I Forgot My Camera!!!

Yes, I wanted to have lots of pics to remind me of my yearly get away, but one of the things I forgot was my camera- I also forgot my sports bra ( I left a bit early on Sunday to play soccer), my tooth brush (hello fuzzy teeth!), and butter. Not too bad- last time I forgot pajamas.

About 16 of us headed up to 4 little cabins on a small lake about 45 minutes from my house. On Friday night we basically ate from 5:30 till 11 pm- between the appy's and dinner I went for a walk so that I would stop eating. I tried to practice self control by pushing my meal plates away when I was full. The food was awesome, but I won't go on and on about it.

On Saturday I left for a bit to coach my 11 year old daughter's soccer game. We WON!!! Victory dance. I was delighted because her two real coaches who are men were away and they have only tied there games so far. I did not want the team to lose on my watch. Happily, they did not. Yes, this is all a personal pride issue- I am aware of it and will try to remedy that. In the meantime I will do another little victory dance!

It was such a cool drive that morning- the trees up there were fiery reds, oranges and brilliant yellows. It was getting windy and leaves were swirling around as I drove. Back at the cabins, we started spa-ing shortly after I got back. We fussed a bit about how we didn't know what to do until my cousin in law who planned the event set us straight. We actually had a lot of fun. We rotated between 3 different stations: pedicure, manicure, and facials, and took turns providing the service, and then having it done on us. I have a thing about feet, but I think God helped me have a servant heart as I got into it enough to volunteer to do an extra set of tootsies. My friend Barb didn't even blink an eye at my missing toenails. I think we spent at least 2 hours playing with creams, scrubs, masks, and polish. It didn't cost anything because we brought what we had.

From there we went on to our murder mystery. Most of us didn't really know what we were doing, and I don't know that we played it right, but it was still fun. The theme was chocolate, so how could it go wrong? I made a black forest trifle for that evening that was yummy and so easy. I should post the recipe. The weather was REALLY windy by then- the best part was that the power went out. None of us were sure if it was planned or not. I was expecting to get "murdered" in the dark. It remained out for the rest of the night so we brought out candles and carried on. Note: ALWAYS remember to turn off the light switches before you go to bed, or else when the power comes back on you will be blinded by light at 2 o'clock in the morning.

Sunday morning I led a devotional- the cool thing that I wanted to share was how God was so faithful and in control. I knew who was doing the other two devotionals- one person was my SIL, who I talk to all the time. I almost asked both these ladies what they were speaking about ahead of time, so that our talks could flow, but realized that God would take care of that if we would individually seek His guidance. He did just that. It ended up that we all talked about chaoticness, lack of time, and how giving our days to God would change our priorities. We talked about how giving God the first part of our day in prayer and scripture reading would make a difference to ourselves and everyone else within our sphere of influence. We challenged everyone to keep a daily scripture reading journal. I hope that when we come back next year, we can share how God worked in our lives through this.

After that, I hopped back into my mini van and zipped off to my own soccer game- which was exhilarating in the wind and side ways rain. It wasn't a very challenging game, and I think almost everyone of us scored! I was quite excited to get home to my hubby, kids, and wood stove.

So, there you have it, my weekend in a nut shell. I have some other thoughts swirling around in my head, stemming from some of our talks, but this post has been long enough. I will save that for another time-maybe when I post the pics that my friend promised to email me.