A WEEKEND AWAY AT A RETREAT

Last weekend, the girls of church went away for a retreat

The timing was perfect for me, I had been through a pretty harrowing week at work, with lots of conflict, and this weekend away gave me a chance to reflect, take time out put things into perspective,  it was a chance to draw closer to the God I serve, and rest in him

The couple of days before I left to go on this retreat, had been particularly stressful at work, so  it was nice to take time out with a lovely bunch of younger women and women my own age. We got there at lunch time on Satruday and this is where we stayed

The Haven - Emu Park

The accomodation is just wonderful with all rooms having ocean views and what views they are

There were 18 of us this year so we also had another cottage, called Joseph's cottage and this was the cottage that I stayed in.  It was made even more special because Chloe came too and we got to share a room together

Jospeh's Cottage

Chloe and I had a corner room, and both windows offered us beautiful cool sea breezes and ocean views. That was the best part. The Haven is run by Nuns, and they had everything beautifully set out for us.  Our towels were displayed liked this on the end of our beds

Some beds had their towels folded into elephants... So cute they even had eyes on them

Other beds had their towels folded as little dogs who were just laying back on their bed

Puppy Love

I love the way they have folded this towel to look like a laid back puppy

How relaxed does this little fellow look.

it is these little touches that made our weekend so special

These were our views

Views from the main house

Looking across to our cottage.

Gives you some idea of the ocean views we had from laying in our bed.

It was a great weekend in that a lot of the really young girls from church came too.  They interacted with us older women really well.  We arrived at lunch time, had lunch together and our first activity for the weekend, was to find some quiet place where we could sit and reflect and take time to just seem God and  listen and meditate on what he had for us...  The was a really valuable time, and I loved this part of the weekend.  Usually we are so busy living life day to day that it is not often that we have a couple of hours of uninterrupted time to just reflect and listen to God speak to us.  After this time, we had afternoon tea and then held a meeting where we discussed the Woman's ministries at church and what they would look like this year

For the first time this year, we didn't go out for dinner but had dinner in,  this was a lovely meal, and some great fellowship

Great to have so many young ones join us this year.

Everyone pitched in and helped

There was lots of yummy food around on the weekend and we spent a good part of the weekend just snacking

Afternoon tea

During our afternoon meeting, we bought up the fact that I had made lots of little cards that I was prepared to sell to the girls, and the money from them would help support our missionary friends back in PNG.  These cards proved pretty popular with me selling 40-50 cards that weekend.  

Narelle picking her cards

Everyone pitched in and helped

Young girls on the dishes

Meal time

All together for meal time

Self service

 On Saturday night, some of the young girls had organised for us to have a Trival Pursuit game.  We broke into four teas  and we had a ball, They did a great job and we had a lot of fun

 The weather was perfect on Sunday.  lovely blue skies, with the odd bunch of clouds passing over, but really a perfect day.

Views from the main house

How could you not relax in an environment. 

Lovely large verandahs off the bedrooms in the main house. 

View looking up the beach towards Emu Park

View looking up the beach towards Ritamuda

We walked along this beach later in the afternoon. 

 Front on view from the main house that most people  stayed in.

The Haven.

 On Sunday we had a quest speaker speak to us on Rest.  Her name was Connie and she really spoke from the heart.   Her message was really timely for me given all that had just happened in the previous few months.  I have asked Connie for her notes and the moment she sends them to me, I am going top upload some so that iI never forget this message