Still Sweeter

Here are a "few" pics of our ladies trip. We had two vans that went. One left early Friday morning and the other left late Friday afternoon so those ladies that work could go when they got off.
We had a really good time and the Lord dealt with my heart on some things. It was a blessing to be with my Sisters! I love you all!!


Mrs. Janet drove the early van. We pulled out around 9:00 and drove to Bojangles for breakfast. Not my favorite chicken joint, but their breakfast biscuit was pretty good.


Since we left early, we stopped to do a little shopping. There were nine of us on the early van. Mrs. Janet and I were up front and here you see Amy and Pam. Cammi is in the back. We were waiting for Missy, Sharon, and Kelly T to finish their shopping. They were always the last ones in the van when shopping.


Here's Kelly R. Can't remember why she's giving me this look, but I thought it was funny.


April and Liz, along with sweet little "J" drove by themselves and met up with us at the shopping center.


Olive Garden was across the street so we had lunch there. I know Pam from Midnight Musings is going to kick me for this, but y'all know that's not on my top ten favorite restaurants. I promise I'm not one of those picky people when it comes to restaurants, but you know I prefer a good steak and tater! HOWEVER! I had the lasagna and it was very good.


The theme for the conference was Still Sweeter. Everything was decorated in candy. They even had their teenagers dressed in candy costumes. They were called Sweetie Girls. If we needed assistance, we could ask the Sweeties.


Mrs. Janet registered us and gathered our books, lunch tickets, and game tickets for the drawings. There were eight bathrooms decorated with different candy themes. You would fill out your ticket with your name and church name and drop it in a basket in each bathroom. At the end of the meeting Saturday there was a drawing for those prize baskets for each of those bathrooms.


This was the platform setting. It was like jumping into Candy Land.



Liz and April with baby "J" in front of the gingerbread house.


There were several vendors set up down the hallways. Here is Amy in the jewelry and purse vendor's shop. There were three tables of jewelry and purses galore. They were cute purses too!


The Music shop was filled with all the Hutson sister CDs and other good music and preaching CDs.


The fellowship hall was set up for the opening reception. They served egg rolls, meatballs, cheeses and crackers, desserts (mostly candy), water and tea. It was goody-good!




Down the vendor's hall


See the giraffe print purse? I bought it! How cute is that?


They showed a Friday night movie which was a five minute edited clip of the Lucy show where she and Ethel took a job at the candy factory. Y'all know the one! It was hilarious. Our Saturday movie was Shirley Temple on the plane singing Good Ship Lollipop.


They had the Sweeties choose several people during our song time to come up and play a game. Missy was the first one chosen from our church. Well, actually, not enough people were chosen so when they opened it up to whoever got up there first, got to play, Missy ran like a....well....kid to a candy store! She knocked down three elderly ladies and someone on crutches, but she got up there. HA! JUST KIDDING about her knocking those people down. ANYWAY! The game was to name the candy bar that was cut in half and pictured on the wall. You can see it on the wall to the left.


Missy guessed correctly and won this basket of candy. I'm sure her children went bananas when she came home with it.


Mrs. Ava, Janet, and Liz


Kim, Taylor, Jennifer, and Susan. Susan drove the late van.


Mander, Sharon, Missy, and Kelly T.


Saturday's lunch was a box with a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, chips, brownie, and mint, with your choice of soda or water. It was really good.


It was a pretty day and since the fellowship building was full, we decided to eat on the playground. Cammi was just getting ready to dig in!


Pam was trying to decide if she wanted to swing or get up in the club house with the rest of us. She HATES to miss a good time so eventually she came up to our club house....hurt foot and all!


Here' Mander, Kelly R, and Janet in the club house.


To get into the club house we climbed the ladder. I suppose we could have gotten down the same way, but what fun is there in that when there's a perfectly good slide to go down on? There goes Amy!


Mrs. Marlett didn't join us in the club house, but she and I had fun on the teeter-totter later. Now, THAT was funny!


There goes Kelly!


I was the last one down.


Here's Mander and Pam on the teeter-totter.


Susan had fun on the jungle gym. Figures she'd choose something a monkey would like to do. HA!!! LOVE YA, SUSAN!


Susan was chosen for a game where the contestants had to guess the candy bar described in a riddle.


SHE WON this delish basket of Reece's goodies.


Amy was chosen for this game too.


SHE WON this basket of Reece's goodies.


