Sister Retreat

The sister retreat was the vision of our youngest sister, Debbie. She dreampt it, planned for it, and made it happen. Debbie, you rock!! :0)

It started with a dinner out at an Italian restaurant. During the meal we did our first "put up" which is the opposite of a put down. I was chosen to be put up first, so Gayle and Debbie shared what they appreciated about me, and what traits they especially admired. It was very humbling and very encouraging. Yes, I cried (no surprise there, huh?).


During the meal Debbie had us guess where we were going to spend the night. Neither of us guessed it and she finally had to tell us that we were actually going back to my parents house!!
For our first sister retreat she wanted to start at the beginning, so we went back home (with our overnight bags that Gayle and I had packed!) and all of us slept in the blue room, a room which various combinations of us had shared all our growing up years. First, we gave each other pedicures. Here we are, sitting on the edge of the tub soaking our feet. We remembered that the bathroom was much bigger when we were little!



These are my newly done toes. Notice how artfully my sisters' hands are arranged?! They each took a foot. It was very hilarious and very fun!



After 3 hours we got a tad high on the fumes of nail polish, and became quite silly. Probably no surprises there either!


The next morning we had a wonderful time of sharing with my parents at the breakfast table. Debbie had planned a book sharing time, where we each read an excerpt from a book we'd read recently and shared how it impacted us. It was wonderful to hear what my loved ones have been reading and pondering. That was a very special time.

Then us sisters set out for the boardwalk (picture in post below was taken while walking the boardwalk by the bay) and walked to a cute old section of town where we visited a bead bazaar and each of us made a bracelet for our daughters! (This is one of the many things we sisters have in common ~ we each have one daughter!) That was really fun, and the bracelets all turned out so well!


We had a little break in the afternoon and ended our sister retreat with a nice dinner out with our parents. This restaurant was right on the water near the marina, and we had a lovely view of the boats bobbing gently in the bay and the sun going down over the water. Beautiful!

Mom, Dad, Gayle and Debbie ~ I treasure the time we had together, both the growing up years, and the few days we just shared without our families. May God keep us close in heart as we continue the journeys He has set for each of us!