RS Christmas Activity

Sweets, Love, Laughter, Friendship, Warmth - 
What a wonderful night it was!

We talked about what signs we all were on the inside.  See http://www.mamamia.com.au/news/her-husband-had-an-accident/

We talked about what signs Joseph and Mary might have worn on the inside

We talked about how we can be kinder and less judgmental this Christmas season.

We put blank signs on our backs and we let others fill in what they see good about us.

We made blessing jars, ate tons of sweets, chatted and laughed, and wrote more and more compliments.

Then we finished it up with a fast paced white elephant gift exchange.  See http://www.diva-girl-parties-and-stuff.com/right-left-christmas-game.html

Super Saturday

We had such a fun Super Saturday!  It was an evening of food, fun, visiting, music and CRAFTING!

We made earrings and necklaces, family trees out of buttons and tiles, Christmas decorations, colorful yarn vases, Deluxe grocery list holders, and more.

We had been gently reminded that we cannot ask the sisters to pay for any of these crafts and so we got creative in finding and using supplies. 

We had several sisters teaching us how to make these fun crafts and even had our missionaries teaching two crafts.

We had some brethren join us for security purposes because it was about 10:30pm by the time we got everything cleaned up.

We invited the young women to join us and we even had a primary girl teach a craft.

One thing we will look at for next year will be whether we should offer babysitting.

Another thing we have to do next year is make sure our Activity leader keeps tight control of our budget.  We had one sister that used up the majority of the budget on her craft.

All in all, It was such a fun night and successful night, there were plenty of crafts to go around, and lots of food left over, and it was really fun to see some of our less active and non-member friends join us.

Keeping Connected

We NOW have 2 Blogs available to keep our sisters informed & connected!


http://just4kalaheo.wordpress.com        
This blog houses our newsletters, as well as current events, and announcements.


http://kalaheo2012.blogspot.com/           
This blog contains pieces of the stories of our sisters lives.  

These stories are very interesting and good way for us to get to know each other, and to feel more connected to each other.

Emergency Preparedness

Our activity tonight was on being prepared for emergencies or disasters such as hurricanes,or tsunamis, or life threatening events.  

We had two members of the Red Cross speak to us about their services, and what we can do to be prepared for these unexpected situations.  

We also had three American Medical Response (ambulance) professionals who discussed with us what we can do to help them, help us.  

And we also had the Kauai Fire Department talk to us about their C.E.R.T. program (Community Emergency Response Training), which is a course they offer to train people to be able to respond and assist in helping our neighbors, and our community in the event of a disaster; in assessing damage, and rescuing trapped and injured people, until professional help can get to there.

We had approximately 45 people in attendance, many were non-members who were invited by their member neighbors.  
Everyone participated, learned a lot, and many are looking forward now to various CERT, first aid, and other classes that we will be arranging shortly.

We finished the evening with a delicious dinner.   
The whole night was very successful!

I love technology!

Thanks to sister Iris Caycayon and sister Heidi Aceret I have been introduced to the world of google docs!
Yay!

We are now using google docs to make forms that will reach those sisters that were not able to show up for visiting teaching interviews.

Next we will follow sister Acerets lead and make a similar form so the sisters can return and report on the care and needs of the sisters they visit.

Who know what other uses we will find to help us help our dear sisters!

I love technology and am grateful for those that show me advances that I have been missing!

We Are Fond of You!

WHAT A FUN FONDUE NIGHT!     
(Fondue: because we are fond of you!)

I am bummed because we forgot to get pictures!

Imagine:  chocolate fondue, cheese fondue, lemon fondue, pizza fondue and everything you can imagine to dip - yummy, yummy, yummy!!

Then lots of get-to-know-you-better activities!

We described ourselves using candy bars.   We worked together to see which table could build the tallest tower.  And we had a blast speed dating!  Who knew speed dating would be so much fun!

It was such a great night!   And bonus: In addition to a good turn out by our members, we had one visitor, one member's mother, one member from Kekaha, two non-members, and three less actives join us!   Attendance was awesome!

