The Full Retreat Blog

I thought about having Green Monkey's experience be all I have to say about retreat, but I decided to give more details. Mainly, I wanted to post lots of people pictures so my friend Becky B in MT (hey!) could look at each photo for familiar faces. You were missed, Becky!




The first and most interesting part of retreat is the drive to get there. My friend Janet was kind enough to pick me up, but she made me promise not to take pictures of her hair. I semi-succeeded.

Her daughter, Erin, and I are appropriately giddy. We know what's coming! We know that we get to make our own decisions for the next few days! We know there will be tons of snacks, great teaching, music, side-splitting laughter, and no responsibilities.





I spent most of my retreat missing my family and wishing they were with me. I was so excited to go, NOT because I wanted to "get away" from my family, but because I know what a blessing a retreat is and I come home even more eager to serve my family. Hence, the reason THEY are so glad to see me go!

Leah has never been on a retreat that I know of. See her expression? She doesn't know what's coming.

Erin does. Oh yeah. Erin does.

At last we arrive in Daytona Beach! You know, I have been here almost 10 years, and I've never been to Daytona? I've been to other beaches, but Daytona has the whole Biker reputation that I wanted to avoid.

This is the Daytona Speedway. AKA the Redneck Mecca.

And this is Daytona Beach Traffic. Did we let this and messed-up Google map directions spoil our enthusiasm? Not one bit!





At last we arrive to our destination. Whoa! What's with the color??? It didn't look like that on the web page! No one told me the hot air balloons on the side were outlined in neon, either!



I mean, what IS that? Pistachio ice cream? Guacamole? Lime sherbet?

At the front desk, we already found fellow retreat goers waiting to check in. Nancy's green shirt is MUCH nicer than the green on the lobby walls. I have to remember that Florida is indeed the place these colors came from.

I waited for the sloooowwww elevator, hitched a ride up to my 6th floor room, threw open the curtains, and found this:

And this:

Can you see this green color? I just can't explain it. I don't know if I've ever seen it on a color chart, and I'm a painter's wife!


And because I'm a painter's wife, I took one up close of the stucco.

This one's for you, honey. Sorry I didn't take a picture of failing paint, but I figured this would do. You probably need to go down and sell them some paint anyway because of that whole color issue.

We were on our own for dinner, so we ended up at Ruby Tuesday's. I'd never eaten there before! The salad bar was spectacular (different kinds of lettuce offered, even). The mini-sandwiches were cute. Here, Janet's about to nail me with her fork for taking her picture again.

Aren't you just dying to know what Erin's thinking? I think she's trying to figure out exactly what her food tastes like.

More mothers and daughters! LSM and her daughter, Rachel. More on Rachel later.

We can walk right down to the beach from our hotel. That's Sheila, displaying the steps. And the green. And the orange doors.

Before dinner, I quickly put on shorts and had gone down to the beach for a little to see BA and a few others. Our rooms were joined, so when we got back to the room BA jumped in the shower while I changed back into my slacks. She came out dressed like this:

She was kind enough to change.

The first place to head to is the all important snack table! Everyone brings a snack to share. I usually bring pita chips and hummus. Go ahead, laugh! I never have to bring any home, because it's gone! I actually did pretty well this retreat. I stayed away from the sugary stuff and stuck to fruits and crackers.

In order for us to get a good price for retreat, we rented one of the smaller meeting rooms. The tables all fit, but it was a close fit. It wasn't easy to maneuver between the tables, though it wasn't impossible.

The first session always starts off with a skit. This is where Trish and Debbie shine! Hee hee.

Our retreat speaker this year was our very own Bonnie L. (turquoise shirt). I've had Bible studies with her for the last two years. She's one of my favorite teachers. Trivia: how many missionaries or MKs (missionary kid) can you spot in this photo? (answer below)*

Rachel had been in a car accident and broke BOTH feet. She is able to put weight on one foot, but she uses this little wheel mobile to get around. It's the cutest thing! She puts her knee on the pad, then uses the other leg to propel around the room. Over lunch she discussed plans to "Pimp My Wheel Mobile" with spinner rims, vanity plates, and possibly an oooga horn. LOVE the red cast!

