Meeting Reminder!!!

Don't forget!! We have our next Eastside Women of Purpose meeting THIS Sunday, July 11th at 9:30am in the OCC Music Suite's Choir Room. Read the blog entry below for your little homework assignment... I hope to see you all there!

back to school...

Just kidding...but here is a little homework for our upcoming WOP meeting on Sunday:

*Start by... thinking of people in your sphere of influence: family, friends, life groups, business associates, school connections, kid connections, neighbors, etc? Make a list.

*Determine...which of these people in your sphere of influence could...1) Help us coordinate this event. 2) Play golf in this tournament. 3) Be one of the numerous sponsors that we need to make this event a success. Put each person in their potential category.

Pictures for a Purpose Set-Up Pictures

We Just Pulled It Off!

We have officially finished our first major fundraiser - Pictures for a Purpose - and it was a surprisingly WONDERFUL, EASY day! We were so fortunate. All of our volunteers showed up, our equipment never failed us, we had power, it felt incredibly easy going, everyone was healthy, the kiddos were adorable and well-behaved... Thank you to all of our dedicated photographers and volunteers! In the meantime, I am wiped! More info and a couple of pictures to follow!

"Dangerous Surrender: What Happens When You Say Yes to God"

I recently finished reading this GREAT book by Kaye Warren - wife of Rick Warren. It was recommended to me by my dear friend, Kristina. She has given me many a good book recommendation over the years so I immediately ordered it. While it admittedly took me a couple of months to get through, it wasn't because of any weakness on the book's part (I just don't have the reading time that I used to).

I admit that I will often judge a book by Christian women before I read it... I don't often feel like the stereotypical "Christian Women" books are relevant to where I am at... Many feel antiquated... cheesy... unrealistic... I could go on. But this book is NOT that. It is written from a place of honesty that I think that we rarely get to experience as readers.

This book has greatly contributed to the rocking of my world and I would recommend it to anyone trying to figure out who they were created to be and what God's will is for their lives. I have even forced this book on my Bible Study group!

Go on and order the book right now! I promise that it is a great one and you can totally buy it used!

"The Girl Effect" - You've Gotta Watch This

Pictures for a Purpose

The morning time slots are almost all filled so if you want a prime time and have been meaning to sign up, visit
www.picsforapurpose.com and sign up now!

Your child's smile could help save a life...

Eastside Women of Purpose is launching their 1st Annual Pictures for a Purpose fundraiser! We have five super talented photographers lined up to photograph your kiddos on Saturday, June 28th from 9am to 6pm. To coolest part is that every photographer is donating their entire day and all profits to Eastside Women of Purpose! Everything we make will go towards programs that help protect children at risk from being trafficked in SE Asia.

Experts estimate 5.7 million children are trapped in forced or bonded labor. About one
million of these children are exploited in the sex trade each year. (Source: UNICEF) Many
times, unwitting parents hand over their children to slavers under false pretenses, such as
promises of schooling.


You can help.






Take advantage of this opportunity to secure a lasting memory of your child. All proceeds will be used to pay for desperately needed educational and training resources used
by World Concern to combat child trafficking throughout SE Asia.

Your $30 sitting fee goes directly to this cause. Pick the photos you like from our easy-to-use
website—flexible a la carte pricing lets you pick the photos and sizes you really want. The site will even change the picture to black and white or sepia tone for you! There is
no obligation to buy. Again, all of the proceeds from this event will go towards this project.

We are selling these photo sessions at OCC (across from the info booth) on Sunday mornings or or you can visit www.picsforapurpose.com and sign up from there. If you live in the Seattle area and would like to participate but have absolutely no idea where OCC is, feel free to comment on this posting or visit picsforapurpose.com to schedule an appointment!

A Change of Date and Time for our June Meeting

As most of you know, we decided to have our WOP meetings on the 1st Sunday of every month. We thought that we were very clever and smart and that it would make it so much easier for people to plan their Sundays... We all try so hard!

