This fall, after his retreat, I mentioned to my husband that I wanted to just get away at the end of the year and do my own little retreat. He thought it was a great idea and encouraged me to make it happen. So I started researching a little bit of where I could stay without much success. Most were too expensive and weren't remote enough for me.
Then I had dinner with my best friend and mentioned my idea to her and she was about as excited about it as I was. She is a working mom with three teenage kids and a crazy schedule, so getting away to rest and unplug sounded amazing. We've been best friends since college and until about five years ago, lived just 5 minutes from each other. She lives about two hours away for me, so we have to be intentional about seeing each, we usually meet half way for dinner. Our dinners usually end up being about three hours long with lots of conversation, laughs, and tears. Our time together is so very precious, but is always WAY too short. We were thrilled about the possibility of spending uninterrupted time together for an extended period of time.
We ended up finding this charming place on AirBnB. It met all of our criteria - inexpensive, secluded, and close to both of us and our hosts were incredible!!
This cottage is situated on a goat farm and just welcomed you in. It reminded me of an English cottage with lots of quirks and charm. We were greeted by Ginger, the cat and two dogs who were gentle giants, whose job was to protect the goat herd.
It was so wonderful to get away from the craziness of our lives and just be. We didn't have to think very much about meals, we each brought lots of snacks and then did a quick trip to Walmart to pick up some frozen meals and sides. There was no laundry to do and no kids to run to the next event! We both could just be - how rare and exciting is that!!
We spent two days planning out what we wanted to do in 2015, spending time in prayer and communion with God and nature, laughing until we cried, staying up way too late, eating way too much, and just being together.
One of my favorite parts was exploring the property. The hosts had left a map of a hiking route down to a creek. It involved climbing fences, averting lots of thorns, barbed wire, and bitter cold, but it was so worth it. I love just being outside, exploring, and taking it all in. I was able to take some photos and loved trying to capture the beauty surrounding me.
Individually, we came up with a word or phrase that we wanted 2015 to be. The idea comes from the book My One Word . I've actually never read the book, but the concept is to take a word and focus your energy on that, instead of making and breaking tons of New Year's resolutions. A couple of years ago, I came up with a phrase that worked pretty well for me, until our daughter came along half way through the year and pretty much the rest of the year was focused on being a mom of a newborn again. I picked the phrase THROUGH AND THROUGH. It comes from 1 Corinthians 5:23, 24 - "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you THROUGH AND THROUGH. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it." I want MY God to know me THROUGH AND THROUGH - spirit, soul, and body. I want NOTHING hidden from Him.
I so thankful for this time away. I felt energized when I came home and ready to face 2015 with open arms. I am grateful my husband encouraged me and took care of the family while I was away. It was time well spent with God, nature, and my best friend.
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