LIFT Banquet and A Give-Away (Everyone Wins Something): Table #1

Last night was our LIFT Christmas banquet.

It stands for Ladies In Fellowship Together.

 I have decided to do a giveaway.

I started to say that I'm in the Christmas spirit, 

but really I'm just enjoying the Joy of Jesus.

I have been to Bethlehem.

I'm giving away an ornament 

made by one of our ladies.

(I hope she'll make me another, HINT-HINT)

I will feature one or two tables every day for a week.

1.  Be a follower of White Lace and Promises
2. Visit and leave a comment on Facebook 

or White Lace and Promises. 

(any suggestions or comments are welcomed)

3.  Share my blog with a friend. Let me know you shared.

Your name will be entered twice.

If your friend follows me and comments, she will be entered too.

She must be a new follower.

4.  On the last day, vote for your favorite table.

Everyone who enters, comments, shares or invites a friend

will get a special little (I say little) gift from me

just to say thanks and Merry Christmas, 

so be sure to send your address by email.

Our speaker tonight is a close friend of mine. 

Oh my goodness, she is so full of Jesus.

HE just oozes out all over her and gets me gooey too.

Do you hear me?

She talked to us about The Table of Jesus.

We are all invited to the table.

At His table, there is more than enough.

As Bob Benson would say, 

enough fried chicken for everyone,
and still we hold on to our balony sandwich on stale bread
and say, "No, I'm fine."

Table #1

Blue Christmas

Sparkly, blue bows for napkins holders.

The hostess of this table gave each of her guests a cross.

Hilda asked if we had met Jesus at the cross.

I know my need to go to the cross daily.

The cross...

The place where we find

redemption and restoration.

Some call it the GREAT exchange,

the place where we exchange

our sorrow for joy,

our hurt and resentment for forgiveness,

our pain for peace, 

our rejection for His acceptance, 

our sin for HIS grace and mercy.

She asked that we meet Jesus at the manger,

the place of worship where we may sing as the angels.

"Glory to God in the Highest and on earth, peace, goodwill to men."

It takes my breath away to understand that He loved me 

enough to give up Royalty, and to become a servant,

that I may be adopted into His family.

He is the King and that makes me a princess.

To me Thanksgiving should be every day.

So, I think it's perfectly alright if we put up our trees in November. 

Jesus died on a tree.  He is what Christmas is all about anyway.

This is a busy time of year.

Many people have more on their plates than they can digest. 

During this season, I pray for you, my dear sister 

that you will not let the hustle and bustle make you miss Jesus.

Tonight I noticed as each lady tried to decide where she wanted to sit.  

So many pretties, but ladies who didn't feel pretty.

Ladies who came not feeling that they belonged at any table. 

I too have felt isolation at times.

We ladies are like that aren't we?

I invite you to just pull up a chair and sit at HIS table. 

There's room enough for all and as Bob Benson would say

there's plenty of potato salad, mashed potatoes, and fried chicken.

Just throw the baloney sandwich in the garbage

and let's ask the blessing and EAT.

God's table is full and He always has enough for everyone, 

enough grace, enough peace, enough love, enough joy.

He has more than enough.

Join me at the table. 

Bonnie:)

Don't forget to enter.  Everyone wins!

I am linking up the Cozy Little House this week
for Tweak it Tuesdays.
http://www.cozylittlehouse.com/

A Hometown Christmas

There's nothing quite like a hometown Christmas.

The familiar lights that remain the same year after year,

a mechanical Santa and Mrs. Claus in a storefront window, 

a gazebo decorated with big bulb lights, 

a bike with a basket full of wrapped gifts, are

all cherished momentos of our small town Christmas.

This is the night of the lighting of the Lite-a-Light tree.

Crowds gather to see the tree and hear

the names of their loved ones called.

The lights on the tree are in honor or in memory of

special people that we hold dear. 

  

The event is sponsored by the Pilot Club.

When I worked at the nursing home, 

the Pilot Club brought babies to the residents with Alzheimer's. 

Here's a closer look at the star.

Carriage rides are a favorite for the children.

The children's activities are sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

It's also the night of The Children's Christmas Parade.

Take a look at some of the rides... 

Yes, that's real cotton from a Washington County farm.

Bikes, trikes, wagons, children and their parents 

take a walk around the courthouse square, and

Santa is leading the parade.

Yelp, Santa Claus came to town.

Carols were sung as

shoppers rushed home with their presents.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to 

our Hometown Christmas. 

Do you live in a small town?

What kind of Christmas celebrations does your town have?

Happy Saturday!

Bonnie:)

General Sherman Marches Through GA

This weekend 150 years ago, an event on Washington County's soil changed the course of this town's history.

General William Sherman led 60,000 Union soldiers through Sandersville, Georgia on his way to 

Savannah.  The march led to the freedom of thousands of slaves here.  Those names may have been forgotten had it not been for Mr. Adam Adolphus.

Here is the weekend reenactment of the The North against the South:

Many homes were burned as well as the courthouse.

The Confederate army was out-manned by the Union army.

Mr. Adolphus began to do a little research of his own.  He spent hours digging and looking for anything that may lead him to his family.  He was almost certain to find that some of his ancestors were slaves.  Newspapers recorded 36,000 slaves at that time, many of them being his own ancestors. Mr.  Adolphus found that his Great, great grandmother was once used as collateral for the debt of her master.  She was seized and put in jail until the debt was paid. "Every so often a little bit of information came forward that was hard to accept,  said Mr. Adolphus.  My Great, great grandfather, a white man, impregnated one of the slaves.  I don't know how to take that."

There were 45 African Americans who joined the Confederate Army to fight the Union soldiers.

The Brown House Museum is the headquarters of the Washington County Historical Society. The house was built in 1850. Its appearance today is the result of a Victorian renovation. General Sherman used the house as his Sandersville headquarters during the Civil War. In 1989, the Historical Society took ownership of the house and restored it to its present condition.

(This is my AC man.

I guess now that the war is over, 

he will send the bill for the repairs on my unit.)

The young

the younger,

the older

and the oldest fought in this war.

This is a realistic scene minus the paved roads!

"If your ancestors had a way of life that provided them with good things and all of a sudden, it's gone, that instills bitterness in you, but it's all worth remembering, studying, and passing history down to the next generation," said Mr. Adolphus.

During the reenactment,

Mr. Adolphus read the names of the 

US Colored Troops

from Washington County.

Mr. Simmons is the chairman of 

the local chapter of Am-Vets.

Much of the reenactment was performed 

on the courthouse square.

This young man was one of my teenagers

back in the day.  

The preacher man.

Love the personalities of the soldiers,

and the children.

This is Sarah.

Her mom is the the girl who got married to the AC man.

Their wedding was the first one I featured 

about the Civil War shotgun wedding:)

Washington County housed Confederate and Union 

soldiers through out the weekend.

Look at those nails.  

Bitten down to the quick before the battle was over. 

 I live within walking distance to town.
I was painting outside and I heard
someone yell,
"I can't hear. I can't hear.  He can't hear.  He can't hear."

At first I was like, "What???"
Looking everywhere only to realize that
this is reality TV, reenacted, real live coverage.

Only in small town rural GA will you awaken
to a coon dog baying, a union soldier firing a cannon,
and the sounds of GA football players, band and fans
yelling, "Go Dawgs."

I love the South.
What happened was history.
The community is a divided one in some ways.
The African American's continued to be enslaved though free.
That I am not proud of, however, it is history.
To not acknowledge from where we came,
is to not acknowledge where we are now.

Happy Veteran's Day,

Bonnie:)