Renovate

I was blessed to go on my first church women's retreat this weekend. I, along with 130 other ladies from Real Life Church, headed into the San Bernardino Mountains to the Forest Home Christian Conference Center for the 5th annual Renovate retreat.

 Here I am with my new friend Ana, who was my seat partner on the 3-hour bus ride up into the mountains. (Friday traffic, gotta love it! We were so glad to be on the bus and not behind the wheel.)

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to know and love new friends from church. Since our church is so big, you have to be intentional about forming friendships, and that can be hard to do. Now, I have a lot of ladies I can talk to by name when I see them on the weekends.

 I didn't go into the chapel, but it sure was pretty to look at! Our topic for the weekend was contentment, and we focused on Paul's letter to the Philippians. Having the focused time to pray and hear from God was life-changing. I hope to go back next year.

The setting was beautiful, as was the weather. We could look out at snow, but it wasn't very cold during the day. I was surrounded by lots of woodpeckers, blue jays and other birds, chipmunks, and even deer. The accommodations were more than comfortable, the food was yummy, and it was just a well-organized, fantastic weekend.

I'm so thankful for my amazing husband, holding down the fort and being supportive of me, in so many ways. Thanks, my dear Stace!