RS Weekly Update: Monday, July 7th through Sunday, July 13th

First and Foremost:

Thanks to Kelly Lyon, Natalie Rucker, Arlena Puffer, Marsha Johnson, and everyone else who helped make the 4th of July pancake breakfast such a success. Pictures from the event can be found here.

Important Notice:

• SCHEDULE CHANGE: In reviewing this week, we realized that we have over-scheduled Enrichment activities due to poor communication and non-availability of instructors. Therefore, there will be no Cooking Club this week. Rather, it has been rescheduled for Tuesday, July 29th at 7:00 pm. Mandy Davies will be teaching Chinese Cooking. Starting in August, the Cooking Club will occupy its permanent time slot as the third Tuesday of every month, 7:00 pm.
  

This Week:

• Remember, the temple will be closed for maintenance both this week and next, and will reopen to its usual schedule on Tuesday, July 22, 2008. Consider volunteering to help fulfill our ward's cleaning shift assignments. Contact Brother Roger Lyon for more information.
• Homemaking 101: Easy Curtains & Valences: Thursday, July 10th, 7pm @ Hafer Road. Contact Sister Ginger Paruszewski for material requirements, etc.
• BGDC: Compassionate Crocheting: Friday, July 11th, 10:00 am @ Hafer Road. Come learn to crochet (or come ready to coach), as we crochet afghans for sisters in the ward. Each sister is asked to bring a skein of yarn. Sister Claudia Del Papa for the specifics.
  
• Garden Club: Fall Features Field Trip: Friday, July 10:30am @ Heiden's Feed Store (map it). Come for special instruction regarding what plants make the best fall gardens, and how to successfully grow fruit trees in southeast Texas.
  

Sunday's Lesson:

Teachings of Joseph Smith, Lesson 12: Proclaim Glad Tidings to All the World, by Maralyn Reid

Upcoming Ward Events:

• Thursday, July 17, 7pm Stake and Ward Temple Recommend Interviews at Hafer Road.
  
• Tuesday, July 22nd, 10am session: Relief Society Temple Day,
• Thursday, July 24th, 7pm session: Ward Temple Day.
• Monday, August 25th: School starts for both Klein and Spring ISD's.

Visiting Teaching:

• July Message: All Human Beings Are Created in the Image of God
• If you have sisters you did not see on Sunday, please mail them a copy of the Relief Society Newsletter. Copies are available in the foyer every Sunday, or can be found online in pdf format at http://groups.google.com/group/oldeoaksrs. Also, consider referring them to our blog at http://oorsweeklyupdate.blogspot.com which I hope will be laced with much useful information, both temporal and spiritual.

Preparedness:

New from Sister Cheryl Driggs this week are two offerings, guidelines for both long-term and short-term storage. Visit http://groups.google.com/group/oldeoaksrs to log in. Then follow the link in the index. They can also be downloaded by visiting the "files" page.

Enrichment:

• Homemaking 101, BGDC crocheting, and Garden Club field trip this week (see above).
  
• Thursday, July 18th, 10 am @ Hafer: BGDC: Jewelry making with Sister Melissa Bowcutt.
• Tuesday, July 22nd, 10am session: Relief Society Temple Day,
• Thursday, July 24th, 7pm session: Ward Temple Day.
  
• Friday, July 25th, 10am: BGDC: Field trip to the Children's Museum of Houston.
• Tuesday, August 29th, 7 pm: Cooking Club: Chinese Cooking with Mandy Davies.
• Friday, August 1st, 8:30 pm: SUGGESTED FAMILY ACTIVITY: Shakespearean Festival at Miller Outdoor Theater.

Our intent is to edify rather than harry the sisters of the Olde Oaks Ward. Enrichment activities are developed to foster socialization and address the needs of specific interest groups. No one should feel obligated to attend. If you have ideas for low- or no-cost activities, if you would like to learn a skill we have not addressed, or if you have a talent you would like to share, please, let us know. Enrichment Committee: Jeanette Schadler, Claudia Del Papa, Marilyn Bullock.

Recurring Events:

• 2nd Thursday of every month: Gardening Club
• 3rd Tuesday of every month: Cooking Club
• 3rd Thursday of every month: Temple Recommend Interviews
  
• 4th Tuesday of every month: Relief Society Temple Day
• 4th Thursday of every month: Ward Temple Day

Today's Additions

Google Group Updates:

• The Gardening Club news on the home page has been updated to clarify the date and time of the feed store field trip. This will be on Friday, July 11th at 10:30 am. This conflicts with the Sewing Club's scheduled service project, but we'll try to make sure people who want to do both will be able to.
  
• New Feature: Recipe of the Day: This post may not be every day, but there are plenty of good, basic recipes floating around that itch to be disseminated. Remember, we're compiling a cookbook as we go, so send me yours! You can even submit tips or variations to what we've posted in the comment section. An index of these blog recipes is included on the Cooking Club Recipe page.
• I've also added the corn casserole recipe we had in March with the gumbo, but lots of you have brought dishes to the demonstrations for which we don't have the recipes (Verlayn's cheese dip recipe, for example). If you would email them to me so we can include them on the Google site, that would be terrific.
• I posted the new "Preach My Gospel" page which can be found following Home>Just Cool Stuff>Great Links>Preach My Gospel.
  

Okay. I can see how the "of the Day" clause of my little projects can become very dangerous for me. It's too easy to get sucked into the machine looking for good stuff and allowing the day to slip past without you. So, I'm going to discipline myself and make it 'of the Week' instead. It will work like this:

Sunday: Preach My Gospel
Monday: Weekly Update
Tuesday: Recipe of the Week
Wednesday: BYE (actually, Steadfast Faith in Christ: a Missionary Journal day)
Thursday: Link of the Week
Friday: Blog of the Week

Of course, I wouldn't mind at all of anyone got the urge to help contribute and thus increase the frequency/volume of the columns, but I have to pretend to discipline myself just a bit.