Women's Retreat

So, its official, I REALLY do have the most awesome parents in the world. Thursday night they drove four hours to our house and got here around 11pm. Friday we all hung out most of the day together. Friday evening Kyle and my dad went to a banquet together that Kyle had tickets for from work and I left around 5pm to go on Women's Retreat at the beautiful Cascades Christian Camp grounds.
I had a lot of mixed feelings about going. While I know people at my church, I really didn't KNOW anyone. On top that, I am breastfeeding Ryker and any bottle attempts up until the point of me leaving were pretty unsuccessful. I also wasn't able to pump as much milk as I would have liked, and was worried their wouldn't be enough.
I was pretty close to backing out of going, but Kyle really encouraged me to go. So, through the tears, I left. I felt bad because my mom had the boys for a few hours alone the first evening as they guys were gone, I knew she was capable, but I still worried.
I got to Women's Retreat and immediately realized that was were God wanted me to be. The women at at my church are wonderful. Our theme for the weekend was Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." What a great message and one I definitely needed. No matter what the situation or how hard the circumstances, rejoice! I also really had it reinforced in my life that its okay for everything not to be perfect. Between school, my kids, my husband, and just life in general, I often forget to take time for myself because I am so worried about everyone else. Its okay to let some things go and take time to breathe and relax.
Friday night was a bit rough for me, not only was I worried about my children at home, but I was in a room with a month old baby. So, as a breastfeeding mother hearings another lady's child cry in the middle of the night (or anytime for that matter), didn't make for the most comfortable of sleeping.
But besides the soreness and what felt like the constant need to pump, I had a great time. The messages were great, I learned how to play Bunco, which I did pretty awesome at, I went horseback riding, and time went by so fast I felt that we were always eating!
Saturday night, I decided after small group time that I would go home for the night. The night was going to just be more games, and in the morning we just had breakfast before leaving to get back to church. So I left around 9:45pm and was home around 10:30 last night. I was so glad to be home. To my delight everyone was sound asleep. I went and tried to get Ryker to eat, but he just wanted to sleep, so I ended up pumping. I didn't wake up until 7am, when Gunnar was so excited to find me back in my bed. I finally had to go wake Ryker up to eat. I know I slept better in my own bed knowing that if my own child needed me I was there!
So not only did I go on Women's Retreat, but my kids more than survived without me (even with bottles and a little bit of formula in the bottles too), my carpets got cleaned (thanks to my awesome dad), and Ryker finally decided to sleep through the night (2 nights)! He probably figured they would just shove one of those nasty bottles in his face and decided sleeping was a better choice.
I am so thankful that I went on this retreat and so thankful for the wonderful church and ladies in my church that God has placed in my life. Our church family is exactly that, a family! They love us for who we are and accept us even with our imperfections!
(I didn't take any pictures, which is so unlike me!)