Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real ~ Church Retreat

Pretty ~ We attended our church's retreat this year for the first time. We were blessed by receiving a full scholarship which made this lovely weekend possible. Below is the historic cabin we stayed in. It was a bit damp and chilly but such a beautiful location. The retreat was in a beautiful valley on a lake tucked into the North Carolina mountains. It was gorgeous!

Happy ~ Our church is a bit of a graying church and doesn't have a lot of children. However, the children that are there get along well together, no matter their ages. They all just play and learn together. I was so happy to see my children have the opportunity to learn kayaking skills and go out on the lake on their own. The kids swam in the lake, even though the water was in the very low 60's and there was plenty of evidence of water snakes. They loved it and wouldn't come out until they were blue.

Anne loved the kayak.

The boys returning with one of the fathers from a paddle around the lake. Dean is second from left on a paddle board.

Dear Husband and I made it out on the lake, too.

Funny ~ The kids learned about guerrilla marketing in their youth group classes. They created a symbol which they felt represented the love of Jesus and spread it around all over the retreat grounds with flour. 

We also had a dove release on the last day of retreat. We were warned that the doves were about to fly and many of us thought we were ready with our cameras. However, the doves took off and were gone in a blink. This was the only shot I got. Some of us didn't get a thing.

Real ~ While we were hiking, we found a mountain graveyard. I love graveyards. This one was still active, but if you went back into the trees, there were gravestones from the Civil War. I even found a grave marker for a couple who shared our adopted children's birth surname (which I will not be showing in this blog to protect their privacy). I will have to research to see if my kids are somehow related to this couple. The name is somewhat rare and the kids roots run deep in the Appalachian mountains. 

This one was built and carved by hand.

It was a wonderful weekend. One of the best parts was not having to cook six whole meals. What a treat to this Mom! I'm just keeping it real!

Blessings, Dawn