A couples' retreat at The Wilds of New England

This past weekend, Mr. T and I had the huge blessing of being able to visit The Wilds of New England once again for a couples' retreat.  To say we had a nice time would be a gigantic understatement!  We were blessed that several other couples from our church also attended the retreat this year.  We ourselves try to attend every fall.  Sometimes there have been very few people there that we knew.  But around the tables, on the hayride, and more, we always meet new people and end up having a wonderful time of fellowship.

Of course the New England foliage is always gorgeous in October.  But the folks at TWNE decorate everything so beautifully as well, indoors and out.  Below is a pretty arrangement which decorated the meeting house where the sessions were held:

Inside the tall lanterns are glass goblets filled with water and a floating candle.  These were lit during Friday night's session and were so pretty.  The base of the goblet was surrounded with acorns.  And the sprays of leaves illuminating the corner?  Those are real leaves!  Aren't they so pretty?  The dining tables were adorned with similar lanterns and the window sills in the dining hall had the goblets with floating candles.  So festive!  It makes people feel really special to know that someone went to some effort to make things nice for them.

The sessions, with Dr. Greg Mazak, had a theme of Marriage 101 and were absolutely incredible.   The four sessions were as follows:
1. Marriage: Godly Essentials
2. Marriage: God's Plan and Definition
3. Marriage: God's Purpose
4. Marriage: God's Priorities

and were simply excellent.  We learned so much and have begun applying it.

We always enjoy spending time in Cool Beans, the TWNE coffee shop.  On the first evening, we had a bit of free time after checking in.  I quickly snapped this with my Kindle to send to my daughter:

Those are maple coffees you see on the table.  Yummy!  It was a chilly weekend so we enjoyed coffee several times.  The coffee is so good and the prices extremely reasonable.  The fireplace provided some welcome warmth as well.

Mr. T took this photo of the fireplace from above, so you can't see the crackling flames.  So pretty though.

We had our God and I time upstairs in the coffee shop on Saturday, and went back there later to warm up with another maple coffee after our hike.

The fire pit (below) makes another nice place to warm up.

Pretty foliage alongside the field!

The next two photos were taken on a hike around the property.  We thought they were interesting.  The photo below (click to enlarge) shows yellow and red leaves that have fallen onto lacy green hemlock branches in a very decorative way.  We had never seen anything like this!

We thought the moss-covered stumps surrounded by leaves were interesting.

The two photos below were taken while on the hayride.  Mr. T didn't think they'd come out that well, since they were being taken from a moving, jolting wagon.  But they came out great!

Just prior to leaving on the hayride, we saw a few snowflakes!  You can see how white-looking the sky was.  Thankfully, we only had a few flakes and by the time we got back the sun was shining.

Just a view of some of the buildings and the foliage.

The food and coffee were yummy, the teaching and music fantastic, the fellowship wonderful, the time together priceless.  Hope you've enjoyed this peek into our blessing-filled weekend!