Shenandoah Valley Youth Retreat

Welcome to our home for the retreat. Huge place inside and the bathrooms were great!

The girls investigating our new home the night we arrived.






Having some fun at the ping pong table, which was a hit.




Group picture at the creek bridge.




The lake with the Shenandoah Hills in the background. The hills were beautiful, especially at sunset. Emily and Michael liked the lake.





The boys just had to do a dock pose for me.




The kids were very excited when Teresa and I pointed out wild onions growing on the hillside to them. Soon all the kids (and leaders) were on their knees digging up the onions for each other. It kept us busy for a good hour. The smell of them took me back to Grandpa and Grandma Schmidt's garden.






Ending our trip with a huge bonfire, skits that the kids did for each other, silly songs, and toasting it all with crispy marshmallows.

Doors

Got to love my apartment building. The cracked glass decoration on the doors is just so lovely. Gives the place a real charm!

Happy Easter!

This cross was in the church during all of Lent. It has a purple cloth wrapped around it and people would pin their prays to it. Then on Good Friday it was wrapped entirely in wire...and then today, there were flowers in the narthex, in these big baskets. Everyone took the flowers they wanted and then they would walk to the front of the church and stick the flowers into the wire and the end result was our Easter Cross. Very beautiful.

Good Friday

On this Good Friday it seems fitting to say a final goodbye to Grandpa Reed's microwave. It looks kind of lonely there. Say bye-bye.

Easter Breakfast

Here is the Congregation Easter Breakfast Sign Up Board that I created for the Christian Service Board I'm on. I thought it looked very Spring like.