DC Women's Retreat

DC had its women's Retreat on April 11-13th at the Windermere Conference Center. We were scheduled to meet at the church at 1:45pm on Friday April 11th and we were to be leaving at 2:00pm. I had a MOPS meeting that morning so I got home at 12:30pm and couldn't put the kids down for a nap only to be woken up an hour later so I had to feed both children lunch and then try to pack with two very nosy, 20 million question, demanding children. Believe it or not, I got packed. Jay called to tell me he was running late so I go off to the church with the two kids by myself and pray that he'll make it there in time. He did.

We secured me a place in Marilyn Humphrey's car and raced back to the house to drop off Jay's truck. We (Marilyn, Erin Stolfus, Candice Fields, and Devon Tapp) all squeezed into Marilyn's car and took off. It was a great ride down to Windermere with some awesome conversation. As soon as we arrived it was time to eat dinner...you can't get better timing than that!

I started to get a little nervous. I looked around the room and thought "what am I doing here???? I don't really know anyone!". Luckily we had a randomized dinner and ice breaker questions so I started to get to know people right off of the bat. We then had some "sister friend time" where we got to know our roomates before worship and our speaker for the night (Melissa Schellinger).

My roomates were Leah VanGorp, Wendy Assel, Candice Fields, Sue Thompson, and Linda Bishop. We had a WONDERFUL time getting to know one another, cry together, and pray together! Below is a picture of all of us on our last day at Windermere.


VAlerie Brown read Max Lucado's book You Are Special and it totally made me weep. If you haven't read it, you should! Melissa then talked about having God self esteem rather than focusing on having good self esteem. Hello...reach me right where I am. Every time that girl speaks God uses her to speak directly into my heart!

After that time with her we played games (Apples to Apples in my case) and ate some seriously bad for you goodies. Man was that room loud with 60 chatty women! We had a little mini spa going on with Angel doing some eye brow plucking, parafin wax for your hands, and the skits even had cucumbers for your eyes! This is one of those times I LOVE being a woman!

The next day we had an intense time of worship, prayer, and healing. We cast all of our "dots" into the bonfire that night. It was a rebirth for me. I can't even begin to tell you how that day changed my life. I wept like I was at a funeral when I let go of all of my dots and God just loved on me right where I was and for who I was. I have NEVER been so in love with my Jesus than I am today and it all started with that night.

It was surreal to have to leave the retreat. But I will tell you that my love for Jesus grows deeper every day. He has given me a peace that I can't even begin to explain to you. I WANT DESPERATELY to get to know him better and to be closer to him, to be in his arms, and to feel his embrace. It's an awesome feeling and my prayer for you is that you too will discover his remarkable love and acceptance.