October 2009 Archives

Our yearly Spring Tea has been moved! We will now be celebrating a Christmas Tea on December 19, so mark the calendar and start inviting your friends, family members, and out-of-town guests who might be around for the holidays! As usual, we will need several women to volunteer to host a table, so let us know if that is something you would be interested in doing.

Where: Bull Valley Golf Club, 1311 Club Road, Woodstock, IL

When: December 19 at 11:45 a.m. (This will allow fifteen minutes to peruse the beautiful tables before sitting down to eat and drink.)

What: Join with women from our church to eat, drink, and fellowship before hearing a special message from guest speakers Debbie Richardson and Jen Gibson. This is a great excuse to dust off your china (as a table hostess) and your pearls or to show off your goofy holiday sweater. This year's theme is "His Princess," so feel free to bring your tiara, too!

Who: This event is a time of fellowship for women of our church, but we encourage you to invite friends and family members, too! We'd love to see tables filled with 20-somethings as well as tables filled with 70-somethings. Don't be afraid to mix it up, either, and get three or four generations at one table!

Cost: Tickets will be available for $20 a person. Please talk to us if payment is a concern, and we will do our best to offer full or partial scholarships as necessary.

Last year's baking event, Mix It Up, was a huge success, so we're bringing it back in 2009. Clear your schedules for November 12 and 19 at 7 p.m. for two nights of fabulous foods and great new recipes. We will once again focus on Christmas breads and cookies, spending time baking and eating while sharing about beloved and favorite traditions.

Where: Evangelical Free Church of Crystal Lake, Dining Room

When: November 12 at 7 p.m. (bread demonstration); November 19 at 7 p.m. (cookie exchange)

What: The first night will be a demonstration by some of our talented bread makers, who will focus on holiday bread recipes. The second night will be a cookie exchange, a casual time to eat and talk and fellowship during this new holiday tradition.

Who: This event is geared toward those over the age of fourteen and is open to women from our church and our community.

Cost: Free! You will be asked to bring a number of cookies if you would like to participate in the cookie exchange, but there are no other fees.

If you want to get a head start on the baking and eating, request a copy of the Mix It Up 2008 recipe book from the church office, available for only $2!

Craft away the holiday blues! We received so much feedback on our fabric gingerbread house — a display item for our Mix It Up baking event last year — that we've decided to dedicate three Monday nights before Thanksgiving to creating this craft together! Join us November 2, 9, and 16 at 7 p.m. for this three-part project that will be ready just in time to give away as a gift or to keep in your own home as a decoration. Invite some friends, or bring your mothers, daughters, aunts, nieces, and cousins for a new family tradition.

Where: Alvira Colbert's home, 7515 Forest Oak Drive, McHenry, IL

When: November 2, 9, and 16 at 7 p.m.*

What: Construct a fabric gingerbread house with a removable top, which can be used year after year as a beautiful display item.

Who: This event is open to all women in our church and community. Invite friends of all ages!

Cost: You are welcome to buy your own fabrics and materials if you want to create a custom look. We will also provide a limited number of kits with everything you need at the cost of $15 per kit.

*This is a three-part project, but you can finish at home if you need the extra time or cannot make all three sessions.

Woo! Women's Ministries has been on a roll ever since the end of August! We hosted 230 women at the Beth Moore simulcast, an event that was a huge encouragement to all who attended. The next week, we put out sign-up sheets at the church-wide Ministry Fair to announce our fall Bible studies and to open registration for our Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group. The week after that, MOPS and morning Bible studies launched, followed by the launch of the Tuesday evening Bible study on September 22.

Now that things are humming along nicely with our current ministry opportunities, we wanted to give you a heads-up about some upcoming events through December!

October Hiker Chicks Schedule: The weather is threatening to turn foul, but that's no excuse to stay indoors! Get off your couch and join our Hiker Chicks group on Sunday, October 25 at 12:30 p.m. for a picnic lunch followed by a two-hour hike at Prairieview Nature Trail. (RSVP if you plan to attend, need a ride, or have room for passengers.) We also invite you to join us for a one-hour prairie trail walk (departing from Martha Schuelke's house) on Friday, October 30 at 5:30 p.m.

Holiday Craftathon: Last year, we featured a fabric gingerbread house as a display item while we advertised the Mix It Up baking events. So many women stopped by to comment on it that we've decided to dedicate three nights in November to this one-of-a-kind craft project! Kits with all the needed materials (fabric, decorations, etc.) will be available for purchase, or you can bring your own materials and get creative!

Mix It Up: This was one of our favorite events last year, and we're happy to bring it back in November 2009. We will dedicate one night to learning about Christmas breads and the second night to a Christmas cookie exchange! If you want to get a head start on the baking, last year's recipe books are still available for $2 a piece!

His Princess: Christmas Tea: Our annual tea has been moved to December, and we're looking forward to starting a new Christmas tradition! Ladies of all ages are invited to this princess-themed event based on the words of John 15:16. We are currently on the look-out for table hostesses, but this does not have to be as scary as it sounds! You can provide a set of china and fine linens for a table of ten or start a paper plate table, complete with sporks and mismatched tea cups.

If you're interested in more information about any of these events, shoot us an email at womensblog[at]efccl.org, leave a comment on this entry, give us a call (815.459.1095), or keep checking back on the blog for more details!