My retreat!

My reateat was just what I needed! We stayed in the Bellview Biltmore in Clearwater FL. A historic hotel built in 1897. It kind of reminded me of the hotel in the movie Somewhere in Time.

Very big!!

I shared a room with three other women. I was the oldest! The youngest was a 25 year old named Lyn. It was scary how much we had in common. I had not really know her before this weekend.

When we arrived and checked in we met in the Presidential suite for a reception. Later appetizers were served. Two kinds of homemade hot cheese dips. One was spinach and the other I am not sure what it was but it was good. There were also white and blue corn tortilla chips. There was some fruit, cheese slices and crackers. We had lemon water or sodas to drink.

We also played a couple" get acquainted" games. One where you had a name of a famous woman on your back and others in the room were to try and describe her and get you to guess who you were. The other game was a "bingo" game. You had to find and get the names of people in the room who ," had a blue couch, had 3 dogs, played the piano, had a TV in their bedroom, owned a water softener, liked liver........ I think you get how it went. You got a prize for a bingo or for filling all the spaces. After this we had a break.

Later dinner was served. We had homemade chicken salad, grapes, cheese cubes and a croissant
served with water or peach tea. We played another game after eating where we were to write 2 things about ourself that were true and one that was false. The others at the table had to guess the false one. I said that I had assisted in surgery, met Colonel Sanders (the chicken guy), and had gone white water rafting. Which one do you think is false??

For everything they tried to mix us up so we would meet new people.

After dinner we had a devotional time and broke up into groups for prayer. The theme for the weekend was "Going Deeper With God". The points Gwen, our speaker, touched on during the devotional were our Hunger for God, Hindrances that keep us from God and" Helps "that help us hear God. After the devotional we were numbered off so there were about 5 or 6 different groups that went off to pray. There was no agenda for the prayer time other than praising and thanking God and bringing our needs before Him. It was conversational prayer and when it got quiet we ended.

After this the next activity was dessert and a "chick" flick for those that wanted to watch a movie. Dessert was yummy!!! Several different cheese cakes from the Cheese Cake Factory and a chocolate fountain with strawberries, pineapple, marshmellows and pretzel sticks to dip into it. There was also coffee with different flavored syrups and whipped cream. This was definately not a weekend to be on a diet!! All the food for the weekend was prepared by the womens ministry leadership and they served us! (except for the cheese cake)

They tried the set up the movie , which was to be, One Night With the King, but it did not work , so No movie. So we pretty much did what ever. I mostly talked with Lyn and learned how much we had in common. She comes from a legalistic Independent Baptist background like me, her Dad was in the military, she has lost a brother and she is studying to become a nurse. We both signed up for Mary Kay to get the discount when we place big orders . We both struggle with our weight. I could go on and on.

After getting back to our room we talked more with our other two room mates. Both very sweet gals. They are both lawyers wives, but one is an accountant that works from home and the other left the military after 10 yrs. to have babies. She is an Areospace Engineer. Very neat ladies and very down to earth! We got to sleep after 1am!

A breakfast was served from 7-8:45 am. they served muffins, mixed fruit, yogurt parfaits, croissants and coffee and juice. After breakfast we had another short devotional. She talked about a Holy Hush before a Holy God. She did not talk very long , but gave us an activity to do alone. We were to not talk to anyone for one hour while we did the activity. She wanted us to be still and let God speak. She gave us some scriptures to read and some questiond to reflect on. It was very special! At home I do not get to Be Still very often!

After our alone time we had an opportunity to go on a tour of the hotel if we wanted, go to the beach, pool or golf. What ever we wanted. They also had lunch that we could pick up and eat where we desired. The lunch was sandwich choices that were from Panera bakery, ( ttp://www.panerabread.com/ ), a very popular resturant here in FL. There were chips , fruit salad, soda, water, coffee and they also made these yummy peanut butter chocolate brownies.

The ladies I rode with to the reateat decided we should go to the Super Target on our way home. We tried to but made a wrong turn and did not find it! Bummer!!!

Overall it was a very nice getaway! Just what I needed! AND it only cost me 20$!!!

Oh, it also looks like John did not get the job. SO we are still going to be here for awhile. At least until December most likely. It is just not the right time yet and we are pretty OK with that.