Where are you from? Where are you going?

This weekend the ladies of Redeemer traveled up to Epworth By The Sea Retreat Center. Kory and I (my roomie) left about 2:15pm ofcourse after a trip to Starbucks. We both felt like two college kids escaping out of town both for the same reasons. You have two fabuolous moms me ofcourse being the mother of Jacob 3 and Emily 1.5 and Kory being mommy of Elijah almost 4, Ethan 2, and Amelia almost 1, we both had reason for escaping. We arrived after lots of great conversation to St. Simons Island where the retreat was being held and checked in. Our room was nice Kory said it smelled a little like her grandmas purse but where ever we were we were happy to be there. Kory had so bravely offered to do the powerpoint so she headed over and set up. Afterwards we decided to track down Sheila (my awesome sister in law) and Denise. Not being able to get in contact with her we started peeking in windows and knocking on doors until we came to one room we looked in the window and here was this table with a table cloth and a beautiful spread of cheese crackers and other things. We knew right away that was there room! We enjoyed nice girl time before dinner. Throughout the weekend we had laughter and tears for the things that the women around us were going threw. We learned to embrace where you come from and get a good outlook about where you are going. We learned that one of the hardest things in life is waiting on God to answer our wants and needs. And sometimes the things we are waiting on are not what God wants for us, so we must give these things up to God. We learned that forgiveness can be the hardest thing in life especially when someone hurts our child or someone we love. We need to summit all to God.
My favorite part of this weekend was getting to know women I thought I knew but really did not even know the beginning. Sitting on the grass by the marsh sharing stories with women of all ages about where they come from and where God is leading them. I will never forget the advice they shared and the experiences. I appreciate them becomming vulnerable and opening up to a young woman that they did not even know. I will never forget the special moments of this weekend!