons, that God would open her eyes and she would be saved.  Also, continue to pray for our neighbor, Sveta and her daughters (Nastia, Masha and Katya).  They were not able to come that day but she has let the older two girls come to Sunday school the past few weeks.  Anna is so excited as this is an answer to prayer for her.  She prays for them daily.

GIRL or BOY?

21 Weeks

Flourless/Sugarless Chocolate Cake

Today was my love's birthday and even though he doesn't feel like his birthdays should be celebrated anymore, I couldn't let the day pass without making some type of cake...diet or no diet.  I was planning on trying a doughnut recipe with some coconut flour I had made.  When he headed to the city to go to the bank, I decided to quickly look online first to see if there were any other options and I came across  Healthier Flourless Chocolate Cake.  The kids and I made some cards and wrote what we love about daddy, then we started making this super, easy cake.  I must admit I was a little skeptical...until the house started filling with the smell of chocolate.  After that, I practically danced throughout the house, barely able to contain myself.  I felt like when we were first dating when I would wait for his visits.  I kept glancing out the window waiting for him.  The kids were just as anxious as I was.  We couldn't wait to surprise him!  I'm excited to say that it was not disappointing.  We will be adding this fudgy, brownie tasting cake to our permanent recipe "box".

Anna said that daddy would put her card in his office and keep it to remember their times together after she got married. ;)

Even though it is his birthday, he has been working so hard to help me prepare for the ladies' banquet we have coming up (a big reason why I have been absent from the blog).  He has been cutting paper flowers for me to put together and anything else I've needed help with.  Don't know what I'd do without him, or Sister Lina and her mom.  They cut out all of these roses for me.  What a blessing!  I didn't have to do any of the work and just had the fun job of putting them together.

Would appreciate your prayers for our ladies' meeting.  It is on March 9th in celebration of the big holiday, Women's Day -March 8th.  I am unsure how many will come, but we have invited over 20 women - most of them unsaved.