W.I.L.D. - With In the Lord's Design...QMCC Ladies' Retreat

This past Friday and Saturday the 33rd Annual QMCC Ladies Retreat was held at QMCC. (Note: QMCC stands for Quartz Mountain Christian Camp.  See link on blog home page or click on QMCC in first sentence.) Between 70-80 ladies were able to attend this uplifting and special event.

This year's theme was "W.I.L.D. - With In the Lord's Design".  Animal print shoes were added to the decor for a fun touch.

Two sisters and their mother attended the retreat for the first time.  The sisters were so excited when we announced that the shoes were for sale if anyone wanted them!  They bought four pair!!  They said they had never seen so many pairs of cute shoes in their sizes!

The shirts were GREAT and designed by Custom Graphics in Altus, OK.  Call them for your printing needs! Shirts could be ordered in red or hot pink and with bling or without.  The zebra print you see on the sides is a silky under-shirt.

One of the decorators made these cute animal print tissue holders for everyone.  They were so neat and such a fun addition to the retreat!

Another friend made high heeled shoe chocolates.  To make them she used the packaged candy making chocolate, but added Hershey's chocolate to it, as well.  They were delicious!

The candy heels were tied off with an animal print ribbon and placed at each table setting.

The program and flyer carried out the theme and included the theme scripture:  "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10.

This table served as the cupcake decorating table.  

Those in attendance had the choice of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry cupcakes and had lots of colors of icings, sprinkles, and cupcake toppers.  

There was also a way to make a high heeled shoe cupcake.  Many took on this challenge and did a great job!

                                                        

The heel toppers were made with a round scalloped punch cutout of animal print, then a printed label with a high heeled shoe graphic, and finally glued to a toothpick.

Another shot of the tables.  This is before the chocolate shoes were added.

 Snake skinned shoes.....Someone bought these, too!  It wouldn't have been me! I'm afraid of snakes, even on shoes!

 Plaster paris high heeled shoes were made in 4-inch shoe molds and given to each lady. Directions for the shoes can be found on my recipe/craft blog HERE.

Animal-printed tissue paper, ribbons, rhinestones, and pearls were available to decorate the shoes.

Modge Podge and glue guns were used to assemble the decorations.  Aren't they cute???!!!

 The red shirt with bling....

My great-niece and great-nephew in their jammies at the retreat.  They were so cute and fun to watch.  They also seemed to enjoy their time at the retreat so that the mommies could enjoy their time, too!

There were four speakers at the retreat.  My niece, seated in the middle, was the main speaker and did an excellent job.  She talked about the works/good deeds that we women can do for the Lord and specifically touched on what young mothers can do.  To the right, seated, is one of my sisters-in-law.  She did the Friday night late devo.  My daughter, Lauren is seated on the left and mother-in-law is standing.  They spoke Saturday morning. Each of these three talked about serving God and doing good works for the Lord where you are right now.  They each gave examples of things we could all do.  They all did a wonderful job!  Another sister-in-law filled in as song leader and did an excellent job! She had help from another new friend, who also did a great job!  

The Saturday morning activities included scrapbooking-type crafts.  The ladies could make decorated bookmarks and folders using animal-printed paper, duct tape, ribbons, scriptures, and "bling". 

It was fun seeing each person's design and creativity shine!

 The folders will be great for keeping Bible class materials together or just as a reminder of the retreat.

 One of the best parts of the retreat is hearing all of the ladies' sweet voices harmonizing together in praise to our Heavenly Father.  It's just a glimpse of what Heaven will be, I'm certain, but enough of a glimpse I look forward to each and every year.  The friendships between sisters in Christ grows more and more at this retreat.  It is a highlight of the year for many of us!  We're excited to see what the Rush Springs ladies plan for our retreat next year as they have volunteered to coordinate the event for all of us.  Thanks, ladies!

Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with the 2012 retreat.....from helping with decorations, supplies, spreading the word about the event, encouraging others to come, those who attended, those who prayed, led singing, help lead discussion groups, made/brought food, made the shirts, made the favors, and everything else.  Your help is greatly appreciated, and the retreat would not have been a success without YOU!  Even if all you did was attend, YOU made it special and we all thank you very, very much!

As we ended the Friday night session, we ended with a song that has been a camp tradition in my lift forever.  We ended by singing, "God Bless You, Go With God".  So, until we meet again next year - if it is the Lord's Will, that is - we are saying to each other, "God Bless You, Go With God" until we meet again!