A W.I.N.ing hit!

So much to tell!
I should be working but am too excited to share.

W.I.N. (Women in Networking was great!)
We had about 15 ladies and they were thrilled to be there.
From Camp Boggy Creek, Deveraux Kids, to Sherri from Veggie Table, we had them all! A new young friend (no kids yet even) who has become my little "pet" was there, from NY Life, she and her husband's passion is teaching kids financial responsibilty! You'll be seeing some fun stuff from her in LFM in the future.
She is going to set Sloan up on a financial plan, goal of saving, etc. Really Fun!
We had the GM from a Leesburg Hotel, a new chiropractor and many more!

They almost all stood up and said how thankful they were for a group that cared about biblical standards matching up with business practices. They were blessed! Everyone shared heartaches, and heart-happies, told stories from fertility to business deals and is exactly what I had envisioned. I really enjoyed myself and am soooo glad we did it.

One member/friend is a caterer and brings beautiful boxed lunches for 7 bucks with pink tulle wrapped around and beautiful sandwiches, garden salad and gourmet cookie. So they can pre-order ahead for the next meeting.

It was really wonderful and if I ever get rid of the mag, (common theme I know) I see myself keeping the networking group and the radio show!

THEN we went to look at a house Jeff found when he was out "distributing". Lol

Can I get a WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVED IT!. BIG with 4 big bedrooms, open kitchen, huge living room with cathedral ceilings, office space, lots of closet space....AND an enclosed big pool AND....a brace yourself,
10 stall horse barn!

And that my friends is all she wrote for the girls. Lol

Really nice place high on a hill..bit far away but closer to dear M (too bad she doesn't read blogs anymore) and Sherri! Sorry NewHope, even though you've become LFM's little darling through Angel Food Ministries, CCOTL is our HOME> We have never felt so happy to be there...

When Sloan and I walked in today for W.I.N. we just felt the peace of the Lord envelop us.
We LOVE CCOTL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that's a true reformer talking! WOOHOO!
(Hey, pretty cool that I said woohoo long before joining CCOTL, lol)

anyway, the house price is juuuuuust right and well, there could be some serious busy times ahead if that all works out.
We are trying to discount sell a piece of commercial property elsewhere and buy this one outright. If so, there would be NO HOUSEPAYMENT. WOW.

So...still behind...still tons of work, but happy and good to see Jeff more hopeful too.
Ladies loved W.I.N. and we even talked about courtship, submission to authority and a lot of other cool stuff.

Now, that's some serious networking! Ha!

Thanks to Lisa and Doug for making that happen. WHAT a service to the community that will be!

Here is the speech I gave:

Welcome to Win.
Women in Networking is a group that formed in mind about a year ago. I envisioned a group of dynamic business professionals who were women of course, building each other’s businesses by building relationships. That was our tag line and is still in some of the marketing materials. We met in Leesburg, what I consider far from home, and I soon shut it down due to the stress of meeting weekly and keeping track of everything. It seemed fruitless. I was relieved and have never regretted it. However, I have been fielding emails ever since from women who missed it and wondered if it were starting back up again as I left that option open. After much thought and prayer, here we are.

I actually give credit to my friend Sheri Owen of Veggie Table which is an organic produce co-op I joined. I went out there to collect my first round of veggies and I was hooked, on the veggies yes, but even more so, on the people. I LOVED this group of women who met and found one of my greatest pleasures was going out every other Thursday to collect my veggies, but even more so to see these amazing women who were just like me. Crazed & busy with kids running everywhere, paperwork in one hand and a diaper in the other, but always with a smile on their face. They were FUN and running a business. My very dream. The exact way I wanted to run my business. I wanted to keep having FUN, bring glory to God with my endeavors and attract others by being able to shine God’s light still. I immediately started thinking of the WIN group again and how I wanted it to have the same feel. Unassuming, unpretentious & loving. So in a few short weeks, here we are- up and running again.
I did not want to repeat the same thing as before so I went ahead and developed and announced this new group into what perhaps it always should have been; A Christian woman’s networking group focusing on God in our lives, which includes business, instead of just business, which is actually the smaller part of our lives.
I watched the old W.I.N. begin to take on this bent as it developed anyway and often thought, “Oh, why didn’t I just do that to begin with?”
This networking group is designed to be first and foremost a group that glorifies God. God is, or should be, the very center of all we do in business and out of business. Here we will encourage, inspire and support each other to not be afraid to take God with us into the workplace… In a way that does not turn off or appear overbearing or haughty, but rather by example and encouragement of others to be who Christ calls us to be; Witnesses.
Women face a unique challenge in business. And I for one am on a new journey in my life. I came from a very liberal household but thankfully the Lord got ahold of me pretty young! So I began as a career woman and was brought through that, and into the biblical truth of caring for my children and being a keeper at home. Now that is not a judgment on what anyone else does. That is just what happened in my OWN life. We are all on different paths and all of our beliefs are slightly different. I ask that we respect differences in this group, not judge them. We also know that God’s Word says the biblical woman can turn a profit from home which is when we bought the magazine. As an aid to our family financially and a good fit to the gifts God had given to my husband and to myself.
Fast forward a year later and I find myself facing the same challenges and even more, than working outside the home. We run the magazine from home and their always children under foot and the work is always there calling..calling… Busy Busy Busy all the time!
Hence W.I.N. being re-born. (no pun intended)
Since the beginning of our journey, I did a lot of networking and saw a lot of things and was somewhat discouraged by the world I had re-entered. While we are called to be in the world and not OF the world…I found myself at more and more and events and functions where Christ was non-existent.
Could I operate in business successfully while not attending these functions?
Could I be set apart but still be sharp and business savvy?
It was difficult.
W.I.N. is as much for me as it is for you.
It is meant to encourage us all, keep us closer to Christ, trouble shoot situations with sisters in Christ who understand the unique challenges that women in business face. We are here to promote our businesses… build our businesses but also be a haven; a balm for our spirits as the sometimes Christless business world can rub us raw and can leave us a bit jaded, on edge, or even discouraged.
We can be doing God’s Work whether it is changing a diaper or running a staff of 200.
I am not sure what God has planned for this group but I don’t want to get in the way of whatever it is. So I surrender this group to the Lord for his will and good pleasure.
I wonder if it will mean some women returning to their first calling?
I wonder if it will mean calling some women out even further?
I wonder how the encouragement we have to offer each other will build us up and keep us strong in the adversity we face as mothers, wives and businesswoman.
What I do NOT wonder is what kind of networking group this actually is.
This is a different kind of business networking; here, we focus on Family, Honor, Integrity, Faith.

If you made it through all that, you ROCK. LOL

Shalom Ya'll.