The Gift

Sunday morning after breakfast we got together for a time of fellowship. The theme of the weekend was "Cherish". All of us ladies got together and there was a pile of gifts in the center. Along with each gift was a little card. Each card had something to Cherish on it. The one I had said "Cherish Laughter", other ones said things like: "Cherish Growth", "Cherish Creation", "Cherish your Walk with a God", etc. There was a verse with each card that we read. One person would read their card and then it was open for anyone to share on that topic. There were fun little gifts for us to open that went along with the "Cherish Note". Brenda's card was on Cherishing growth and the gift she opened was a bag of dirt with some seeds.


Before we went away on the weekend Sherry had all of us fill out a paper. It had every one's name on it with blanks for us to fill in things we appreciated about each other. After the sharing time she handed out everyone a card with everything that the ladies said about them. (That is what the ladies are all holding.) It was very meaningful as we don't tell each other enough how much we appreciate each other. It was a nice end to the weekend. Our semester is soon coming to a close. It has been a really good year and it has been a priviledge to get to know these dear ladies. I look forward to some really good fun and fellowship as we do jungle camp together.

Spa Night

After our special dinner it was time to slip into something more comfortable and have a spa night.













As you can see we had fun having pedicures or hand and foot massages, and just spending the evening together. It was a very relaxing time.














After a bit of pampering we enjoyed a delicious ice cream pie that was made earlier in the day. Then we sat back and watched a movie. There was a really cool home theater system with surround sound. We felt like we were at a theater.

Dining Out

It seemed like a lot of time was spent around the table this weekend. We were really "Dining In" but it often felt like we were "Dining Out". A lot of planning went into making some special meals.








We all took turns helping in the kitchen and cleaning up. We had some really yummy meals. We had a delicious brunch on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday. It was pizza and a movie on Friday night. And our Saturday dinner was a very full course dinner. Everyone brought lots of snacks and we certainly didn't go hungry.




























For our Saturday night dinner we all dressed up and made it a special dinner. Everyone looked so beautiful and so we had some fun taking some group pictures.








We are all blowing Sam a kiss as he was the only male on our weekend get away.

Refreshment & Relaxation & Rejuvination & Rest

It was so good to sit and relax. There was all sorts of space for us. Many of us spent time outside and inside.








Erika wasn't able to go the weekend with out giving a hair cut.






























We were disappointed that the heater in the hot tub and swimming pool weren't working. There were a few brave souls who jumped in the pool. But Angela won the award of staying in the pool the longest as she swam several laps.


Brenda gave me some knitting lessons. And my little knitting project provided a few good laughs.

















Some ladies enjoyed tanning, reading, catching up on some sleep, whilte others enjoyed scrap booking.

The Oasis

The next couple of posts I will share some of the high lights from our first year ladies retreat. As you can see from the pictures we had a beautiful place for our little get away. The weather was gorgeous and we were able to spend time outside enjoying this little oasis. We are so thankful for the family who so graciously opened up their home to us for our little get away.