"Whole 'tire' Family!"

Maddie is very expressive and she is very vocal for a 2 year old! She made this exclamation yesterday at breakfast! She was so excited!

On Friday, I left after lunch for Dayton. Every year during the first weekend in March I attend our Evangelical Church Conference Women's Retreat! I have taken both Maddie and Eli when they were infants and so have attended for several years. The past few years I have met my mom and sister-in-law, Tonya (Jay's wife) there for a weekend together!

It was a great weekend. Honestly I just needed some rest and change of routine and I got some of both! Probably not a lot of rest, but it was good. Our speaker for the weekend was Marilyn Hontz, author, speaker and Pastor's wife from Michigan! I wasn't sure at first that her style was one I could relate to, but in all honesty many of the things she said have stuck with me and challenged me. The weekend theme was Listening to God! Which is definitely something I need to work on, it sometimes easier to tell God what's going on than to sit and see what He desires for our lives!

In addition to the time with Mom and Tonya (which I regret not getting any pictures of), I got to spend a little bit of time with some treasured friends. Ron and I were introduced to the Evangelical Church when we were in college and we traveled to Seminary in Jackson, MS with 2 couples who were already connected to the Conference! I love getting together with Gloria and Jenny and being able to share about our ministries and lives and how God is challenging and using us!

We were able to go out for a bit on Friday evening and catch up! I really can't think of greater friendships than those who I am connected to within the Evangelical Church! I'm very blessed!

Here Gloria, Jenny and I pose inside a Steak-n-Shake after some catching up!

Below are Gloria, Jenny and Jenny's mom, Cathy!

So it was a great weekend for several reasons!

I needed the time away, I was able to catch up with friends, spend time with family and dig into God's Word and be Challenged!

But...when I got home Sunday evening, I could tell I had been missed, especially by my little girl! She loves her Mommy!

So her exclamation at Breakfast Monday morning was simply the best - here we are, all together the "whole (en)tire Family"!