I've got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart

Does Community Church put on an awesome Women's retreat, or what?!

Picture pink and brown "kid in a candy shop" theme. Adorable decorations
Imagine a "Sunday dinner" menu; pot roast, mashed potatoes and green beans. Yum.
And a speaker who kept us laughing the whole day with her funny stories and jokes. Truth be told, some of the stories in and of themselves weren't very funny, but Glenna Salsbury finds the joy in all things.

What I appreciated most about Glenna Salsbury was her honesty, and the one thing that keeps ringing in my head is that "Jesus FINDS us!" The parables of the pearl and the treasure in the field were so key to knowing who we are in Christ; sought out, bought with a price, treasured forever. Praise Him.

All of you from WIW know that Gayle De Vries has been struggling with some health issues, but you wouldn't have known it to see her on Saturday. She looked wonderful in her pink jacket, and was just as charming and sweet as always. A mere 3 days earlier after study I told my husband I didn't think she'd be able to pull it off. Wednesday Gayle looked tired, and worn out, but Saturday found her chipper, and bright. Surely God carried her thru the day, and gave her the strength and we are so thankful for that!

Pray for extra blessings for all those hard workers of the retreat committee. They really put more work into that day than anyone ever should, but the results are great, women are blessed and feel special, and God teaches us thru the guest speaker, and hearts are filled with Joy as a result.

On Friday I had given my ticket for the retreat to my mom. After a plea on the previous Sunday for workers, I had decided to serve instead, but each member of the committee encouraged me to sit down and enjoy the day. Thank you for that. I sure did enjoy the day, even though it took quite some time for me to sit still without feeling like I should be doing something. And thank you to Lynae Dykstra too, who, while we were greeting, told me to stop being ridiculous and to relax and enjoy the day. I'm not so good at that, and I really appreciated the nudge to relax. In return I got to give Patty Roodzant the same nudge. She's really bad at relaxing and letting someone else do the work, but I think she finally managed to settle in to the idea also.

Joy is contagious, start spreading some around today. Remember you were bought for a price, isn't that reason enough to be joyful?!