Women's Retreat
This past weekend I went with our church on our women's retreat along with 60 other amazing women! It was sooooooo good. We stayed at Camp Victory about an hour south of our house I carpooled down with the ladies from our couples' Bible study and it was super fun chatting with all of them.
Highlights:
1) We were totally pampered with lots of sweet touches....surprise handwritten notes from our husbands, verses and chocolate on our pillows, being prayed for by name as soon as we signed up for the retreat, amazing small group leaders, a basket of nail polish during free time, crafts, snacks and goodies galore, etc.
2) Outdoor fun: A few of my favorite "camp" things were getting to go on a gorgeous hike, rock climbing, and ziplining...
 |
| lookout from end of hike |
 |
| There were several ways to get to the top of the zip line, my favorite was rock climbing up the left side of the wall in this picture. |
 |
| Ready to zipline! |
3) Amazing speaker and worship: The TRUE highlight of the weekend was really being overwhelmed by how REAL God is and how he is working. The theme for the weekend's speaker was "Knowing [God] and Being Known [by Him]" and Rachel, from our church, was the speaker. She was fabulous at engaging us, teaching us, relating to us, encouraging us, and inspiring us, and she also arranged for quite a few of the women of the church to share their stories, struggles, and how God is faithful through it all. I was absolutely blown away by the faith of these women and really privileged to be talking with them and learning from them. So many amazing women!
4) Time alone with God with no deadlines or responsibilities: So many times when I am reading my Bible or praying, I am half watching the clock to see when my tutoring student will come, when I should get Summer from her quiet time, or how much time I "can" spend before I need to do necessary chores, etc. Here, there were NO deadlines, NO responsibilities, and NO reason to watch the clock. I could spend uninterrupted time learning from God's word, journaling, and praying for God to mold me more into who he wants me to be. I studied a lot in Matthew 5, the Beatitudes, and was really struck by how far I am from where I want to be. I definitely came home with a renewed passion for God and truly wanting to live out my faith and it has totally continued into my week. This week I have better understood the Beatitude: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6)
Meanwhile, Last Weekend on the Home-Front
Paul did an amazing job of holding down the fort while I was away. He and the kiddos had a BLAST and it was so fun for me to hear him say how much fun he had with them! He texted me a lot of pictures and videos of the fun they were up to back home....
On Friday night...
Colton and Daddy "fished"
 |
| Summer and Daddy played Candyland |
The kiddos sent mommy a goodnight video during bath time...
On Saturday...
 |
| Lucky kiddos got French Toast on Saturday morning |
 |
| Both kids love "dipping" their french toast in the syrup |
 |
| Heading to Target to Birthday shop for mommy :) |
 |
| Highlight: Pet Store! (Paul was a bit worried about his girl-hair-doing skills without me around, but he did a pretty good job with this ponytail....!) |
 |
| Fall Dress-Up Party at a local business area |
It was a great weekend but I was SUPER excited to see my kiddos and amazing hubby again! When I got home on Sunday, we went out to dinner at Olive Garden for an early celebration of my birthday, and the kids gave me the CUTEST card they homemade for me :)
 |
| The Boys |
 |
| The Girls |
1 comments:
Aw, love this post. So glad the retreat was so wonderful for Kelly and it sure looks like Daddy and the kiddos had a blast, too!
Post a Comment