Mander raced to be a contestant because they didn't choose enough the first time. But she ended up being our only loser. Poor Mander. She had to do the "walk of shame" in front of 400 women. What a bummer!


BUT!!! There was another game that was played where they had several different jars of candy in the foyer and you could guess how many candies were in each jar. Mander ended up winning the Skittles jar. YAY, MANDER!


When the conference was over, we did a little more shopping at the Burlington Coat Factory, a wide shoe store, and ended up eating supper at Cracker Barrell. I had their grilled chicken salad and a side of potato casserole. The salad was HUGE! But it was so tasty! And the potato casserole was well.......yumsy as always.


I think we all had a great time on this trip. I wish I could have gotten a group picture with all of us in it. I think there were about 17 - 20 of us that went. But there just didn't seem to be a good time for that. Oh well...maybe next time.

My meditation of Him shall be sweet

Psalm
104:34

Bye Bye

Ladies trip.....See ya later later!

Extreme Makeover (from the inside out)~~Sherry Camperson

A little time of silliness between sessions. This is LeAnna. Nice, huh?


Elizabeth~These girls are so nutty.


One of the bathrooms in the gym was decorated as an ER.


So LeAnna decided to make her dreams of becoming a doctor come true.

Saturday's lunch consisted of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Blueberry or Banana Nut Muffins, Assorted Danishes, Bananas or Apples, Milk, Orange Juice, or Coffee. Doesn't that sound wonderful? It did to us too. But we got there too late and it was GONE!!!!! WAHHH We'll get there earlier next time. For our breakfast, we decided to share mints. lol

Sherry Camperson did another session on soul winning. It was a real "push" of encouragement to soul win. Especially when she talks about her daddy and what a soul winner he was.

Soul winning should be a priority. She told the cutest story of when she was a very little girl, about 5 or 6 years old, and she was so concerned about her Grandfather because he wasn't saved. So she would diligently give him the plan of salvation every time she saw him. And every time she would witness to him and give him the plan of salvation he would ask her, "Sherry, are you going to get saved?" And she would always say, "Well, no, I'm too young to understand." I thought that was so funny.

You cannot overdose on soul winning.

1. Why be a soul winner~Because we are here to tell others about God. II Corinthians 5:15 "And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."

2. Hell is real~It's not a pleasant thought, but Hell is a real place. Luke 16:24 "And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in that flame." This is not a parable that Jesus was telling. We need to always keep the fact that Hell is real in the forefront of our minds.

3. Jesus is coming soon~We don't know when, so there is a sense of urgency. There are lives at stake. We also don't know when any of us will die. If the Lord touches your heart to witness to someone, even a stranger, not just someone you know personally, OBEY him. You never know!! If they reject him, you are not guilty of their blood. You've done all you can do. All that is expected.

4. Winning a soul is everlasting value. Soul winning is never a waste of time. The devil can't undo salvation.

5. Rewards for soul winning~There are crowns of rejoicing. There is joy when someone is birthed into Heaven. And crowns are given to those that do the birthing. The soul winner! Even after we are gone from this earth, we can still be receiving rewards for soul winning by the testimony we leave behind. Sherry Camperson is still getting letters of people accepting Christ from things they read by her dad. He is still collecting rewards, even though he has been gone for so many years. So you still earn rewards when you die. Our work on earth can continue baring fruit. Proverbs 11:30 "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise."

Curtis Hutson said, "If you're afraid to win a 6ft tall sinner, find a 3ft tall sinner and win him! Just win SOMEBODY for Jesus!"

It encourages your children to be soul winners when you are a soul winner. No one is qualified to carry the gospel and tell others about Christ. But we are expected to do it.

A sin sick soul needs the balm of Gilead. Salvation will save a life forever. We can't rescue everybody, but we can rescue all we can. People may tell you no, but don't give up on soul winning. You won't catch fish every time you fish. But it's still worth fishing.

Always be prepared. Use tracts. Have them everywhere. Your purse, your pockets, your glove compartments, etc.

Be creative. Send a bunch of tracts tied to helium balloons! You never know who will find one on the ground and read it.

Prescription for a Healthy Marriage

We went back to the gym for a snack Friday night, which consisted of assorted cookies, pastries, chips and dip, coffee, hot cider, pepsi, and diet pepsi. It was yummos!

This is Brenda and Kelly T. Kelly's daughter is holding up the bunny ears. Boy! The lack of respect for parents today......;)


A group of our ladies...


