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Evergreen Outreach-March 10, 2011

By Dr. Melanie Schaafsma

Pam Childers playing piano is such a joy to hear as one first arrives at the weekly Evergreen Outreach “party.”
Beulah Brown was our leader in the singing of the "Welcome Song" and the "Outreach Song," with helpers holding up the words for everyone. Beulah welcomed a special visitor, Connie Canal, who was with us from Nebraska. Connie is the younger sister of Anne Robinson, one of the Heartland Honeys we were waiting to see.
The birthdays for this week were: Tim Haas (8th), Tracy Stokes (8th), Bill Whitehurst (10th), Dorothy Walters (11th), Audri Hulskotter (12th), Christina Penny (12th) and Robert Wagner (13th). Beulah led us all in "Happy Birthday" and "God Bless You" for all of the March birthday men and women.
The Rev. Joe Lawson gave the devotion this week. He focused on Proverbs 15:15. “He who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.” Or, as Joe said, “A cheerful heart has a continual feast or party.” He noted that at most of our celebrations, we have meals, we party, we laugh and we sing.  When we have a cheerful heart, it’s like having a party going on inside of us.
Having a cheerful heart depends mostly on how we view life. We wouldn’t want to be like Eyore from "Winnie the Pooh," who always had a sad-sack kind of outlook on life. Eyore was pretty much a negative character. But we can choose to look at life from a positive viewpoint.
When we have a connection with God, we have a continual feast, a continual party. When we have a cheerful heart, we can make a difference in others’ lives by helping them to find the happiness and the feast/party in every day.
The pinochle players were busy at their table on Monday.  The women were on fire.  Shirley Locke and Peggy Lippold won  two games, while Richard Kruenegel and John Hunsley won only one game. You go girls!
Providing the entertainment was the Heartland Honeys, a dance troupe of five dancers.  They are: Gwendolyn Ware (director), Anne Robinson, Jeanette Dippold, Rhonda DuBridge and Robin Rutland. They were all in black, with green Mardi Gras beads and necklaces with shamrocks on them. The Honeys started off with “Do You Want to Dance?” and “Rockin’ Robin.”  Then, they made a quick addition to their costumes, donning wide-brimmed, green, feathered hats with big pink flowers on them.  The Honeys danced to “If You’re Irish” and made another change into red hats, some with purple sashes on them, and danced to “The Red Hat Shuffle.”
At this point, a gentleman who was impressed with the Honeys leaned over to me and said, “They’ve been practicing!” But the performance wasn’t over yet! They danced to “Stupid Cupid (Stop Picking on Me)” and then went out into the audience to get volunteers to dance with them. Several people went up to the front. Gwendolyn taught them all the steps to a dance (which I thought had fairly complicated steps). They all danced together to “The Unicorn,” and did a fine job of it! Gwendolyn told the audience that the song lyrics told a story that the unicorns missed the boat, so that’s why we don’t see them today!
Again, the gentleman next to me remarked that the Honeys were good, and it reminded him of being in Chicago when he was in his 20s, around the 1940s. He would go to a dance hall named “The Blackhawk Ballroom,” where they taught people the steps to the latest dances.
The Honeys had to end on a “chicken” note, with the "Chicken Dance" (of course).  Many went up to the front and cheeped, flapped their wings,  wiggle, wiggle, wiggled and clap, clap, clapped!
I think it was just as much fun to watch as it was for those dancing!
Come join us next week.         
 

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