Saturday, March 26, 2011

Faith and Flowers

The pasta dishes and desserts were delicious
and the tables so festive! 



In the spring of 2005, I attended a woman's event at our church called Faith and Flowers.  I was so impressed when I walked into the event!  There was a large attendance.  The tables and stage were decorated beautifully.  The speaker at this event was Cindy Brinker Simmons, daughter of Norman Brinker.  Norman Brinker started a charity in honor of his wife Nancy's sister, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.


I remembered this night wondering how I had missed being such a part of this special evening.  Soon afterwards I started attending planning meetings for this annual event and worked at the event.


Fast forward three years, in 2008 when I was working full time, I received an email asking me if I would chair the 2009 Faith and Flowers.  Me?  My first response was that I could not possibly do this, I was busy working, I did not know how to do this, etc. Clint reminded me I would not have been asked to head the event if there had not been some faith that I could do it. I did it and it was so rewarding! 

Thursday evening I attended the 2011 Faith and Flowers.  The attendance has greatly grown and it was a wonderful eveing.  Local tv and radio host Jody Dean was the keynote speaker.  He is now the voice of the Dallas Cowboys.


Party favors were these neat bracelets ...  in many different styles.
It was good that approximately 250 women were given these bracelets!



There was a long line when I arrived.




Jody Dean is a dynamic speaker! 
This was an encore appearance at
Faith and Flowers.






The table flower arrangements were to go
to a local nursing home after the event.
A great idea!



Bob Hill keeping the Methodist Men in line ...  it has
 become a yearly tradition that they help serve and do
other kitchen duties.  They do such
a great job, thank you guys!



I didn't get there in time to make photos of the food
 before they began serving.





Jody Dean speaking with some of the guests.


3 comments:

Shady Del Knight said...

This is NLP 101, Cindy. You were "handed the microphone" as we discussed in an earlier post. Your first instinct, quite naturally, was to resist and create obstacles. Ultimately you chose to ask the empowering questions: "Why not me? Why not now?" You used the resourceful "act as if" approach to the new responsibility, asking yourself "What if I DID know how to to chair this type of event? What would I do? How would I think, speak and act?" In your mind you created a picture of yourself presiding over the Faith and Flowers. You stepped into that picture. You succeeded. Now that you have proven to yourself that you can do that, what else can you do that you thought you couldn't do?

Karen Kyle Ericson said...

These are beautiful shots that really tell a story. I need to get more involved with the women in my Church. Thanks so much for sharing this.

Cindy Ellison said...

Thank you Shady and Karen for your thoughts and comments. I have been on the road and not been able to respond to comments as I would like.