Megan and Hannah! We were so happy to see some young ladies join us. Lots of Mothers and Daughters came together. Two more years and my girl will be with me!

Here are two sets of mothers and daughters. The one in yellow is the wife of our youth pastor.

I don't know why I didn't catch on to the whole "sit on the couch during the session" thing. I guess I feel a need for a table while I scribble notes. AND to hold my snacks. Right gals?

This was my roommate. Yes, she's that cool. She put her sunglasses on right away the minute she saw paparazzi (or in this case, mamarazzi).

On the right is our pastor's wife, saying goodbye to the Queen. Did I mention the Queen is moving to Arkansas? I don't mind so much, since my Dad just moved to Arkansas as well. I'm told the Queen's new palace is not that far from Dad's double-wide trailer.

The Queen also shared part of her testimony. I hope when I'm in my 80's, I'll be as well read and well lived as the Queen! Long live the Queen!

These were what the crafts were supposed to look like. The one Green Monkey made for Glenna had crooked corners, spit, and paste. Janet B probably never uses spit, paste, nor a Green Monkey. That's probably why hers look so fabulous.

Here's Megan's Mom and the Speaker. Again, how many missionaries can you spot in THIS photo?*

These teens were not, I repeat, NOT, spitting or throwing things over the balcony. Our teens are great like that.

*Answers: In both photos, the technical answer is three (per photo), but according to our Speaker, all of them are! We're all to share the hope that is in us with everyone, not just the ones who go overseas.

Blue Skies

I


Am


With


Car.


Has the sun ever been brighter?

Has the sky ever been bluer?

Just TRY to keep me home today.

I just talked to My Dad on the phone. He and his wife are taking a ceramics class. I think that's so cute, but don't dare tell him that. We're all trying to go out for Christmas and I'm sure we'll return with bird houses, bird feeders, and ceramic incense burners. No, I don't burn incense, but I'm sure I'll find a use for it (shoe horn, maybe?).

My Dad's actually a pretty crafty guy, more than I'll ever be! He crocheted me a an afghan one time; I've never been able to make one large enough for anything but the dog. He made me a TV stand/book shelf thing that we used for years. He's also made a fish aquarium that looked like an old treasure chest. He loves to work with wood; I love to have wood-worked things. Perfect.

Sunrise, not Sunset

The first night of the retreat, I didn't sleep very well. When I found myself awake at 6 am, I slipped out onto the balcony to see if I could catch the sunrise. It's a foreign thing to this Californian; watching the sun come UP at the beach!


I saw the shadowy figures of my fellow "retreaters" getting ready to walk along the beach. Since I couldn't make anything out without my glasses or contacts, I decided to quickly change, put in some eyeballs, grab the camera, and head to the beach.



I'm really glad I did.

Even with my simple camera, I think these came out pretty well.

A friendly couple spotted this starfish, and they were holding some sand dollars they found. I took their picture, but for some reason blogger won't let me post them right now!

BT, I want you to try and grasp what I'm about to tell you. Maybe because you've been gone from Cali longer than I have, this won't seem nearly as strange. Are you ready? Ok, make sure you're sitting down:

<-------------North. South ------------>

Green Monkey Goes on Retreat

Green Monkey was invited to go to retreat. His owner sent a blanket and a pillow, but he actually didn't need them. He did miss her while he was gone, though everyone was so nice and accommodating at the retreat!

He started with sitting on the balcony to enjoy the view. Green Monkey likes ocean views.

If only my girl were here. She would love this.

For the first time, Green Monkey met Janet B. He could easily see why everyone loves her! She spoke to him in adjectives like, "So sweet, wonderful, amazing, brilliant. . . . " Green Monkey likes adjectives.

At lunch, Green Monkey listened in on a conversation between a retreat attender and the main speaker. Green Monkey likes listening in on conversations. He's kind of nosey like that.

At Craft Time, he decided to construct this cute little purse out of cardboard and materials that Janet B. had brought. He was still missing his girl and knew she would love the bandanna pattern.

It's so hard to wait during drying time.

