OUR GOD OF HOPE IS BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE

Ascension Conference Center

EOPW Women's Retreat
July 18-19
Ascension Camp, Cove, OR

       Over the weekend I took my mother-in-law, Doris, to a retreat up in Cove.  There were 27 women in attendance, including four others from our Baker Church: Betsy F, Kim B, Linda M, and Bev C.  I had enticed my mother with the lure of the title - it included the word CHOCOLATE, therefore it would be GOOD!  We weren't disappointed in the amount of chocolate we were given!  

Bell Tower outside
Conference Center

Long lost cousins!

       The retreat was led by the women of Pendleton First Presby.  They had graciously 'opened up' their annual retreat to others in the area and the response included our 6 from Baker City, 2 from La Grande, and several others who were connected to Pendleton, but no longer living there.  We had a few Catholics, an Episcopalian, and maybe even a Methodist!  
        Our guest speaker was Sue Daniel from Nampa, ID, who, as was discovered, is married to a first cousin of Linda's husband, Arron!  That was a fun reunion to witness, as they hadn't seen each other for several years!  Sue led us through Anne Lamott's book, STITCHES: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair.  We spent a session on each part of the title.  Sue was sincere, emotional, and funny.  An excellent facilitator! 

Ready for Session 1 to begin!

Singing together!

        Each session also began with singing, led by Carol and Marcia from Pendleton  I have to confess the tempo was a little slower than I like, but the songs were good ones and I enjoyed adding a little harmony.  My favorite was If I Were a Butterfly,  so the picture is from that one!  (My Baker City friends know I usually play everything too fast!)  
        I apologized to Sue about drawing while she talked, and it was obvious since I was sitting practically underneath her!  At one point, she looked down and said, "Is that me?"  Yes!  I told her I retain information best when it is drawn!  So I amassed a collection of pictures featuring some of the topics we discussed, interpretations of the scripture, etc.  
     

Meditative Art Table hard at work! 

  During free time ElRae Wells had an advanced coloring book (detailed pictures) about cats and a full box of colored pencils.  While Mom, Betsy, Marj and ElRae colored, I taught Barb and Linda how to construct a mandala.  Linda was in love (she has since drawn two more at home in two days!)  While a few walks were included, much free time was spent visiting around a table while we drew and colored.  Very calming and stress reducing!  Meditative art! 

Mom colors her picture.

Betsy coloring!

My first 'demo' mandala...now colored...included the names of all the participants in the purple border.

Mandala design using just wildflowers which I colored at the retreat with the colored pencils!

Chapel

Chapel Interior

    

 The weekend concluded with a Sunday afternoon worship service in the tiny Episcopalian Chapel.  I love these little wooden churches with their open ceilings and stained glass.  We sang, shared communion together, and used our bulletins as fans on the very warm afternoon!   

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 15:13)

NOTES & PICTURES......
MEANING:

• Meaning is always there, but purpose changes with stages of life; it is harder to see meaning during the change.  
• Meaning is given through love in all its forms.  
• Outward focus through service gives meaning. 

HOPE:

• What do we do when life unravels?  When we are consumed with grief, anger, pain, and despair?
• Why is not a useful question.  Why not?  Move on! 
• It's hard to go to God when we doubt but prayer SHOULD be our first response.  
• Stop giving CPR to dead situations! 
• Forgive doesn't mean forget.  
• Start with God, build from there.  Don't fit God into the last minute.  

Romans 15:13 was the theme scripture.  I love the image of overflowing HOPE holding us up! 

Sue read the Romans passage the second time from The Message  and the words GREEN HOPE reminded me of wildly growing plants and the energy and life and new growth. 

REPAIR:

• What resources do we have to repair our lives?  God. Each other. 
• One stitch at a time.  One patch of fabric-situation at a time. 

I tried to include excerpts from the weekend here - Sue's traveling friendship ring, the red chocolate hearts on our beds, the dark Kisses on the tables - along with the stitches and patches of healing hope. 

The three theme words included within the Meditative Art - cat coloring pages, mandalas, etc. 

This posting has been put together mostly for my record keeping....I wanted to keep some of my notes, but online where I might actually find them again!  Enjoy! 

A beautiful sunset skyline with moon and Venus on Saturday night.  

I couldn't get this picture into the right spot....but after dinner I was full so I ran around the building and discovered the grass was lush and cool and wonderful and I had an overwhelming desire to wallow in it.  Linda grabbed my camera and took the picture!