Advent Brunch

This past December we enjoyed our annual Advent Brunch.  Nearly 200 women gathered for a “Cup of Christmas Tea.”  We enjoyed an amazing atmosphere, great food, a devotional, talent from our own ACC women, a preview of the Christmas play, and a chance to shop for a good cause! 

A Cup of Christmas Tea

A Cup of Christmas Tea

Join us for our Annual Advent Brunch!  

Date: Saturday December 7th

Time: Marketplace opens at 8:30 a.m. and Advent Brunch starts at 9:00 a.m.

Place: Family Life Center

Cost: $12

Tickets: Available at the office during the week and in the Family Life Center between services on November 17th, November 24th, and December 1st. 

Marketplace - We are offering a Christmas Marketplace this year to support some amazing causes.  So get your Christmas Shopping done while you support ministry! 

Volunteers

It takes a crew to put on Advent Brunch!  We are looking for 20 women to help with set up, clean up, baking, or being a table hostess.  Please contact Julie Anderson at jzackanderson@gmail.com

Advent Brunch Recap

Advent Brunch was a wonderful event this year.  Such a great way to start the Christmas season.  We started with live violin music thanks to Kelly!  

The decorations were gorgeous!  They were a hot commodity after the brunch as well as the beautiful hand painted ornaments below!

 The food was amazing!  In fact many of you have asked for recipes for the cheesecake sopapillas, corn tortilla casserole, and the black bean and pineapple salad.  The links to the sopapillas and the casserole are on the left side of the blog.  The black bean and pineapple salad is from a Costco cookbook and we cannot post that recipe due to the copyright.  We hope you enjoy the recipes!

Women got the opportunity to get to know others better during the yummy breakfast.

Then Glory and Kaela blessed us with their special music!

During our program we had the opportunity to hear poems, testimonies, scripture and funny stories from many different women!

Prayer with our speakers (before the event):

 Debbie and Cheryl led us in learning about the "12 Days of Christmas" and the meaning behind that song!  What an amazing lesson!  We were blessed by each of the speakers that shared their testimonies!  They had us laughing and tearing up at times.  

Debbie with her "cartridge in a pair tree" & Cheryl leads us in "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

Everyone (whether they liked it or not!) had a role in the morning.  Each table was a different day of Christmas!  Our men that were serving even got into their "Lords of Leaping" role. 

The hand motions for "Five Golden Rings" 

 Enjoying the program!

 Our program ended with Julie leading us in "Silent Night."  It's always so awesome to hear 175 women sing together!

Thank you to all the women who bought center pieces and the beautiful ornaments to help the scholarship fund for Triennial!  I am hoping to have 10 women from our church go this year!  If you want to know more about Triennial and why you should go or if you have a desire to go or want to be considered for a scholarship read HERE.  

Our wonderful team of men who serve the women year after year at Advent Brunch.  THANK YOU!  Love the uniforms =-)

A special thanks to the Women Ministries team and the countless other women who played a role in making the program happen!  We appreciate you!

If you missed it, you will have to mark your calendar for December 7th, 2013!

Advent Brunch

When I woke up on the Saturday of Advent Brunch, I saw that it was snowing.  Not just a little but several inches.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart."  Okay, Lord.  I got dressed and my new cardigan I brought for the brunch had button holes that didn't line up.  Okay, Lord, I'm trying not to get flustered, it's just a cardigan.  As I get in my car to leave for church, I nearly back into a strange car that is blocking my driveway.  By this time, the verse I have been meditating on - "Trust in the Lord with all our heart" - was moving to the back of my brain. If I'm being honest, you need to know that I may have uttered some not so holy words.  My husband went around to neighbors houses until he found the owner of the car blocking our driveway.  Off to brunch 15 minutes behind schedule.  Anyone who knows me well knows how I hate being late!