It was an all around really fun night!

Here is the Pizza Fondue Recipe from http://www.mrfood.com:
it is an inside-out version of pizza    

Pizza Fondue

Serves: 6

Cooking Time: 8 min

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 loaf Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

What To Do:

1. In a medium skillet, brown ground beef over medium-high heat for 4 to 6 minutes, until crumbled and no pink remains.
    
2. In a medium saucepan, combine spaghetti sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, and oregano over medium-high heat, stirring until cheeses are melted.
    
3. Add crumbled ground beef and cook until heated through. Pour into a fondue pot and serve with bread cubes for dipping.

Fantastic Mini Health Fair

Tonight we had a fantastic mini health fair!    We learned from Brooke O'day how to eat more and weigh less.  We learned from Phyllis Karratti and Sariah natural ways to help our health including using oils, and we learned from Dr Derek Johnson (to quote Becky Morris) "How to Put your Local Orthopedic Surgeon Out of Business". It was a very educational, as well as entertaining, night.  

We also said farewell to my 2nd counsleor Mary Peterson who is moving to Canada.  We will miss her and we wish her all the best! 

RS Birthday Party

What a fun night!  

Tonight we celebrated our Relief Society Birthday with a party!  

Our theme:

‘Remember the past, learn from it.  

Contemplate the future, prepare for it.  

Live in the present, serve in it.  Therein lies our strength.’   

We had two presentations, three speakers, and lots and lots of food.  

 We had to lose the craft because of time, and our singing number ended up being all of us singing together, but we were able to collect almost two hundred dresses to send to two wards in the Philippines, and one sister was able to discover a new talent.  

All in all it was a great night spent as sisters and friends!

Stop & Swap Clothing Exchange

Well, what can I say?  The Clothing Exchange ended up being a lot of fun!   Those that had, gave.  Those that needed, took.  We had lots of time to laugh and talk story and in the end we brought in pizza and talked and laughed some more.   We are very pleased with this first effort to have an annual clothing exchange.  Bonus:  We had several less actives and a non-member stop by and shop, a visitor stop in to ask directions, and a family that is contemplating moving here stop by to ask questions.   We have learned a few things about doing this, and I think we will be able to get the word out better next time.  All is good :-)

It's all about love!

It is February - the month of love!   <3    We had a wonderful evening of learning how to show and increase our love for our husbands and family members.  Bishop and sister Herr taught us and then we had a yummy dinner of salads, bread and strawberry shortcake.  Then we made these fun crafts and wrote love letters.  We were a small group of members tonight.  I had invited three less actives and two non-members but none of them accepted my invitation this time.  Maybe next time....

Share the Care for Merv and family

We really had a wonderful turnout from the whole stake for our 'Share the Care' meeting to help out Merv Kimura and his family!  and it is also so wonderful to see how quickly the online sign-up is being filled up.  We are truly blessed as an island and stake with the most wonderful members!  Thank you for your support sisters!



Update:   The outpouring of love and service for the Kimura family has truly been an amazing sight to witness and feel!   The service has not just come from sources near in proximity to the Kimuras but from all around the entire island!  All those that know the Kimuras are truly grateful for this love and support in helping to care for Merv and his family.  Here is a note of thanks from Merv's daughter Jamiee too:  Jamiee says "Could you please also post a thank you on behalf of the family for all of the help, prayers, love and sacrifice many have made to help us -- for moving the shops, the meals, the therapy help, all of this.  That we are truly grateful...Thank you!"

Service Auction

We had so much fun at our service auction tonight!  Four out of our five sisters on our fifteen name list received very personal invitations to tonights event and I had my hopes up that we might see a few of them tonight but at least we received back messages of how much they appreciated us thinking of them.

The auction was well attended by our sisters and many services and talents were auctioned off.  It was a good time had by all.

Purpose

Aloha Dear Relief Society Presidents!  The purpose of this blog is to share experiences, celebrate successes, and to give encouragement!  We look forward to your posts and comments.  Thank you.