Women's Summer Oasis

Wonderful Night for Women

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.  ~ Psalm 16: 6

Tonight I attended Shandon Baptist's Summer Oasis for women with guest speaker Ellen Parker.  I so enjoyed listening to her speak.  Her joy is contagious.  I also got to sit with Alberta (Mrs. Stewart, the twins amazing kindergarten teacher.  I wish I would have gotten there sooner so I would have had more time to visit with her.  She is so real and makes me laugh.  Anyway, Ellen's "talk" was about learning to love the season that you are in at the moment.  Her talk was a reflection off Psalm 16.  She did a great job and left me with a lot of things to think about and ponder.  I love when I can listen to someone speak and I go away wanting to think deeper about the topic and how it applies to my life. 

The earlier part of today was just normal Dew Crew stuff.  I'll take you through it in the pictures below.

 

Picked the big rooster up from football practice.  They had passing league today.  This was his uniform for the day.  He plays line backer and said they only got to "tackle" using two-hand-touch. I don't see how they stand those shirts being so tight.  In the heat we have here in the south, I would think that a loose shirt would feel so much better.

 

After getting Blake from practice, I took the twins to "Miss" Michelle's so that I could go to an appointment downtown and get some things done around the house before I had to leave for church tonight.  If you live in the Columbia area and need a good preschool/kindergarten for your child, Asbury is it.  Of course, the wonderful Mrs. Stewart teaches the kindergarten class.  I just love this school because the teachers are so loving, God's word is taught along with a solid academic program, and my entire family was blessed through Asbury.  I just love Asbury Preschool/Kindergarten and will truly miss my boys not being a part of that loving circle next year.

 

After dropping off the boys, Blake and I had lunch.  I am addicted to Chiptole's chicken fajita bowl.  I could literally eat this for at least one meal every day.  It is so good.  I "try" to keep mine as low in calories as I can.  I just get the brown rice, peppers and onions, chicken, mild and medium salsa and that's it.  They have a lot of other add-ons but I'm not big on cheese, sour cream, beans and some of the other additions.

 

I know it looks like all we do around here is eat.  HA!  Okay, so there is probably a lot of truth in that statement.  I cooked supper for the crew before heading to church.  The chicken was something new I tried.  Butter, garlic and fried onions as the coating.  It was so good.  I threw together the squash and parsley potatoes as sides.  My grandmother used to make the best red potatoes in butter and parsley.  Mine just do not taste like hers ~ yet.  I'll get it one day.  I'm determined. (And, yes, that is a little burnt stuff on the squash.  I have to burn a little something or it just isn't right.  There used to be a time when I made the smoke detector go off every night.  I have improved.  HA!)

 

I took a shot of the group of ladies that attended the Oasis tonight.  I couldn't get the entire area.  The back part of the gathering place is cut off in my picture.  This is actually the area between the Sunday school classes and the sanctuary.  It is called the gathering place.  Normally there are couches and chairs in this area for people to gather and talk in comfort.

 

 

I wish the color was better in these pictures.  The tables were so cute.  Each one had a little fruit basket filled with peaches and a bouquet of balloons in orange and pink were tied to the baskets.  The basket of peaches were actually door prizes for the person who had a sticker on her program.  I didn't win.  :(  

We were asked to bring cobblers, pies or a fruity dessert to go with the ice cream being served.  I thought the dessert idea and the table decorations were so creative and went so well with Ellen's talk:  "Learning to Love Your Season".

 

On the place cards we had at our seat there was a recipe for Ellen's strawberry cobbler.  I've included it below.  If you are interested in getting to know Ellen, you can visit her at: thesweetwaterblog.com.

 

 

Ellen Parker's Strawberry Cobbler

 

1 pound strawberries, quartered

1 tablespoon sugar plus 1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup all purpose flour

 

Mix 1 tablespoon of sugar with cornstarch and strawberries.  Set aside while you prepare the topping.  For cobbler topping, mix melted butter with flour and 1 cup sugar.  Transfer strawberries to a greased 8 X 8 pan.  Spread topping over strawberries.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cobbler is a light, golden brown and the berries are bubbling.

 

Serve warm with ice cream.