Trinity International Retreat 2011

Almost two whole months since my last post... embarrassing. After multiple reprimands from friends and family, I have decided to make a desperate attempt at getting caught up, at least somewhat. As a side note, praise the Lord for Mother's Day Out (which, of course, is where my son is today, allowing me my only shot at a little computer time). Anyway, I posted about the Trinity Retreat last year, and this year's retreat was no-less wonderful. Forgive me as I post unedited pics with relatively little commentary in my attempt to catch up... but know that this weekend was important enough to us that we specifically designed our departure to the US around being able to attend the retreat. No joke. And we were not disappointed...

The retreat center (also in Normandy, though a different location from last year's stay) was beautiful:

And included a volleyball court:

Which we made very good use of:

Fabulous playground equipment:

And peaceful places to walk and appreciate the beauty of God's creation:

I got particularly carried away when Oliver found the old horse fence... fun to play with the light and angles, though I confess I wish he were not in sweatpants and his giant coat. Ah, well:

Though I was negligent in taking pics during many of the activities, I did catch Aubrey and Peter looking adorable in the dining hall:

And Tim and Rachel singing Billy Jean during karaoke:

We had the blessing of childcare provided by a sister church, so we enjoyed incredible worship and teaching from Al, Tim, and Todd; we visited a nearby antique/junk sale (which was so fun!); we played some seriously fabulous group games (organized by yours truly ;), and we even enjoyed a salsa lesson from one of our church members who is a professional instructor. Overall, it was a time filled with joy, laughter, encouragement, challenge, and (for us) great sadness that we were leaving this family we had fallen in love with over the past two years. To all of our brothers and sisters at Trinity, may God bless you richly and continue to give you the grace to love Him and others... until we see you all someday in heaven (and hopefully before!).

Normandy Beach

Normandy Beach, just a short walk away from our retreat center a few weeks ago, simply gorgeous.

Sweet Chris squinting in the sun:

Random stranger with CUTE little man in galoshes:

Janelle walking with some random dog:

Can you tell I was simply drooling over these scenes? I tried to restrain myself, but I ended up with a gazillion pictures. What can I say? The light was perfect; the water was beautiful; the weather was lovely, and the subjects were willing:

Actually, she didn't know I was taking this picture. But isn't she STUNNING?!?! This photo is straight-out-of-camera; could she be any more gorgeous?!?! Truly, Jaz, you are beautiful inside and out:

And really, I had a blast taking these pictures.

The easiest subjects were Callum, age 4, and Blaine, age 3. I'm not sure there's anything better than a child fascinated by the rocks at the beach:

And, as boys will be boys, they of course had to throw them into the water:

Luckily, Callum had on the appropriate shoes:

Unfortunately, Blaine didn't. Poor Tim kept trying to keep him dry:

But at least he wasn't bothered by the cold:

Sweet Dannayea gave me a great smile, too:

Poor Blaine didn't want to leave at the end:

It wasn't only the children who enjoyed it, though; Janelle and Fred seemed pretty content, as well:

These crazies, aka Ben and James, got in the water. Notice the parka-like coat that Janelle was wearing? She was not overdressed, for the record. It was cold!

All in all, a GREAT day for taking pictures. So, like Tim told Blaine, look at the camera and smile!