Hello Friends, What a weekend I had sharing with the United Methodist Women of my church, UMC of the Covenant in Arlington, TX.  We met at Stillwater Lodge, part of the Methodist Camp at Glen Rose, TX.  A peaceful and beautiful site to hold our retreat. Beautiful spacious lodge with comfortable rooms.  A river that flowed behind the lodge, was inviting for rock hunting, walking and fishing.  I didn't see any lady fishers. LOL I did see plenty of walkers and others sitting along the banks in thoughtful solitude or in groups, all with relaxation and laughter in mind.

Glen Rose, Texas is also home to fantastic, unique attractions like Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and World Famous Dinosaur Valley State Park, making it an extremely popular tourist town with terrific accommodations. There are also numerous walking/jogging trails perfect for the active visitor.

We enjoyed a Bible study on using Our Spiritual Gifts, Chair Aerobics, a visit to a pie shop downtown..YUMMY!  Lots of singing, movies, devotionals, prayers and lots of fun.  The food was excellent, and the large dining room was well managed by the lodge to seat other large groups also attending the Lodge for meetings and fellowship. One of our favorite highlights of our retreats is the craft time.  This year we made beautiful bible markers made from jewels and other materials for jewelry making.  They ended up beautifully for most ladies....but there were the exceptions...like mine.  My string was too short to fit inside the bible, and I put too many jewels on each end, so.....I made a cute things to hang from the chain on my purse.  Looks like it belongs there.

We closed our weekend with a special worship service on Psalms and the singing of Psalms.  It was touching and meaningful, a lovely note to end our retreat.

When the worship service was over, one of the ladies set a stack of unusual rocks, shells and fossils that she had collected from the riverside.  She issued an open invitation to all the ladies to take whatever appealed to them. It seemed each piece found a home. I picked up an unusual rock that had a hole completely through it, and was almost hollow on the inside. Quite smooth on the outside and an unusual shape overall.  I wonder what story of history lies within that rock? The fascination is.....I will never know and can make up many stories to tell around it.  Maybe one might be close to truth.  Reminds me of the song, "Rock my Soul in the Bosom of Abraham."  That's what it's all about!

Barb