We have run into a small problem for the month of June... June 1st is Dave Morgan's (Celebration Service Music Pastor) last Sunday at the church and all extra activities at the church will be suspended as their will be one 10am service to celebrate Dave.

So... we will now be having our June meeting on the 8th instead! And just to be even crazier - we are going to start the meeting at 9am so that we can take care of EWOP business before our speaker gets there! Be there! Mark your calendars! It is going to be a really cool meeting. There will be a Seattle Human Trafficking Detective at the meeting to educate us on the human trafficking going on right here in Seattle. It should be a really informative meeting. It is sometimes easy to think that trafficking happens in other parts of the world but it is happening right here... I hope to see you all there!

Pictures for a Purpose

Your child's smile could help save a life...

We are launching our 1st Annual Pictures for a Purpose fundraiser at our May 4th meeting. We have five great photographers lined up to photograph our kiddos on Saturday, June 28th. Every photographer is donating their entire day and all profits to Eastside Women of Purpose!

Our goal is to raise $6500. All proceeds go to programs that help children at risk of being trafficked in
SE Asia.

You will have a chance to sign up to help at our next meeting on Sunday, May 4th! (Check out how cool these shots are...)

Our Next Meeting is...

Sunday, MAY 4th at 9:30am in OCC's Orchestra Room! We will be launching our 1st Annual Pictures for a Purpose Fundraiser that we hope will raise at least $6500! We will be able to buy lots more jewelry from Freedom Stones (I have tons of it in my possession and the jewelry is gorgeous)! Be there! Bring friends! See you soon...

Help Stop the Hunger Crisis!

In just three years, the price of staple foods like wheat, corn and rice has almost doubled, and this week, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that if left unchecked, global food shortages could set the world back seven years in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease. We must urge our leaders to take action.

Sign One's petition to President Bush. Click on this link and take 30 seconds to sign the petition.

The Truth About Chocolate

Among other things, I am a chocolate lover. I just came across an article about the trafficking of children into the chocolate business. An estimated 12,000 children have been trafficked into Cote d’Ivoire to work on small cocoa farms. Nearly half of the world’s chocolate comes from Cote d’Ivoire. That's 12,000 children making our cheap-o chocolate!! This really rocks me. So what can we do as consumers of chocolate (some of us more than others).

After a little research, I found out that fair trade chocolate is also traffik free chocolate. I will be really careful where I buy chocolate from now on. Check out the Good Chocolate Guide to find out where you can buy Fair Trade Chocolate locally. Trader Joes brand is fair trade certified and Whole Foods carries fair trade chocolate as well. Help me by spreading the word about chocolate! Just another step in putting traffickers out of business...

Last Call for AWAKE!!

OCC's Awake Women's Event is coming up this weekend! We moved the event into a larger room so that you can still have a chance to register but space is filling up fast!

Check out www.occ.org for details or e-mail charlened@occ.org
This event is going to be life-changing (and very not cheesy!) You can also register the night of the event if you are a last minute kind of person. (It starts at 7pm...)

For a preview of our speakers, you can visit;

www.sunbreaksintherainycity.blogspot.com (Jodie Howerton, speaker)

www.onemomtrying.blogspot.com (Neely McQueen, speaker)

www.troniefoundation.org (Rani Hong, speaker)

www.mrssyrup.blogspot.com (Marisa Butterworth, worship leader)

See you all there!

Freedom Stones are Back!

Lynne just returned from another trip to Thailand where she met with the boys making the Freedom Stone necklaces and brought some back for us to sell! We only have a couple left after our meeting yesterday but email her (lynnee@occ.org) if you would like one. We also have another shipment ordered so if you can't buy one this time around, we will have more!

Date Change for Pictures for a Purpose

We have changed the date for Pictures for a Purpose to Saturday, June 28th. We will start selling the appointments at the May meeting. Be ready to sell!