Hello Monday!

 Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for this blog post.

Most of my weekend was spent at a women's retreat with the ladies in my church, so that's what I'm sharing today. On Thursday, I met two of my friends at our church and we drove out to a nearby town's beautiful retreat center. 

We unloaded our stuff, then we got busy with setting up some things for our friend and women's leader Amy. We stuffed gift bags and got them placed and shortly after that, people started arriving. 

Isn't it beautiful? The huge great room of the Hospitality Inn was where everyone hung out. There was water, coffee and a soft drink machine that was free and endless for us while we were there, and they sold snacks for $1 at the snack bar. The beds were amazingly comfy with the softest, most buttery sheets I have ever slept on. 

As people arrived, I was in the chapel figuring out how to run the sound for us all weekend. That was my job and it kept me busy most of the time, but it went well and was even kind of fun. We had all or our meals here in The Barn. After dinner, we had our first session, which was basically a welcome and a short talk about what Amy hoped to accomplish through our time together all weekend. Our goal and aim in women's ministry at our church is the example of Titus 2—the older women discipling the younger women. After that first session, we had fun talking while some of the ladies played a giant game of Jenga.

The food was delicious and the staff was so nice. This is much improved since the time I was here years ago as a camp counselor. There are cabins still that are around a lake, but even though this barn was there then, they've redecorated it and it's beautiful. On Saturday, we had three sessions in all, with two guest speakers at the ones during the day time. I loved both of the ladies who spoke and what they had to say. Our first speaker was Ellen from a church near us in Collierville. She encouraged us in our relationships with one another and ended with a song that encouraged us to tell people what they meant to us. This was such a beautiful time together! I don't know that there was a dry eye in the room and this was one of my favorite parts of our time together.

My friend Allison snapped this picture of our pastor's wife Darlene hugging her mom-in-love, Pam. Many of you remember praying for Darlene in the fall of last year. She almost died from covid/pneumonia, so to see her there that day and this picture was a powerful testament to God's sovereignty. Our second speaker was a lady named Crickett, another women's leader from a church in Memphis, who spoke on living our lives with purpose. She encouraged us to write out a mission statement for our lives, which I am really interested in learning more about and then doing. 

We played games again that night, but some of us opted out of that so that we could talk to and get to know new people.

This was the sound panel and computer that I was in charge of all weekend! Not intimidating in the least. ;)

This gal above is Hannah, who led us in worship all weekend. She has a beautiful voice! 

I took this picture above to send to my niece Erika. This is my younger friend Eden, who went to high school with my nephews and niece Erika! There was also another younger lady there who knew them and we talked for a while about that and how everyone is doing now.

This is my friend Laurie (above), who has been a friend for over ten years. Our kids have grown up together, and we've been camp counselors at this same retreat center together. We go way back together and I was so glad she came this weekend.

My friend Dedee celebrated her birthday on Saturday with us. The writing team surprised her with gifts and by barging into her room to sing happy birthday. 

The worship was incredible, the teaching was wonderful and the fellowship was what everyone seemed to need. One thing I've heard that's a common thread from the weekend is that it was good to get to know people we normally wouldn't get the chance. There were sixty four of us there! I am so grateful to my friends Amy and Barbee for putting all of this together. A lot of work went into it for both of them, but I know it was worth it all. 

We're already looking forward to next year! Thanks for reading, friends! Love to all.