Friday's Fave Five #106

I'm glad it's Friday, and time to participate in Friday's Fave Five. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts this wonderful meme that encourages us to look back on our week and share five highlights.

1. The highlight of my week was my trip to Coldwater, MO, to participate in a women's retreat. We stayed at one of my friend's brother's hunting cabins DEEP in the woods.  I don't think I have ever been farther back in the woods ... as the old saying goes, "we were so far back in the woods, even the hoot owls don't hoot."

We drove a narrow path through some trees for what seemed miles:

until we arrived at an A-frame cabin surrounded by rocks, lots and lots of rocks:

It had a screened front porch that was awesome. Yes, it had sattelite TV!  (We didn't watch it, though.) Also, if you can see it, there was a BBQ grill mounted outside the porch.  You just opened back the screen, and there is your cookspace!

We slept on beds tucked up under the eaves.  During the night, it rained steadily. The raindrops hitting the metal roof lulled us into a deep sleep. 

The next day was beautiful.  I went down to the pond to take some photos. (You know how I love to take photos of water!)

I sat on the dock and took my shoes off and splashed in the water ... pond water is cold!  My feet turned blue!

They had a fish feeder in the pond.  They also had some big catfish.  One girl caught a catfish that was just huge.  The owner of the property said it was probably the grandaddy of the pond.

It was a lovely relaxing time.

2.  Even better, we had wonderful times of sharing the word and praise and worship.  Our new friend, Sister Barbara, shared with us a message Friday evening on being bruised.  Her key scripture was Luke 4:18:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

I was priviledged to share a devotional Saturday on being careful what you say when trials come.  You can read my devotional here. All things considered, it was a great weekend getaway that didn't last nearly long enough.
 
3.  Coming home:  No matter how much I enjoy a trip away, I'm always glad to get back to my little nest. There's no place like home. I'm kind of excited because I'm  ready to get out my fall decor and do a little nest-fluffing.
 
4.  A leisurely week:  This week was wonderful in that I had no extra meetings, no deadlines at work, nothing extra crowding my schedule.  I was able to blog everyday!
 
5. Quote of the week:  Remember that you are not called to produce successful, upwardly mobile, highly educated, athletically talented machines...Giving your children great opportunities is good; it is not, however, the goal of parenting. Christlikeness is. Above all, seek to raise children who look and act a lot like Jesus. ~ Chip Ingram (I saw this on Karen’s Surviving Motherhood blog)


Definitely food for thought ...
 
If you'd like to link up with the other FFF crew, visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.