As I was driving on the icy road to church I remember trying to surrender Advent Brunch to Him.  Isn't it just like humans to worry and attempt to control circumstances in life.  Usually when I realize that circumstances are out of my control, God does his best work.  Despite the snow and the bumpy start of my day, God showed up at Advent Brunch.  He met me where I was at - flustered and tired.  He blessed me through the help of the volunteers, through music, and through testimonies.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."  Thank you Lord for putting this verse on my heart through the Holiday season and showing me why is it so important to trust you.

I hope you all were as blessed by Advent Brunch as I was!  I am so thankful for all those who were able to attend despite the weather!  I was blessed by the relaxing violin music as the brunch started, food, conversation, speakers, special music, and carols.  I was so blessed to have a team of people who coordinated the food, decorations, ticket sales, greeters, table hostesses, and all the other the endless small details!  We appreciated the men who served us at the brunch!

Thank you to the women who generously donated casseroles and cookies!  You may not know this, but some years we are able to save some of the money received at Advent Brunch.  When this happens we are able to use that money for scholarships, making retreat costs more reasonable, and offering free events like Soup and Serve.  The generous food donations makes that possible!  

Thanks for spending your Saturday morning with me. If you were like me, you were blessed by the music, you met new people, had a fully belly, heard the testimonies of some amazing women from our congregation, and belly laughed at their stories.  It is my hope and prayer that you will be able to fully embrace the meaning of Christ's birth this year.   May God bless you with His peace and love through each day this Christmas season!

Check out pictures from the event!

Working hard on the food and decorations!

 Kelly blesses us with music before the event:

Some of our awesome volunteers!

So glad people braved the snow and were able to come!

Kinsey and Linda welcome the women:

Anne and Ellie blessed us with music:

Praying for the high school senior gals:

Cheryl introduces our speakers:

This year we were able to hear Jean, Joanne, Kjierstyn, Steffanie, Debbie, and Cheryl share their testimonies about Christmas traditions.  This was such a special time. They blessed us with their stories and had us tearing up with laughter!

Advent Brunch would not be Advent Brunch without carols!  Thanks to Leah and Debbie for leading us!

What a great way to start the Advent season!

A Traditional Christmas...

Can you believe it’s already time to start talking about the holidays? Soon life will get busier as we all prepare for guests, shop for food and presents, decorate, bake, and participate in any number of holiday festivities. I always find myself a little frazzled. I’m sure I’m not the only one!

As I was contemplating ways to get overcome the holiday craze, three ideas come to mind. Proverbs 3:5 was the first thought I had. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” It sounds so simple, yet is so hard to put into practice. Being a new mother on top of working and leading a ministry puts this into a whole new perspective. I have to confess that often I fail to trust in the Lord. What would it look like if I took this to heart every day during the holiday season when I divide my attention between being a wife, mother, employee and leader? I’m not sure yet, but I feel God challenging me to do this. I’ll let you know how it goes!

My other two answers are not quite as scripture based. But I can promise you they will meet needs in your life over the holiday season!

Number 1: Check out our latest idea! We like to call it: “Meals Made Simple, Friends Made Quick.” Come join us the morning of Nov. 12th. You will get to connect with other women while preparing easy meals that can be frozen. This will alleviate the stress of figuring out what to do for dinner during the holiday season. What’s better than having dinner that is already made when you’re too busy to cook?

Number 2: Prepare your heart for the Advent season by coming to Advent Brunch. Join us in this mutigenerational event and bring your friend, mother, daughter, or grandmother. You will get to enjoy a relaxed breakfast where you get to connect with other women. Enjoy special music and carols led by women in our church. You will get to hear women from different generations in our congregation speak about their favorite Christmas tradition and how that has enriched their relationship with Jesus.

While I know my 3 suggestions to overcome the holiday craze don’t provide all the answers, I hope in some way they will bless you this holiday season! More info to come in the SPICE newsletter/ACC website/Facebook! 

Advent Brunch 2010

Advent Brunch is always a great way to kick off the holiday season!  It is an event that will touch your heart no matter your age or your spiritual walk.  It's a time to meet new people and catch up with good friends.  Most importantly it is a time to prepare your heart for the Advent Season!

