Church Retreat

This weekend was church retreat. I love church retreat. The church goes out to Camp Mennoscah. We camp, we play, we worship. It's great. So on Saturday we packed up the car and the kids and drove out to camp (about an hour and 1/2 drive). Ian got to help Mark set up our tent. Yes we camped in a tent. I know we're crazy but hey it was fun! Mark made sure to bring Ian's toy hammer so he could help hammer in the stakes. :) Cai seems to love looking at leaves. Every time I laid him down on a blanket under the trees he would just stare up and coo. So adorable. Food at retreat is always wonderful. Homemade pizza on Sat; amazing coffee cake, along with breads and cheese for breakfast on Sun; and Chili for lunch. YUM!!!! Desserts were cookies, brownies and popcorn balls. It is so fun to eat, talk and enjoy everyone in such an informal setting.

I think I have two most favorite events of the weekend (Although I thoroughly enjoyed it all). First: Contra dancing. It is so fun to contra dance. I'd never done it before. But the best part was Ian. I couldn't dance very well with him in the big circle. A couple other moms and their sons (who are around Ian's age) and I all formed our own circle and danced. We tried to follow the instructions only keeping with our boys rather than changing partners. The kids were so cute and we all had a great time. Second: Camp Fire at our tent area. Several of the parents, of school aged kids and younger, got together and talked around the fire. It was wonderful to laugh and talk with everyone. Especially since I felt like some of those around the fire I haven't had a good opportunity to really get to know. The sky was so beautiful, the fire warm and the laughter merry. I could not have asked for a more perfect night.

In the worship service on Sunday, we all were led in a guided meditation where we were to picture an image from the weekend that reminded us of God's presence. At first my mind went straight to the night sky. The stars were so vivid and bright. But as I continued to picture the image it flipped to show our fire circle from above. We were asked to draw this image to the best of our ability. While the drawing is not the best. I wanted to share mine, because the image is still strong in my mind. Retreat could not have come at a better time. Despite being exhausted from the weekend, I feel somehow refreshed and renewed.

You can check out our pictures of the weekend at
http://picasaweb.google.com/marksaner/08octchurchretreat#
or click on the title of this post