The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good: I lost 5 pounds during the retreat, and I feel refreshed mentally and emotionally!

The bad: My van's battery died just before we were going to leave for the retreat and had to be replaced PRONTO, and once we got there, a mouse of some sort was in our cabin that kept leaving little dobs everywhere and woke me in the night because he was digging in our belongings.

The ugly: Sugar-n-Spice was not on her best behavior at all. I almost left the retreat early because of that.

Now, perhaps you are scratching you head about why I feel refreshed after reading the "bad" and the "ugly." Well, I'll tell ya: teenage girls who are servant-hearted and their parents who teach them to be so.

The retreat was held at a camp in a GORGEOUS spot in the hills of Missouri. The girls kept asking me, "Mom, are we in the forest?" We were surrounded by "forest" and huge green fields that held dozens of grazing horses. Beautiful sight. And to get to the horses, my Grand Caravan got to live out it's lifelong dream: to be a Jeep. LOL - seriously, there were some steep hills, and the roads where just gravel. I had to floor it to get up the hill, and man, did we c-r-a-w-l up that hill.

And that's where the 5 pounds of loss came in. We had to walk up and down hills all weekend, carrying our babies and pushing strollers. Can you say "workout?" LOL

This retreat was for families with lots of children. I had one of the smallest families, as I only have 4. The largest attending family had 9. It was such fun and BUSY! But it was also hard work. I had my 4 by myself, and so did my friend "M" - she had her 3 by herself. We had no hubbies to help, and on a thing like this, you really needed an extra set of hands. Especially when a child started acting up. (One of the mothers told me that "M" and I were awfully brave to be doing the retreat without our husbands, and I replied with, "I think I'm beginning to think so, too!") My Sugar-n-Spice showed a lot of her "spicy" side that weekend, particularly on Friday night. She would take off in the opposite direction, and I had to drop the other 2 and run after her (on a hill, lol) with a baby in my arms, then drag her back. Throwing a huge tantrum, of course. I was so frustrated and frazzled by the end of Friday that I told the kids we were leaving the next day. That was it for me. And then along came the mouse that night. Yup, I was going home.

On Saturday, I decided to give it another shot, but if it didn't work, we were indeed going home. But I didn't get that chance. Throughout Saturday, various girls came to "M" and I and would ask, "What can I do?" And it continued on Sunday. Those young women "made" the weekend for me. With them taking a child to the bathroom, holding a tired toddler, allowing me to go get my food, etc, I got to breathe a bit. One of the them, "H," asked me, "When do you take a shower?" LOL! Ah, the age-old question for mothers everywhere, but especially when you are far outnumbered by tiny ones and have no husband around to help. She is one of the oldest in her family, and obviously does not remember the time when her own mother faced that. Now in her family, they not only have the two parents, but about 3 teens! Talk about having help in that family!

One tidbit that had me laughing so hard... a mother there asked me how old I am, remarking that I didn't look any older than her son who was 19. I could not help but laugh. I've always looked young, but I've not gotten a comment like that in awhile - mostly just that I don't look old enough to have 4 kids. So when I told her that I am actually 30, her eyes got pretty big. So funny!

Another wonderful thing - I got to meet 3 families that I will be close to when we move!!! How fabulous! Ready-made friends! (And I got promises of a FABULOUS recipe that we got to sample. When I get it, I will post it for you. You will LOVE it.)

Such a wonderful weekend, though it started with bumps including a van that won't start. Talking with so many humble and godly women was a wonderful way to refill my tank, and seeing their teenagers gave me such encouragment to keep on working and training my little ones for Him. I hope that one day my own kids will be such great young adults!