Our beautiful and festive centerpieces:

 We thank you for your generosity in purchasing these ornaments on our centerpieces!  We raised over $400 to support our National Women Ministries.  We are so blessed to be just one group of women across the nation who belong to Women Ministries.  Since their inception, women have raised almost 9 million dollars for causes such as helping educate women in the Congo, advocating for women who have been abused, abolishing human trafficking, and much more.  Your generous donations will allow our National Women Ministries to continue to address the needs of women and children across the globe.

Many men made this day possible by babysitting and serving our tables! Thank you!!  

 Several of our beautifully decorated tables along with just the beginning of the amazing food that was served! We thank all those women who played a role in preparing the food, donating quiches, and hosting a table!

Kinsey and Cheryl (Women Ministry Chairs) share about our upcoming events.  They were excited to share about Spring Retreat!  Stay tuned to the blog for posts about the retreat and see the left side of the blog for more details!  They also shared about Women Ministries heart for those who have been abused or are the victim of human trafficking.  Not the type of conversation you expect to hear at a Christmas Brunch!  Yet, just the type of subject that grabs at our hearts as women and moves us to action.  

 We were so blessed to hear Glory's testimony about surviving abuse and why this is such a topic that is near and dear to her heart.  She is passionate about our upcoming event this May called Advocates for Victims of Abuse (AVA).  AVA will be a three day event where a trained advocate will be traveling to our church. Each day will offer a different extent of training in hopes to reach all levels of interest. This event will focus on educating about abuse, raising awareness on becoming an advocate, and extensive training to raise up and train advocates in our church, and providing awareness to young adults about these important topics and how it relates to dating.

 Glory's powerful testimony:

As many women generously donated food and hosted tables we were able to keep the cost of this event low.  Your ticket cost helped to pay for the event but will also help to fund our AVA event so that people from our church and community will be able to attend that important event for a nominal cost!  Thank you! 

Christy Jantzen blesses us by her singing and her words about Reflecting God's Glory at Christmas:

 We ended our time together by singing Christmas Carols:

 Advent Brunch was a big success due to the many people who donated their time by helping with set up/clean up, serving, babysitting, baking a quiche, hosting a table, decorating, preparing food, giving a testimony, and playing the piano. Thank you to all who generously donated their time, gifts, and money to make this event possible. Finally, Cheryl and Kinsey also want to thank the Women Ministries leadership team for all the time and effort they put into the event! We are so thankful for you!  We were so blessed by everyone's attendance at the event and hope this was a great way to begin the Advent Season!

Advent Brunch Update

On December 5, our Women Ministries’ annual tradition of an Advent Brunch was welcomed by 175 women in attendance. The Family Life Center was adorned with old fashioned Christmas attire of evergreen garland and the tables were dressed in traditional Christmas reds and greens. This year we encouraged the women of our church to bring their friends by offering discounted tickets. Our best count told us that over 60 women in attendance were from outside our church! With our speaker, Linda Evans Shepherd, this event was truly a front door opportunity to connect women in our neighborhoods in relationship with each other and point them towards a relationship with Christ. Linda Shepherd beautifully retold the Christmas story from Mary’s view point and encouraged our hearts to remain unguarded towards God as He calls us to serve Him. Amy blessed us with a special Christmas song that reminded us all of being home with our families. We ended with meaningful worship led by Sara Bieri of Life Spring Covenant Church. Her worship experience was just a taste of what the Spring Retreat will be like in March. Our national cause “Break the Chains” was featured in a small fundraising effort and we were able to gift over $300 to furthering the ministry of freeing enslaved women in North America. All in all, the Advent Brunch once again caused many women to set aside time to come before the King of Kings and remember what a great gift was given to us all on that first Christmas night. Take a look at our pictures from this event!

Lynn providing wonderful music from the hammered dulcimer as people arrive:

We appreciate the men who willingly volunteer to serve us during the meals:

Ladies before the brunch:

Linda Evans Shepherd:

Sara Bieri:
It was such a blessing to see all of you at Advent Brunch. What a great way to start the holiday season.