After the evening session, Green Monkey joined the girls for some Gatoropoly. He knew his friend Jess would probably enjoy this game! He also found out why you can never sit in front of SS when a picture was taken. Here I had trusted her!

Cards were much more his speed. He especially liked when they offered snacks . . . . . .

. . . . but after a while he just began to help himself.

It was pretty hard to get up the next morning after all the games, laughter, and food, but there was still a session to attend.

I wonder what my girl's sister is doing today? I'm going to bring her this bottle of her favorite water. I hope it secures another year of her protecting me from her monster, Jack. He stalks me.

Green Monkey doesn't like to be stalked by Jack.

Green Monkey made new friends. They didn't even mind when his feet were on the couch. Careful; they both know karate.

Green Monkey also hung out with sisters. He doesn't know which one is older and didn't think it polite to ask.

He also found time to see what everyone was doing. Here he's being nosey again, trying to see what LSM (Little Stinker Margaret) was writing to the Queen. Did you know the Queen was moving to Arkansas? Green Monkey didn't know that.

His favorite part was when Hannah and Megan took him through the line at the snack table. He couldn't make up his mind, so Hannah pointed out one of his favorites: Goldfish crackers.

Old friends and new friends, food and games, teaching and weeping, laughter and sleeping. To Green Monkey, it was his favorite retreat.

Retreat!

I'm leaving tomorrow for the Women's Retreat. This will be my first retreat at the beach! I'm so looking forward to a change of pace, renewal, refreshment, and excellent teaching.

Actually, it's always a pain to go to retreat. I feel I have to plan so much out at home and prepare far enough in advance with school and other duties so I don't feel overwhelmed on Monday. However, I'm always glad I went. There's always the teaching from God's word that seems to be specifically tailored to whatever I may be going through, or am about to go through!

I used to plan and prepare meals ahead of time for the family, but unless they were totally pre-cooked and only needed warming up, Himself would ignore them and order pizza anyway. These days, our budget doesn't allow it! I have made my 8 quarts of spaghetti sauce, so they can have spaghetti and baked ziti. I'm so thankful that Kelly and Glenna know their way around the kitchen these days!

I had a peek at our electric bill for the month. Well over $300. I'm wondering if it's the window unit we use for the school room, or if it's just September? Either way, I'll be thankful for cooler weather, and SOON. It's still hot outside, but I know the season is changing because the leaves are looking dull.

Anyway, I won't be posting for a while! Perhaps I'll have some retreat photos when I do. Here's an old something to look at until I get back:

Video test

I had accidentally put the camera on "video" when I was taking pictures of Tyler's bike jumping. I decided to try and see if I could add it here. This may open up a whole new world!

I love this, because my kids are being themselves. Tyler casually runs over stuff. Kelly watches and makes comments. Glenna hangs back but carefully observes.

How do I edit my voice out, anyway???

Let me know if you're able to watch it!

These are Also From New Mexico

I'm not homesick. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. I do love to look at this picture of Mom and Dad's ranch, though.


You'd have to be there to know what the sagebrush smells like. Mesquite, manzanita, sage, boganvilla, palo verde . . . these are the names and scents I'm familiar with. I'm trying to fall in love with tropical plants here in FL, but it hasn't happened yet.




The house used to be a stage stop. After that the ranch was a working cattle ranch. Now it's just Mom, Dad, two horses, two goats, some steers . . .

. . . and Hurley. Bless 'is heart. Hurley is the head of ranch security.






Oh, and scorpions. Mom has this note on the fridge as a friendly reminder, but she's also keeping track of how many scorpions they find inside the house.

We were there summer of '06. Most of the scorpions were found by us. Did you know they glow bright, florescent green when you shine a black light on them? Each night we'd turn out lights and use the blacklight before going to bed. On the day Mom was taking us back to Albuquerque, I was coming out of the bathroom when there was one on the floor right in front of me. I instantly became 5 years old, jumped onto the toilet and yelled for my Mom as loud as I could. My two daughters flat. Out. Ignored. Me. They were thinking, "Oh, she'll take care of whatever it is." I can't remember if Mom rescued me or if I killed it myself finally (you can easily kill them with a fly swatter). I'm kind of glad we weren't visiting summer of '05!