A group of our girls....Hannah, Jessie, and Cassie


Elizabeth (bunny fingers girl)



LeAnna being crazy



Dana enjoying a chat with her mother, Mrs. Carolyn



Mrs. Ava, Crystay, and Tammy



Cammi...Remember the video of the boy singing I'm Going Higher? This is his momma.



Kellie R trying to hide from my camera.....HA! Keep tryin' Kellie!



April....bless her heart. Pregnant and so very tired that night. She enjoyed her time, but she was ready to lay down and get some needed maternity zzzzzz's.


Pam



The next workshop I attended was with Sherry Camperson. She is the oldest daughter of the Hutson's. She has got to be one of the SWEETEST ladies! She ADORES her family and it just radiates off of her.




This workshop was called Prescription for a Healthy Marriage. She had a handout with blanks to fill in, so I'm going to copy that. She also had an EXCELLENT tip about pumpkin pie. If you'd like to know that tip, ask me later. ;)

Sometimes conflicts in marriage are created when couples make each other unhappy by deliberately hurting one another. But most often conflicts in marriage are caused when couples fail to make each other happy simply because they are not aware of each other's vastly different needs. So, who needs what? We'll focus on the needs of the husband.

What is love? Love is the unselfish desire to meet the needs of the cherished object. Know your husband's needs and make it your goal to meet them. This is love.

Exchange the GOLDEN Rule for the PLATINUM Rule.

Instead of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, do unto others as they would have you do unto them.

Deuteronomy 10:12,13 "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to FEAR the Lord thy God, to WALK in all his ways, and to LOVE him, and to SERVE the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to KEEP the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?"

RESPECT (FEAR)

While you long for family commitment, he desperately needs your admiration. You need him to be proud of his family; he needs you to be proud of him. Your husband is vulnerable to your opinions of him.

I got tickled when she said this because it is so true. Every once in a while Bruce will say something like, "I think I could be a doctor" or "I think I would be good at skydiving" or "I could be a sculptor." And I always answer back, "You can, baby!" or "You WOULD be good at that." Now, whether or not I truly believe that, he believes I believe it. And that makes him feel good to know that I have confidence in him. He knows I have a high opinion of him.

All relationships need respect and starts with it. He wants a sweet spirit from us. Respect his property and his privacy.

If he wants to talk, stop whatever it is you're doing and listen to him.

Choose to overlook his faults.

It wasn't the apple on the tree, but the pair on the ground that brought sin into the world.

"She" needs a protector. "He" needs a companion. Make him a leader by being a follower.

Recreation (WALK)

While you have a great need for conversation, your husband has a great need for you to be his recreational partner.

Learn to walk together. To play together. Find time to have fun together!

Men like their quiet time. They all have a "cave" and like to go to that "cave."

In our case, Bruce's cave is his workshop or sitting on the couch with his guitar.

Respect the cave, but he's ready for recreation, play with him.

Romance (LOVE)

While you can't do without affection, your husband cannot survive without s*e*x*u*a*l fulfillment. (I added the stars so people googling wouldn't think this was a perverted site. Thanks for that tip, Pam!) While you are attracted to his honesty and openess, your husband is drawn to your physical attractions and differences. Titus 2:4 "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children." We need to taught how to love our husbands. When we say our marriage vows, we promise to obey. If we live by our vows and obey our husbands, we will love him. Show him physical affection. Be pretty for him. An attractive woman is made....not born!

Regard (SERVE)

While you need financial support, that is enough money to live comfortably: he needs peace and quiet, that is domestic support. While the home is your world, the home is his castle, his occupation being his world.
He is at work more than at home. When he comes home, he doesn't want to be bombarded with what's falling apart in the house and how the children disobeyed all day. He wants to be served. Greet him at the door with a kiss. Try homecooked meals for a change instead of frozen dinners or eating out. Men LOVE a good homecooked meal. Figure out his favorite recipes and make them for him.

Restrain (KEEP)

"Keep" is a military term, meaning the "last line of defense." While you need his protection, he needs your obedience of submission. Submission is not your punishment for being a woman; submission is your passport to happiness. View God's commandments as expressions of His love and protection, rather than restrictions to your happiness.

I remember someone saying once that submission is 1% action, 99% attitude. This is so true!

Submitting to another = for the glory of God. Learn what makes him tick and things that tick him off!

IF YOU KEEP ON DOING AFTER YOU GET MARRIED WHAT YOU DID BEFORE YOU GOT MARRIED IN ORDER TO GET MARRIED, YOU WON'T GET UNMARRIED!