Paint Night

Every year our church does two ladies retreats - one in the spring and one in the fall. This past September we did an If:Gathering by holding an If:Local event. This was a women's retreat that was actually held globally via a live event and streaming. We watched the videos of that earlier event at our retreat. The teaching was excellent. 

A result of that meeting, however, were monthly If:Table events. These are fun activities that we do to stay connected or get connected with other ladies in our church. Our church is not that large in all actuality or compared to many city churches. However, we do meet in a old, small country church. Folks are seated in the main sanctuary, the balcony, and then the cafe/fellowship area which doubles as our overflow space. As a result, you can actually miss seeing people. Many of us have cringed when we introduced ourselves to a "new" person only to find out they have been coming not just for months, but potentially years! This is one reason I enjoy the If:Table events. 

In October and November we did a Paint Night at our church. These are very popular these days but most are held in local restaurants or bars. While I have no problem with that, I was also very much looking forward to enjoying one at my church (yes, I have gone to a Paint Nite held in a different location). 

The event was so popular that the tickets for October were sold out so we added another one in November which is the one I attended. Our final project is the first photo I shared above and yes, that is my painting. 

The first time they did this, they had a potluck dinner but found it took up so much time to eat and then set up, that they were there really late. For our event in November, we did a dessert potluck. It was great to socialize with some ladies from church and eat some yummy goodies. Then we started working on our projects. I like my final painting from this event much better than I did from the first event I went to.

We had quite a few ladies come out. I'm not sure how many were there, but I think about 25-30. I know they plan to do other events for If:Table, but I'm hoping they do another Paint Night soon!