This weekend was my retreat to the GA mountains! Friday night after IHOP and Walmart, we treked up the mountain on a one way road in a 15 passenger bus. When turning onto the driveway, I didn't see there was a driveway there, I thought we were going off the road!! I feaked and thought I was going to die! Thankfully I am still alive. :-) The cabin was nice -3 floors, hot tub, back porch, front porch with swing, lake in the back, pool table. There were 9 of us who went. Saturday we went hiking / walking, went to the downtwn area to some little stores, had lunch, went to an apple barn place where I got mint chocolate fudge, and got stuff at Walmart to make dinner at the cabin. After dinner some people played Monopoly (not me), and others Scrabble (me!). We then played catch phrase (hallerious) and then the guys played pool while me and my friend Rachel talked. Both nights most of us went to bed at 2 AM, while I went to bed at 3 AM because I took a shower or stayed up talking to Rachel. Sunday we went to a nearby mountain with a short hike to an overlook where we looked at faraway cars that looked like ants and some of the guys went on some rocks past the place where you're supposed to go. I'm glad they didn't hurt themselves. We ate lunch on the way home.
We had devotionals throughout the weekend and watched a guy speak on a video from a conference, as well as sang some songs with one of the guys playing gutiar and the other a small drum (yeah, there's a name for it and I don't know what it is!). We had quiet times to ourselves. We also had about an hour and a half of freetime on Saturday where everybody did their own thing - fishing, drawing, playing gutiar, watching TV, playing computer games, swinging, taking pictures. It was fun to see how each of us went off to do our own thing that we enjoyed! I love me some alone time! Haha. It's ok if others are nearby, it's just nice to think and hear the silence. Is that an oxymoron? To hear the silence?
The first downtown store we went to on Saturday didn't have mint chocoalte fudge, but they had other fudge. I knew I wasn't going to buy any other fudge because that's not what I wanted. The others were confused, "Why aren't you buying fudge? You kept saying you wanted some." "Yes, but it's the wrong kind. If we go to another store later, maybe there will be some there and then I will regret getting the fudge here." I wasn't sure if the later store would have any, so I risked not getting any at all! But it was a risk I took. Later in the evening at the apple barn they DID have mint chocolate fudge! Along with being stoked, I told my friends Rachel and Nathan, "I feel like this is a metaphor for some things in life. I knew what I wanted and had to wait for it, even though I could have settled for less earlier. Sometimes you have to wait for the good stuff in life, even if you don't know when you'll get it or where."
I LOVE weekends like we just had. It's so nice to escape regular life for a while and explore and laugh a lot.
Yesterday after we got back from the retreat I went to the first meeting for my new job with all the others who will be working there (that could make the meeting). My nerves were calmed when I met some of the people - I think the unknown makes me nervous but once I know what's going on I'm better. We start training next Monday and then open to the public the following Monday. I'll be a receptionist for an aerobics place part time. I'm glad it's not til Monday because I have a lot of plans this week and weekend!
Today I went back to the park with my friend Rachel for lunch. She loves to draw / paint / create art so I showed her some of mine from several years ago. Tonight - Zumba. Tomorrow night - dinner with girls from my Thur night bible study. Wed - bible study with my church. Thur - bible study with a different church. Fri - I'm going to Helen GA, a small town near the mountains, with my friend Rachel and her husband Nathan, and a few others. Fun! Saturday I'm going to a place in Atlanta that has some shops with some friends. Sunday I am going to a Halloween party at night with my friends from Thur night bible study! Monday, besides training, is Halloween and at my church there's Trunk R Treat which means people decorate their cars and then kids walk around with families to get candy from the cars. I will say later what I'm dressing up as - don't want to ruin the surprise. :-) (Uhhh, even though probably nobody reads this anyways.) It's sooooooo nice to have things to do recently instead of just sitting around my house like I have been the past few months.
Starting in January I'm going to start practicing my Swahili on Rosetta Stone so when I go back to Kenya in July I will know more! I'm excited about that! I also want to start drawing again more - my friend Rachel has inspiried me!
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