Retreat....

Ms. Squirrel attended!
Jeff, Kathy and Liz our hosts, looked after us well.

Linea lead us in evening vespers.

L to R....Maureen Dynna (guest speaker), and her
sister-in-law and retreat co-ordinator, Dixie Vandersluys
after a long day....

Gateway women Retreating at 'The Quest', Christopher Lake.

The sunrise that greeted us each morning.

It was a magnificant retreat for the past three days. I can't really tell you how much it meant.

We were treated like royalty. Cathy and her daughter Liz cooked fabulous meals and Jeff kept the whole place running smoothly not to mention keeping the beautiful fireplace going.

We laughted until we were nearly sick. We shed tears at the moving of God's Spirit. We played games to allow us to get to know one another more. We talked and we talked.....and listened. These are the times, when we get together, that we grow in our faith and in our love for each other. Much needed times.

Even my ride home turned into a beautiful gift of affirmation from my friend. It is good to be encouraged by someone you admire and love.............and who is your role model!

God came to stay the weekend too....I just didn't get a picture of him.....He's really a lot of fun too!

Anticipation...

That picture is what greeted us the first morning we were at The Quest last year at our Women's Retreat. It was the first sunrise picture I took, I think, on my trusty little Olympus. She's been good to me...little Ms. "O". She's well over 3 GB already....and going strong.

I'll see how much she can capture up at Christopher Lake. People, activities, scenery, perhaps even an animal or two.

I'm off to pack but I shall return on Sunday to give you a sample of what took place.

Dixie is the co-ordinator and she has worked so very hard. May God bless her for her faithfulness and willingness to make it a useful, and thought-provoking weekend. Between she and her sister-in-law, Maureen (our guest speaker), it is shaping up to be one terrific time.

I'm still not sure why we call it a retreat.....we surely don't retreat from much...just our men.

hee..hee..hee...ha...ha...ha...ha..ha......

I said to husband I didn't know how he would get along without me for meals and such.....and we both had a good laugh over that one.

Ta ta for now then.

I hopefully will be a "new" person when I return.....on the inside, at least.

Fingers....

In the frigidness of winter my body desires to thaw

Slowly and gently by a ray of sun or two

To change those icicles in my veins

To blood

Again.

The longing in my soul for warmth of mind and body

Does not come near quick enough for

these numb and useless digits

Hanging on hands

All ten.

Wedding Shower....

Last evening we had some fun with Patrick and Amanda Kongawi. Patrick, originally from Africa (living with our friends now for many years), and Amanda from Saskatchewan met at the U of S while attending classes. They were married last December 20 and by the picture, seem quite in love and very fond of one another. They respect one another too. They make a wonderful married couple!

We played a few games....nothing too girly, as the men attended this event too! It was a lot of fun and with the "games" we played, we all got to know the newly married twosome a little bit more intimately.;-)

It's great to have another young couple in the church too. Following their graduations, both have found employment in Prince Albert. Usually, with our church, we raise up our kids, they leave to get more education and very seldom return to P.A. to roost.

So Patrick and Amanda are one of our success stories of returning to the Gateway fold.

Perhaps one day others will return. We just never know exactly what God has up his mighty sleeve. Something good, I'm sure.

Sometimes...

In the busyness of life, we sometimes simply need to sit and think carefully about things.

There are some things in life worth keeping.

Like people.

Relationships....and even those things need work at being kept in good condition. No. Relationships don't just happen. They need polishing and even refurbishing at times.

Some things in life though, are not worth keeping.

Negativity.

Being critical.

Pointing out others faults.

Ya. We need to rid ourselves of those things.

Just a thought for the day.

Enjoy your evening. We're off to a wedding shower for Patrick and Amanda.

Tweet...tweet....

Saturday.... in the park, you'd think it was the 4th of July....

(are you singing??)

Well maybe not 4th of July...how about

two snow-shoers - one with a walking stick in the park??

The only bird we saw that came within camera
distance yesterday....was in our back yard!!!

I keep thinking about the stillness of yesterday at Waskesiu.

No furnace kicking in.

No T.V. going.

No computer humming.

No traffic out front.

No phones ringing.

No washer whirring.

No dryer thumping.

No beep...beep....beep....of the microwave.

Nothing.

Silence. Deafening silence.

But I'd still rather hear at least a bird or two. The rest of the noises I can do without.

Winter on the beach....

The Otter Dock

Narrow's Road

Waskesiu Off-season

White Tail with the run of the Town.

I'm waiting patiently for the store to open.

The only person on the beach!

No picnic-ers....

and no bathing beauties!

It was a grand day for Waskesiu Lake. Six people (including us) in the Hawood Inn for breakfast. Not another soul.

When I stood outside to take these pictures....and several others.....I was deafened by the silence. I could hear ringing in my ears. I wanted to shout or something. There wasn't a bird in sight. The only animal we saw was the white tailed deer walking about the cabin roads.

When we arrived at the Narrows, I went to the dock to see if any otters were about. Walking on top of the dock I could see their entrances to the waters beneath. I could hear them splashing about, making their funny little otter noises and by the sounds of it, may have been getting on mothers nerves! They were probably sent to their rooms and couldn't come out to play.

But the snow was glorious. The sky was as blue as you can imagine. Every now and then you could hear the cluck...cluck...cluck...of various ravens across the lake. Other than that, nothing. Just white and beautiful.

A day to remember.....and thank God for.

Next weekend I'll have my camera on the ready too, at our Retreat.