Spring Brunch- Invite a Friend & Purchase Your Tickets!

The Women's Spring Brunch is just around the corner! The date is Saturday, April 25 at 10 am at SSEFC. This fabulous outreach opportunity will include gifted speaker, Vicki Tiede who with humor and wit will be sharing "Sweet Blessings: Lessons I've Learned From My Friends & Chocolate". Plan on a delicious brunch and many other wonderful surprises!

Tickets are $12 for SSEFC attendees and $10 for guests. Tickets will go on sale at SSEFC on Sunday, March 29 and then on April 5 and 19. The Spring Brunch is an outreach event so please invite a friend TODAY! Darling, pink invitations are available (complete with a piece of chocolate!) for you to offer to a friend, family member or neighbor - someone who needs to hear an encouraging message of Jesus' love. These lovely invitations will be made available on all Sundays leading up to the brunch.

Contact Evie C at 952-953-3381 with questions. Please invite a friend or two, purchase your tickets, PRAY and come ready for a fun, delicious and encouraging time of fellowship!

Let's Have Coffee! Tuesday, March 31st @ 7 pm

It's time for another Let's Have Coffee! Please come to the Apple Valley Panera Bread Tuesday, March 31 at 7 pm for a fun and relaxed time to connect with other ladies from SSEFC. Let's Have Coffee! is held on the last Tuesday of each month from 7-8 pm (no children please). Look for a sign on a table indicating our group. Mark your calendars now for the next meeting date: April 28. Please be intentional about inviting others to join in on the fun! Thank you and hope to see you there!

Good stuff happening on Tuesday mornings!

The Tuesday morning women's Bible study is going through Linda Dillow's book, Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman's Guide to Finding Contentment. All 20 or so ladies are experiencing a wonderful time of worship, prayer, food, fellowship and Biblical insights on contentment - which Dillow defines as "a peace separate from our circumstances" (pg. 142). We are learning that the Lord longs for us to be content in our circumstances, our forms, our roles and our relationships. We have also been examining the barriers that keep us from experiencing contentment: greed, a faulty focus and anxiety. Dillow says, "If we want to be women of contentment, we must choose to accept our portion, our assigned roles from God. We must make the choice to dwell on the positive aspects of our role in life. If we don't, we'll be discontent, always wanting something different from what we've been given" (pg. 65).

Learning to forgive others is another must for experiencing true contentment in life. Dillow states, "As I look at His [Jesus'] response to betrayal, I am convicted. I must be willing to overlook imperfection as Jesus did. If I insist on perfection or nothing, I'll end up with nothing. I must be willing to forgive! And if you long to be content, so must you. Unless we do, our anxious hearts will not be calmed" (pg. 75).

Our time in God's Word has been rich and wonderful! Please take a look at just some of the scripture we have been studying and memorizing together: Phil. 4:6-13, Col. 3:12-14, Hebrews 13:5 and I Peter 5:6-7.

Above are just a few photos of the wonderful ladies who participate. It's never too late to join us! We meet Tuesdays at 9:20 am in room E254. The study runs through April 7th. Or please consider joining us in the Fall of '09 when we complete a Beth Moore study together.

The last photo above represents our service project. We filled two 18 gallon bins with items needed for children living at For His Glory Orphanage in Port au Prince, Haiti. A husband and wife adopting from that orphanage will be traveling to Haiti March 18th to meet their son and daughter for the first time. They will deliver the bins to the orphanage in person! What a blessing and privilege to share what we have with those who need it more! "Let us consider how we may spur one another on to love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:24

"Heart of a Woman" Winter Retreat 2009

What a great turn out for this year's SSEFC's Women's Winter Retreat! Everyone who came enjoyed incredible amounts of laughter and fun (...and food!). With a fresh dusting of snow, we were all in awe of the Lord's beautiful creation surrounding Mt. Olivet Retreat Center in Farmington, MN. Some of us even enjoyed a long hike together through the snowy woods...some enjoyed the pool and hot tub...late night talks...games...and, of course, chocolate!

Our speaker, Naomi Mohr shared with us "The Power of Encouragement" and the tremendous impact of our words - both good and bad. Proverbs 3:27, 12:25 and 18:14 were just a few of the insights shared from scripture that deal with the power of the tongue. She also spoke on Matthew 6:25-34 and "Surviving Seasons of Stress". A memorable quote from Naomi: "The depth of our anxiety measures the distance we are from God."

On Sunday, Holly Cain from SSEFC shared truth and encouragement from God's Word as she presented her beautiful quilt creations. Her quilts provided fantastic imagery of the Lord as our Master Quilter and how He has creatively designed us for His purposes. The whole retreat encompassed a wonderful time of Biblical teaching, worship and warm fellowship. A HUGE thank you to everyone who planned and participated!

The post below contains photos from the retreat. They offer just a glimpse of the fun we had! Enjoy them and please consider joining us for the next women's retreat in February 2010!

If you went on the retreat, we would love to hear from you! Click on "Comments" below this post and let us know about the significant things you learned, a funny story, a nice memory,...We'd all like to hear from you!

Photos from the Women's Winter Retreat 2009!

Our speaker, Naomi Mohr

Plenty of friends, hugs and laughter ("internal jogging")


We had a blast playing games.....The winning team!


The models...


...The work and creativity that made them beautiful!

More games!

Eating...

Eating...

Eating...

...and MORE eating!

Yes...we even played Wii.

Mind games

Holly shared her quilts with us.

A hike through breathtaking surroundings!

Visit here for more great photos!

Let's Have Coffee! Tuesday, Feb. 24th @ 7 pm

It's time for another Let's Have Coffee! Please come to the Apple Valley Panera Tuesday, February 24 at 7 pm for a fun and relaxed time to connect with other ladies from SSEFC. There were around 20 ladies in attendance in January so let's see if we can beat our record!

Let's Have Coffee! is held on the last Tuesday of each month from 7-8 pm (no children please). Mark your calendars now for these other upcoming meeting dates: March 31 & April 28. Please be intentional about inviting others to join in on the fun! Thank you!

Let's Hit the Slopes!

Believe it or not, Spring is coming. So let's get together for a fun, winter adventure before we lose all the snow! Join South Suburban ladies for an evening of skiing at Afton Alps on Thursday, February 26th. We can start skiing at 4:30 pm. Cost is $27 for a lift ticket and $24 for rentals. An additional discount is offered for groups of 20 or more so contact Jen Bentley via the church directory with questions and to reserve a spot. Carpools and meeting times will be arranged closer to the 26th. This event is open to daughters and other lady friends....so put Feb. 26th on your calendar for a winter evening of fellowship!

Disclaimer: Minnesota skiing is a little different than this photo depicts. But it's still fun. :)