take that, Hogwarts!

It's not every weekend that you get to hang out in a castle, and it's definitely not every weekend that you get to serve communion in a castle! Our church retreat was at a magical place called Castlewellan, and it was just heavenly. It was all very full-circle for me, because I had been on this church retreat five years ago, and here I was, back again. Steve had me serve communion, which was something I'll not soon forget. To break bread with people who have become so significant to me means more that I can really express.

I brought a book expecting lots of down time to read and wound up spending nearly every spare minute talking to people because they're just so great. We chatted around fireplaces, chatted while playing guitars, chatted while eating, chatted about the great talks on creation and heaven, chatted on long walks around the lake, chatted an afternoon away at the fancy Slieve Donard hotel in Newcastle, chatted during the hilarious talent show and even chatted into the wee hours of the morning when we should've been sleeping. It was refreshing, but not in the way I expected it to be. It was refreshing to have so much contact time with Fitzroy folks and to leave the weekend more exhausted than I'd arrived, but that good kind of exhaustion, like that which comes after a long journey. And to top it all off, it wasn't that cold.
*A big, big thanks to Jo for sharing her beautiful pictures! My camera battery's dead and I think the charger is in America!