A Women's Retreat: The Seasons of Our Lives

On Saturday, May 22, the Women's Fellowship at church held another wonderful Women's Retreat. It was held at Lakeside Haven B&B in Glover, on Shadow Lake. This is the third retreat I have attended and now that I'm back in Vermont I look forward to attending more. The retreats give you a day of tranquility, worship, study and discussion.

The theme for this retreat was "The Seasons of Our Lives," based on the book The Circle Of Life: The Heart's Journey Through The Seasons. I haven’t read it yet, but our pastor recommends it, and her recommendations are excellent. We have four seasons in our lives just as Nature has four seasons in hers. We discussed the significance and meaning of each season for each of us individually. Our pastor provided music for meditation and beautiful journals for journaling and we shared poetry and readings from the book all through the day.

We each contributed something we cooked for lunch. After lunch, we crafted the seasons of our hearts. I choose summer. The retreat was exactly one week before my wedding and the calm and contentment I felt was something that I wanted to convey in my craft. I wanted the warmth of the summer, the symbolic power of a circle and the connection to sunflowers in my creation. My last craft for another retreat featured triangles which, the pastor said, illustrated my connection to the Trinity. During the crafting session, I walked outside to gather my thoughts and photographed the grape hyacinth and the dying tulip that I have published here. I may not be too talented with art, but I was pleased with what I created (below), even though I used way too much glue. The other women created beautiful, strong expressions of the other seasons. I wish I could share them with you here.

We ended the day as we began it: with worship but now followed by a long goodbye session. It was a wonderful, spiritual day. Our pastor is planning many more and I am looking forward to them. I urge you to attend the retreats offered at your church. If there aren’t any, suggest them to your Women’s Fellowship group.

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NEW FRIENDS!

Remember me?, originally uploaded by giori.

What a good day: so many blessings after an awful weekend!

At the Parish Council meeting tonight, Evelyn told us she has decided to stay on as pastor! Finally I will have a new friend and I am so excited about it. I can rebuild after the loss of M as pastor two years ago. It was a huge loss to me when he left.

Today I decided that I will get a dog: a Cavalier. Amy has told me how they are the breed I need. They prefer sleep to motion, are small, companionable, and wonderful to cats. I will be looking now so that I can have my puppy as soon as school gets out. When I return to school in the fall, Amy can help at the kennel with daycare and extended care if I need it.

The future is becoming bright with new relationships to develop and new loves to look forward to. The cats should not mind a dog at all. They have had dogs before and have trained them well. Just think: somebody to walk in the woods with and somebody to watch over things here. There will be obedience classes and all sorts of things to do with my dog. My Dog! I have thought of this possibility for five years and now I will have My Dog!

Should I get a boy dog or girl? What about the name? What dog furniture and toys and food will I need? The photo above is of a Cavalier enjoying the outdoors. What a wonderful photo! So many wonderful adventures to look forward to!

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