4th of July Weekend -

So I know it is past the fourth of July, but I wanted to post what we did over the long weekend. Paul and I along with Carolyn and Matt took 10 high school students out to Buena Vista for what we called "Mountain Madness". I know what you are thinking, sounds fun! The name suites it well, it was a blast! We camped about 10 miles outside of Buena Vista. It only rained a little bit on Saturday which was perfect because we did crafts in the tent and took naps. For me, it was more of taking a nap the whole time. Having a person growing inside of you really wears you out:)

Anyway, Friday was the white water rafting day, we went through Noah's Ark. I was not going to go, but then last minute I felt okay about going. They put me in the front middle which was the safest place for me to be; however, not the driest. I got soaked on every rapid. It was a great day of rafting. We ended up staying in town the rest of the night so we could watch the fireworks show. We ate at this place that was so interesting. When you sit down and order all you have to say is "I will have the dinner". They only have one thing every night and it is usually steak. It was really great food though.

The next day was our hiking day. Carolyn and Matt did the research and bought a hiking book to find a great place to go. We got to the trailhead and started up the path. At first, everything the book said we thought we were passing and going up the right trail. It ended up being completely wrong. We were following a trail, but we have no idea where it went or if it was really a hiking trail at all. When we got back down to the bottom, we asked someone about the trail we thought we were on and sure enough behind a truck was a trailhead for the trail that we completely missed. It was hilarious, but we still had a great time. That night we cooked at the camp and then we went to some natural hot springs. The hot springs were awesome and a relaxing time. They had different temperature pools, depending on were you were from the main feed.

The next morning we woke up, had quiet time, worship, and our last group time before we cleaned up and left. The weekend was focused on the characteristics of Jesus and falling in love with him, not focusing on all the things we feel we have to do to follow him. It led to some great conversations with the students and it was great for me to hear too. I definitely felt like I came out of the weekend looking at Jesus in a new way that I have not before. We love getting to spend time away from the city on retreats with our students. It is a great time to connect and get to know them even better. Below are some pics from the weekend. Enjoy!