A wonderful weekend

I went to an area like this for my God and I time -- so serene and quiet!

One week ago today, I was en route to a ladies' retreat at The Wilds of New England.  I want to quickly post about it before I forget.  The pictures were taken with my Kindle, so are not the top quality, but still it gives you an idea.

This picture is taken as one walks from the cabin area to the courtyard.  As you look to the buildings in the background, the Sweet Shoppe is to the left and the coffee shop just to the right of the flagpole.

Only two other ladies from my church were going to the retreat, and they both had work responsibilities that had them traveling to The Wilds from other directions.  So I traveled there with a vanload of ladies from another area church.  We all knew one another already and had some great fellowship en route.  Their entire group ended up in a tent, so I was very happy to find myself and my friends from church assigned to a cabin:

Most years it has been very, very cold in the cabins.  This year they have propane heaters, but the evening was so warm that we didn't need to use them.  In fact, when we were getting things settled in the cabin at around 5 pm, we had to open all the windows!  Still, I was glad I had brought warm bedding and warm clothes to sleep in.  It is September, and things do cool down in the evenings no matter how warm the day has been.

We had two ladies from Massachusetts (one being a dear friend, so it was a blessing to have her assigned to our cabin) and two ladies from Maine in our cabin as well.  

The meals were all wonderful -- think blueberry French toast bake for breakfast, with sausages and sliced peaches on the side and plenty of good coffee.  Supper on Saturday was an amazing chicken dish in a basil sauce (I think) served over spaghetti squash.   The fellowship among 140 women and teen girls was wonderful, the music was great, and the sessions by Reba Bowman were fantastic.  She spoke on "Gravel Road Growth" and lessons Jesus taught the disciples prior to going to the cross, from John chapters 13, 14, and 15.  What an encouragement to "listen in" as He taught these lessons to these men who were soon going to need all the courage and comfort they could get.   It fit right in with lessons I've been teaching in Sunday School and was just so good.

One terrific thing about these retreats is that even though you are busy and taking in a lot of information, there is also plenty of free time.  Breakfast is not until 8;15, so there is plenty of time to get up early and have a quiet time, or even to sleep later if one is so inclined.  I began my Saturday morning in the coffee shop, sipping a large hazelnut coffee and reading my Bible.   There is another seating area upstairs and I was able to slip up there for a good time of prayer -- taking a large maple coffee (so delicious!) along with me.  The coffee prices are so reasonable.

This was taken inside Cool Beans at night, with my tablet, so it is not the best quality.  But you get the idea.

On Saturday afternoon there are several hours of free time when we can be as relaxed or as active as we like.  Energetic types can zipline or play laser tag; those who just want some rest can take a nap, sit by a campfire, enjoy coffee or ice cream in Cool Beans or the Sweet Shoppe, read,  or do needlework.  If you are more of an in-between type, you can go on a hike or a hayride or play board games with friends.  This year they also had a wreath-making activity where the participants decorated twig wreaths for fall. 

I went on a hayride with my friend Ruth and also spent time in Cool Beans enjoying an Italian cream soda and working on a cross-stitch project -- that is, until the lens fell out of my bifocals!  I turned to crochet instead.

The landscaping and gardening around the various buildings is just so pretty.  This is one of the staff homes.

This is a closer look at the pallet planter at left in the above photo.

It's so nice because while you are there, you don't have any of your daily responsibilities to tend to.  No cooking, no dishes to wash, no housework, no childcare or eldercare -- you just get to enjoy fantastic fellowship and pay attention to what God is teaching you.  If you live in or near New England, you owe it to yourself to check out a retreat for next fall!