On Monday, 4 lovely ladies and 2 adorable little children embarked on a journey out to a beautiful cabin in the Whiteshell to enjoy some time away from the city, meaningful conversation, far too much junk food, and lots of laughter. Ok, our journey wasn't really all that long - we drove approximately 2 hours to Kristy's cabin at Betula Lake.
Upon our arrival, Aimee, Norah, Gavin and myself headed right down to the dock while the Sabrina and Kristy unpacked the cars - bless their heart (or maybe they were just taking advantage of Aunties holding their kids).
Gavin wasn't so sure about the water - in fact it's pretty safe to say he didn't really enjoy the water at all. His lifting up his legs when his toes touched was way too cute though!
The weekend was filled with complete randomness as our goal for the weekend was to just hang out, have some good times together as friends and get to know each other better.
Aimee enjoyed being "helped" out of the chair by Kristy.
I discovered these amazing salad tossers hanging on the wall while making supper. Too bad you can't actually buy these in the store (at least I don't think you can).
Kristy discovered a saw stuck in one of the trees in the yard while outside, so rather then run the risk of someone else finding that saw in the middle of the night, breaking into the cabin and hacking us up or something, we took no chances and placed the saw back in the boathouse where no one could hurt us. Apparently Aimee got a little aggressive while putting the saw away.
It's amazing what happens when girls get the chance to get away with each other. We tend to completely let loose, which makes our times together that much more fun and entertaining!
A lot of our weekend was spent playing with and admiring these 2 kids. I mean, how much cuter do they get???
A nice mommy-son moment. There were lots of those!
HOT-TUBBING
As a "thank you" for being able to use the cabin we spent a good chunk of Tuesday morning spring cleaning some of the cabin and cleaning out the paddle boat. Never has cleaning been so much fun.
In order for us to effectively clean the paddle boat, Kristy and I had to move it over to the dock so that we could get at it on all sides without having leaches sucking us.
We had a little trouble getting the boat to be parallel to the dock. Thankfully Kristy saved us and figured out how to get us there. Now we could begin the cleaning:
It didn't take long before the paddleboat was spick and span, we had 2 little munchkins fast asleep, so we grabbed the monitors and the 4 of us took the opportunity to head out on the lake for a brief ride.
FUN WITH AUNTIES
Once the kids were down for the night, the real party began and it wouldn't have been complete with dacquiries.
Reading with Auntie Aimee
Aimee and I chose to bunk together, sleepover style. It was awesome to stay up late talking about everything under the sun. I can't remember the last time I had a sleepover. However, I don't think I was a very good roommate as Aimee's side of the room was neatly put away where as my side of the room was quite the opposite. Sorry Aimee! Thanks for putting up with my mess.
Most of all, the best part of the weekend was getting the opportunity to sit down with these amazing women, talking and praying together and getting to know one another on a much deeper level. Conversations very much focused on the desire to be inspired, what being inspired looks like and how we can inspire others. I appreciated the encouragement and challenging conversations very much. I am so honored and blessed that I have the friendship of all 3 of these women. I appreciate their desire to grow deeper with Jesus despite whatever gets thrown in the way. Their lives and their relationship with God is inspiring in itself and I was blessed and moved by each person's story. I thoroughly enjoy listening to the stories of people's faith journeys. It is a neat thing to recognize change and growth in people and hear how God is moving. I wish we did more of that sometimes.
I was reminded that God desires for us to vulnerable and authentic with each other and over the past few days, the 4 of us were able to do that with each other, recognizing the areas where we perhaps need to be held accountable to one another and areas that need continued prayer.
I came home after these past few days feeling refreshed and renewed (despite the lack of sleep) in my relationship with Jesus. Kristy, Aimee and Sabrina, I cherish each one of you and thank God that he has blessed me with friends like you guys! I anticipate and look forward to the many great memories and milestones we will encounter together as friends in the years ahead. I know that God will be moving in each of our lives in incredible ways and I am absolutely pumped to see where His hand leads each of us. Thank you for a phenomenal couple of days and I hope that this can become a yearly occurance for us at the cabin. I love you girls very very much!
We had a 'hoot' of a time - right Sabrina???? - haha