From the front of the house, we can see the barn and shed. There's corrals that are hard to see in this light.

In this picture, I've moved around to the other side of the barn (house hidden by barn). To the right of the barn is the bunkhouse with its own little porch. I know if I were a teen with my cousins, we'd be staying in the bunk house! It has its own bathroom and woodstove, too. I love it!

Look at those colors on the barn. How could I get my front door to look like this? People pay a lot of money for this! Some previous resident had put up the Christmas lights.

Because it's in New Mexico, there has to be a tire on the roof. I'm sure someone could tell you why. Some say it's to keep the wind from blowing the roof off. Some say you put plastic down to keep the heat in and the tires hold the plastic. I say; you're in New Mexico and you have to put a tire on the roof.

The first time we all went out as a family, Himself and the kids had one exciting game of hide-n-seek around the ranch! In the barn, it was so easy to hide in the shadows of the saddles, bridles, blankets, and haybales.

I'm not homesick. I'm not.

Words

Normal verbage around our house:

"Mom, may I use the death beam?"

Of course, I said yes!

When we first started camping with the high school youth group back in the 90s in California, we went out and purchased flashlights. The one we bought for Himself was incredibly bright and could single handedly light up a football field. Whenever it was turned on, we would inevitably hear "AAAAHHHHH!" from whomever happened to be in the path of the beam. Himself started referring to it as "The Laser Beam of Death." The name has pretty much stuck for any powerful flashlight in our house.

I love when this happens, and I especially love when the cute vocabulary of our children becomes permanent vocabulary for all of us. Thanks to their mispronunciations, we now use:

Tamote = remote
Pete-stah = pizza
Moody = movie
Cuteiful = cute/beautiful (some of our friends use this one, too!)

I would love to hear if there are any new words your children have made! Or, if you don't have children, are there any words your family uses from you and your siblings?


Yesterday, the tow truck came and picked up my car. Please pray they will repair it completely and I will continue to trust God with this situation.

Car Update

Since the police report came out in our favor (Ty completely not at fault, other driver failed to yield right of way), the other insurance company has agreed to come get our car and repair it. I'm thankful for this glimmer of hope in this situation.

They flat out refuse to let us have a rental car, though.

Repairing the car is good.

I am thankful.

Sorry for the lapse in posting. AWANA started last night! 20 JV kids! I'm especially thankful for BA and ML, the new JV director and secretary! And for Zach and Paul and Rebecca helping! I feel like we have a full staff for the first time in a long time and I'm so blessed! I could actually breathe in and out all night.

If you would, please keep a couple of the kids in prayer: N and B. First night was a little high maintenance with them.

Prayer Request

Please pray for Mr. G., the one helping us with our school room. He went in for a heart catherization this morning and has now been admitted for bypass (either double or triple) surgery!

Praising God for this timely doctor appointment this morning.

On another note, for a little family-friendly laughter, go see what the Chocolatechic has on her blog!

Update, 4:00 pm* Mr. G is out of surgery and did fine! Please continue to pray for his recovery.

Observations

Because he loves me, Himself is continuing work on the school room today. YES!



Saturday, to prove I'm not a social recluse, I went to WalMart. You read that correctly . . . I went to WalMart on Labor Day Weekend. I've never had a more difficult trip for cotton balls, sheet protectors, and two $5.00 movies.



For lunch, I decided to go to Panera. This is where the fun began! On a busy weekend it's a bloggers paradise; a regular plethora of blogger fodder.



When I first went in, I could hear someone bellowing out names at regular intervals. ROBERT! NANCY! ANGELA! One of the sandwich makers must have been new, and no one told him about the handy microphone. ALEX!



The guy who asked to take my order immediately took his eyes off me to busy himself with re-stocking, adjusting, and looking around. Those who know me will laugh at this; he actually said, "Nope, sorry, it's way too noisy in here. You're going to have to speak more loudly."



