Women's Retreat Weekend

This weekend was awesome. I mean what could really be wrong with 30-40 women praising and learning about their Lord and Savior all while enjoying the time together. I came home from Rita's on Friday afternoon and I had to pack, make sure I got a laptop, projector, and my presentation onto a jump drive. All went reasonably well. Granted I was a little rushed and ended up packing 7 different shirts for 3 days. But at least I was prepared. I was so ready to have nothing to do with Rita's or children's ministry for 2 days. Sometimes you just need a mental break and soul/faith rejuvenation. We were on the road by our goal of 5:30, picked up dinner to go, and arrived at the retreat center by 6:30 [I think].

Friday night we had our first talk session and then stayed up really late talking and laughing and it was fabulous. Saturday we got breakfast cooked for us by a crazy-talented man, had a double talk session, lunch, and then had free time/workshop time. That's where I came into play. I had my photography lesson at 4pm.

I think I should back up a bit first. Immediately after lunch, 12:30ish, I decided to boot up my old*er* laptop and start up my powerpoint to make sure it was ready to go. So thankful that I did this because I realized that even though I checked the powerpoint presentation on my the hubby's computer, MY laptop didn't have a new enough version of powerpoint, therefore it would not open! I could feel the tears beginning to form. Not because I couldn't do my presentation then, but simply because I had put so much time and effort into it and I knew it would be a benefit for all the women to SEE what I was talking about. Not just hear it. So time to troubleshoot. Nothing that I could do on my laptop would fix the situation. Called the hubby to see if he could help (turns out he was still at a track meet)...means no help there. There was only one other person to call. My brother-in-law. He had to turn on my home computer, find my file, open it up, re-save it, and THEN get into my e-mail so he could send it to me.  While waiting patiently, I prayed that it would work because of how badly I wanted to show everyone, but I eventually found myself praying that whatever happens, that I will be okay giving my presentation regardless. Praise God, about 15-20 minutes later, I had an e-mail waiting for me. Since it was opened on a computer with different fonts, I had some editing to do, but it was there.

Our 1:00 session was all about making a prayer journal, and it is seriously an awesome idea. I have mine barely started, but as I finish some more, I will definitely post pictures so that you can see what it is and maybe you'll make one for yourself. I was thankful that I had attended this session to keep my mind off of the nerves that were beginning to form. If I had just had free time, I probably would have been a complete mess!

4:00pm came quickly or so it seemed. Probably because I wasn't feeling particularly creative due to being pre-occupied. I hooked up my computer, turned on the projector and off I went. The lesson went perfectly. When I was writing the lesson, I was so worried about what to say and that I would forget. So I typed up notes, printed them out....and looked at them twice (only because I felt like I should). I handed out my brochures at the beginning so the women could take notes on them or simply keep for future reference. We had a little Q&A, helped find things on cameras, and then took a short little walk to try to put it into practice. While I was talking it was so so ssooo cool to see all the women break out their cameras and look for the exact thing that I was talking about. My ultimate goal was to empower and encourage the women to explore their camera. They can't hurt it...and even if they think they did, it can be reset. 

Saturday night was another talk and a real life application testimony by a lady. Both of which I missed because of a complete mis-communication and explosion of the mis-communication between the hubs and I. Basically, I had to get the projector back to him so that it could be used in the children's ministry Sunday morning. We both drove to a Wa-Wa to meet...however they were different ones. Frustration and emotions exploded and I ended up having to come all the way home to drop it off. Then in tears and angry I drove back to the retreat center. A trip that was supposed to last maybe 45 minutes took basically 2.5 hours. But then I got to stay up late again and be relieved of my emotional roller-coaster by lots of women who love me and care for me.

Sunday morning--I was exhausted. You know the kind of exhaustion that overwhelms your entire body because of how emotionally drained you were at some point on the previous day. Yeppers. That was me. We sang, we worshiped, we prayed, we learned one more time (5 talks) in all and finished up the weekend with lunch and fellowship. I came home not planning on napping, but I could.not.help.myself. I slept for 2 hours and still have a headache. This thing between us has not yet been settled, but that's how things go here. We'll see what happens. For now I have a headache and need to unpack my 3 bags...yes, 3 bags for 2 days. Maybe tomorrow I'll share more about the talks with you and more about my photography lesson! Sadly I have zero pictures from this weekend.again.just like last year. oh well!