My SOS (Sisters of Service)

I'm going to be a copy cat today. (Actually I am a lot of days, but nobody knows it but Sheila b/c she is the one I'm always copying.) I'm going to do a Thankful Thursday who was created by Cassandra. Today I'm thankful for my SOS (Sisters of Service). I come from a small (about 100 members) older church both memberwise and building wise. I have been incredibly active in my church since I was a small child. First I did acolyting, then ushering, then youth commissioner (which included being a part of the session), then teahing Sunday school, then becoming an elder which meant leading my own committee for three years, to leading and directing Vacation Bible School, and now I'm a helper and supporter of Joe who just became an elder. In my eyes I had done just about every thing offered at our church expcet join the women's group. The women's group was made up of older women. There would have been a good 30-40 age gap between me and them. I was saving that until I got older, as I kept telling myself. Well when we got our new preacher almost three years ago he brought with him his family. A wife in her 30s (he is in his 30s or 40s) and two daughters now 5 and 3. Having a younger preacher brought back some of the people that I had grown up with that hadn't been active in a while. So our church was beginning to even out a little between the young and old and now all the babies. Well his wife needed to feel connected and so we started another women's group that consists of mainly younger women, some middle aged women, and one or two in their 60s. When first asked if I wanted to join I again said no, that I was saving that for when I got older. Well some of the girls really encouraged me to come to the first meeting. I went and loved it. It was great to be able to talk about our problems: our husbands, our kids, work. A lot of us were going through the same stuff. We named ourselves the Sisters of Service and in 2.5 years have already done some great mission projects around the church and community. I work for a lawyer and so it is just me and him. I have two young children so I go home every day and spend time with my family. I have a friend from high school that I keep in touch with but she is in Birmingham. We get together with family. And we have three couples that we do stuff with with: my brother and his wife, my husband's brother and his wife, and then a set of friends. My husband works with a ton of guys and gets to go hunting and fishing (not as much as he would like), but he has his outlets. Whereas, I didn't. My SOS has helped me through a lot of life's issues. In our group there is always someone you can go to where it be a friend or a mother type person. Everyone loves you and accepts you and honestly wants the best for you. We take care of each other. There is someone in the group that you can go to for each problem that arrises. We have truly become sisters. If it han't been for this group forming, I would have never known some of these wonderful ladies on the level that I now know them. I am so thanful that God allowed me to open up myself a little to become invovled. We meet once a month and we do extra projects. We do fundraising, we do a progressive dinner in November, and we do an annual trip to the Fresh Air Farm in Birmingham. We leave on Friday and come back on Sunday. This is our second year doing it. Last year we shopped, hung out, watched a movie, had devotional time, and some other things. The Farm is an awsome place. It is a place where underprivileged children can go for "summer camp." While there they teach the children art, cooking, gardening, etc. It is a great place for the kids. When you first walk into the main hall it looks like you are walking into a murder mystery house. Last year we all had our own rooms with a twin bed. I'm not sure how many of us are going this year so some of us have to share rooms. It is just a great weekend sobatical to reconnect with yourself and your sisters. So I want to thank each one of my sisters and the everything that they have brought to my life. I love you all.