Saturday At The Retreat

Families blending together for the weekend make me smile. I thought taking 40 middle schoolers on a 15 hour bus ride to San Diego is amusing. Put 7 women from my family in 1 room at the beautiful Young Life camp Lost Canyon and let the good times roll. So we were up til after midnight chatting and trying to get settled in. Mom had to get up and use the potty at 5am so the chatter began again.

The cabin next door must not have understood our JOY because they sent a blanket clad messenger to ask us to keep our laughter to a low giggle. Party poopers. We may have to teepee their cabin tonight. It is the Christian thing to do. An eye for an eye! A whine for a prank.

This women’s retreat is amazing so far! Young Life knows how to take wonderful care of all in the name of Christ. We had goodie bags on each of our beds in a most comfortable cabin. While we were at the club last night, the YL elves came in and gave us warm fuzzy socks to keep our tootsies toasty.

If laughter is the sign of a successful weekend, this has been a great success. Natalie and I stopped on the way here at a Big Lots to buy prizes for everyone. We also found duck beak quack whistles to add to our ‘Blue Footed Booby’ theme. So we put 1 of Mom’s unnecessary plastic bags outside the door. Then I made an excuse to step outside and put the beaks in the bag. Just another little secret fun time for my crew.

Today, Natalie went on the Pamper Pole, where she climbed up a telephone pole, stood up, and jumped. What bravery! Then Mom, Natalie, and I went in the hot tub surrounded by snow. That is about as brave as I get!

Each of us has just done what we want to do, whether it is napping, reading, chatting over coffee, or laying in bed blogging about camp. This has been an amazing time with each other and just getting away.

This morning, we had a Prayer Mosaic. No, I didn’t know what a Prayer Mosaic was before this morning. We went to different stations around the camp. One place we used clay to mold something like God molds us. At another station, we wrote one of our burdens on a rock and put it in the basket, then took someone else’s burden to pray for. One rock said ‘Wishing for a family” it made me cry. The other stations were just as moving. God is definitely working in the heart of these incredible women at this magnificent retreat.

I thank God that my family is here with me enjoying this special weekend.

In Him,

Joyful
3-29-2010