Crucial Conversations

This past weekend, our church had a "In the city Women's Retreat". Normally we head out to Camp Arnes for a weekend away, but unfortunately that didn't work out this year, so we had it in the city instead. The topic of the retreat was entitled "Getting Unstuck". The focus was spent discussing how to have those tough conversations with people in our lives, whether it be at work or at school.

In my life, I have a few relationships that require some tough conversations. Now, normally my personality is one that avoids confrontation at all costs. I don't like arguing or fighting with people. I desire to please people, often at a cost to myself because I rarely say no. This weekend was a really great tool to be able to consider having those tough, yet crucial conversations in order to be freed from the restraints of those relationships. I will be completely honest and say that I don't know if I necessarily feel more confident in myself to have those conversations right now, but my heart has definitely been opened to the consideration of having those conversations and how I might possibly go about doing that. My hope is that in the next few weeks and even months ahead, I will be able to approach these people I need to talk to with confidence and that I may act with grace and with compassion. I hope that these hurting relationships in my life might be ones that are pleasing and honouring to the Father one day.

"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person."

~Colossions 4:6

Friday night at our first session we decided to have a chocolate fountain. At first, it wasn't really working as expected. Lavonne and I had never set one of these things up. Apparently the chocolate needs to be quite thin in order to flow nicely. We learned this one the hard way.

The instructions state that you are to not move or pick up the machine while it is going and has chocolate in it. I can definitely see the reasoning in that. However, we chose to disregard that instruction and pick it up to balance it out a bit in order to allow better flowage (I know that's not really a word, but it works).

The chocolate looks better already!

Kristen, Jess & Laurie hanging out after lunch.

At the end of the retreat, we got these awesome bottles of lotion from Tiber River Naturals with our theme verse printed on the tags which were made at Botanical PaperWorks. I have been wearing the lotion ever since.