It's the bane of my existence that I will never be a soft-spoken woman. My step-father is extremely hard of hearing, so I'm used to speaking loudly and repeating myself often. Himself has damage to his ears, as do his father and brother. I've also sung on our church stage for 12 years. Trust me, I know how to project!



I noticed he would catch my order when he was looking directly at me. HAH! You're hard of hearing and you don't even know it. I know it, because I've dealt with it all my life. Keeping the same tone of voice, I ordered only when he was looking directly at me. What do you know; he understood me perfectly.



TONY!



BILL!



Fortunately, I happened to look at the name placed on my receipt. I never would have answered to JOAN! otherwise.



May I take a moment for a pet peeve?



Heelies. If you are a parent who allows their child to race around a crowded restaurant in their heelies, with a friend, you are not going to like what I'm about to say.



What if I were to strap on roller blades and go racing through a restaurant, weaving in and out of the customers? Would you not consider me rude? Would you not ask the management to speak to me?



WHY are heelies any different? Parents who allow their children to do this are on. My. List. You have been warned.



The teens chasing each other through the tables and out the door are NOT on my list. It was all I could do not to join in the game!



I get my food and sit down. I'm instantly amused by an older woman trying to clear a table for herself. Someone has placed three of those cardboard advertisements on her table, so she huffily moves them off to another table in need of cleaning.



Enter Mrs. Busybody.



Mrs. Busybody is on a mission. She's having lunch with her mother, husband, son, and granddaughter. She's not about to let the smallest detail escape her notice. She immediately grabs the cardboard ads and piles them on another table, bringing that table's total to 8. She's moving tables together, arranging chairs, and flagging down the harried busboy to wipe everything down. She's got the seating all figured out, but is momentarily thrown off by her little darling's, "Grammy, will you sit by ME?"

This woman did not sit down for the first 15 minutes of their meal. She looked like she would have a heart attack at any moment.

Behind her, on the comfy couches, a teen was asking her father if there was any yellow stuff oozing from her tongue piercing. "Ahhhh. . . can you see anything? Ahhhh. . . . ."

At one table, a woman was taking notes on the back of a Forever 21 receipt for her blog . . . . oops! That was me . . . .

ELIZABETH!

JOHN!

Every once in a while, I like to get out of the house. It makes me so happy to come back home.

On a Lighter Note

Let's talk about something else, shall we? :-)


Hobbs the Schnauzer has long since returned to his family. We kind of miss the little guy, and we're glad when we get to go over and visit. He's so happy to see us! I came across these pictures I took while he was still visiting.

Pet owners will understand this whole thing. Dogs realize that if they bug the Mom, action will happen. Hungry? Bug the Mom. Thirsty? Bug the Mom. Need to go potty? You get the idea.

One evening, I was sitting on the couch and trying to do my Bible study (Beth Moore "Jesus, the One and Only" for those of you who are curious). I caught movement out of the corner of my eye:

Two schnauzers, moving in for the stare down.

Here they're keeping a safe distance, but the staring has definitely begun! Notice the two techniques; Jack has the direct stare, Hobbs has the more respectful, casual-over-the-shoulder stare.

Since this has only brought the result of chuckles and camera flashes, Jack makes his move.

I don't have a great camera or time to use any photo altering software, so you'll have to put up with the glare in the eyes. Trust me; his eyes are a deep, dark brown and they speak volumes!

Ooh, the big guns! Jack has rested his chin on the couch and is now looking up at me through his eyebrows. I can't resist this one! If I'm in the middle of a movie, I'll move my knee over to block him from my sight, or hold up a pillow strategically so I can't see him. He hasn't yet learned to move back into my line of vision.

Anyway, he wins this round. I holler out, "The dogs need something!" Jack eagerly moves toward his objective, whether that be hunger/thirst/potty.

Hobbs sees that Jack was on to something there. He doesn't know exactly what happened, just that Jack is now walking with a determined and satisfied air. Hobbs moves into position.

Let's see, how did he do that?

Oh yeah. Casually stare.





Wait, it's chin on the couch, then stare, right?

Oh, chin on the couch, look extremely cute while staring, then add a little noise in case she doesn't realize I'm here.

Victory! Both dogs went outside.