As always, the luncheon on Friday was full of sweet fellowship and women getting to meet other women!

It was like any other wonderful 3rd Friday of the month…

until we learned the reality of what’s taking place in our own back yard….  It was sobering and shocking.  Frankly, I’m still processing all I heard.

Did you know…  North Carolina is 8th on the FBI’s list of states most likely to have trafficking?  8th! (This is due to our major highways, coastal and mountain tourism, military bases and universities…)

Did you further know, 50% of  trafficked children are boys between the ages of 11-13?  That surprised me.  I thought most would have been girls.  (girls 12-14 is the common age)

Abbi Tengalia, Founder of Transforming Hope Ministries, a nonprofit that provides help through education, prevention, and restoration was our guest speaker.

Abbi,herself, was a victim of human trafficking.  She bravely shared her story.  She even got teary eyed as she shared how her loving heavenly Father rescued her from the nightmare she once lived.

Before leaving – Abbi had time to take questions from the audience.

GREAT questions were asked!

Some of the things I learned:

Most children exploited in the United States, are American.  The common vulnerabilities to being lured into exploitation are:

• homelessness or children living in foster care
• interaction with social services or juvenile detention facilities
• history of abuse
• habitual running away or drug addiction
• living in a single parent home especially if the parent struggles with addiction.

As of January 2014, there were 527 homeless people counted in Durham and Wake Counties.  Of those, 333 were children.

SOBERING…

This is the first time we’ve had an issue based lunch.  After getting to know Abbi, I personally am looking for ways that we (KGM) can partner with Transforming Hope Ministries in the future.

My team and I knew the General Session would be… heavy… and it was.  So we intentionally decided to shift gears for the Workshop.

So not only was this a 1st  issue based luncheon, but this was the first in doing a fufu workshop!  And it was FABULOUS!!!  (We have nothing against fufu – we just try to use the time differently!)

The women LOVED IT!   It was tons of fun with practical application for the girl who struggles with hospitality!  (me!)

Kelly and Amy were amazing as they shared ways to prepare our homes and our hearts for the upcoming holidays.

If you could not stay or if you missed, they showed us how easy it is to make centerpieces like this:

and this!  It’s SUPER EASY!

For a pdf download of hospitality tips – click here

For appetizer recipe’s (that Kelly MADE and allowed for us sample:  click here
For cookie recipe’s that Amy MADE and allowed us to sample:  click here

It was like the Kelly and Amy show!
I could have listened to them talk for at least another hour.   They’ve become great friends through KGM.   The way they bounced off each other was organic, funny and left you sitting on the edge of your seat as to what they were going to say next…

Especially when Kelly encouraged us to pre pray our holiday events – that she specifically prays a certain family member would merely keep his pants on!?!  (We never got to the bottom of that one – she said, “Another story for another time!”)

We’re curious, Kelly!

Point being – pray about the big details, the small details and the annoying details!

Great Luncheon – no GREAT Luncheon!

Don’t miss December’s luncheon:  
December 12th 
Johnny and Beth Evans!