days and knights: Oregon 2010-Day Five and Six

Wednesday was another full day. We woke up early (at least the sponsors did!) to fix breakfast before everyone showed up to eat. I was constantly amazed at how well the group did on getting up, getting ready and being cheerful! We ate then the two groups headed out to finish the yard work. However, Kathi and I stayed at the church to start packing up the food for the retreat, fixing snacks for the retreat, start the task of cleaning the kitchen and building for church tonight and fix lunch for the hungry crew when they returned. After lunch and before we split into two groups for the afternoon activities, Larry and I cleaned up ourselves before going to the store to pick up laundry detergent. While we were out, Larry dropped me by our Host Couple’s gift shop. Belinda had invited me to come sometime during the week and see her and her shop! OH MY GOODNESS!!! It was one of the cutest shops I have ever seen! I had about 10 minutes, which was NOT enough time to take it all in, but she has adorable stuff…might be a good thing it is in Oregon! Each day Belinda and I found more and more things we had in common. We never ran out of things to talk about and our conversation was so easy...kind of like we really just "got each other". After we returned to the church, we split the group into two work groups. One group stayed at church and cleaned the building for services tonight with Larry, Evan and Odies giving instructions while Kathi and I took the other group to the laundrymat with ALL the dirty clothes! Wow. Each person did their own laundry plus someone else’s, so it really went pretty quick. It was fun to hang out with the group and talk about all that we had seen and experienced thus far. After we returned to the church, small groups brought in a wonderful Italian supper for us! Plus, Belinda had a cake made at a local bakery for our dessert. Funny story regarding the cake! On Sunday morning, at the end of the services an older gentlemen made his way to the front and said he had something to tell us "Texans". He said that he had been to Texas and seen how flat it was. He also said he had always heard we thought our state was the largest. He just wanted to correct us. He said if you "ironed" out Oregon's Mountains...that Oregon would be bigger than Texas. With that, he sat down. Of course everyone got a big laugh. Belinda went by the bakery and asked them to make a cake with Oregon and Texas on it. When she went back to pick it up...here is what they had done!

We all had to laugh, as the bakery also must think Oregon is BIGGER! :) They have been so sweet to us and again it has been a huge help to Kathi and I! I can’t imagine if we had been in charge of 3 meals a day! Taking care of two plus all the snacks and water breaks has kept us hopping! As soon as supper was over, Kathi and I hurried to the kitchen to whip together some snacks to serve after the evening worship with the youth group. On Sunday’s the youth groups numbers are very low but on Wednesday night, they have a praise service and LOTS of teens from the community come. So we planned for around 50 total and we had 60! It was great to see that kind of turnout. Our kids visited with them, played a few games and then we worshipped together. After they left, at around 10, we had our Hillcrest devo and discussed the plans for the retreat, which started the next day. This week was so crazy busy every second! I wished we had enough time to just stop and take in more of this beautiful state. Seems like we are always moving in fast motion.
Thursday:
We were all up by 6 to pack up stuff and get ready to leave for the retreat we will have with the teens from this community. We had no idea how many might show up! First, a wonderful Christian lady came and fixed us a yummy breakfast and sent us away with full bellies and warm hearts...she was such an inspiration of Christian servanthood! She has blessed us all week with wonderful fruit and goodies to add to our meals! We love and miss her!
We were a little disappointed as only 11 kids showed up to go on the retreat but at the same time, we know we will really have a chance to get to know this 11 very well and give them lots of one on one attention! We loaded up the four vans and headed out. The retreat location was a Christian camp, called Wi-Ne-Ma and it is located about 4 hours from Tri-City and it is on the coast! Yahoo!!!!!! Let me just say, I was so excited and this day was filled with an incredible drive with some of the prettiest country I have ever seen! I thought Colorado trees were tall...but not like Oregon! Whew! Every where you look is gorgeous and lush with flowers growing wild in the bar ditches...and then we got to the Coastal Interstate where we got to enjoy the view of the ocean! Really...this day was sensory overload for me!!! Before we left on the trip, Larry and I of course did some research of good places to eat. If you know the Knights, you know we are always looking for a good place to eat! :) A friend at church told me about a place called Mo's in Lincoln City, Oregon. Well...it turned out that the retreat location was about 15 miles from Mo's. So it was decided we would eat lunch at Mo's before arriving at camp! GOOD DECISION! Oh my!!! I love seafood, in fact, it is my favorite kind of food! But living in Texas, we just don't get it much. We had a delicious lunch and enjoyed the company of Gloria, who had come along as a Tri-City sponsor! She is such a dear lady! We had Clam Chowder (YUMMY), Grilled Shrimp, Salmon, Larry had Oysters on the half-shell and to top it off some wonderful Coconut Pie!! I could have eaten there every meal!!! After lunch we traveled the short distance to Camp, all the while enjoying this view out the window!!!

As soon as we arrived at Wi-Ni-Ma, we unloaded, assigned cabins and then met back up to began the retreat. Our students had been working on this for months. Evan asked them to put all the things they have loved from past retreats they have gone on with the Hillcrest Teens into this one event. So, to say the least, it was packed with fun games, ice breakers, etc. We started out playing 3 different ice breakers...just so we can start learning each others name. That was followed by a one hour break where ALL of us ran to the beach. This camp has an amazing property! It is bordered by the beach and has a lovely lake...so pretty much wherever you are in the camp you are looking at water and feeling the ocean air! Ahh. We returned to the meeting hall for our first devotional and small groups before supper. Supper prepared and cleaned up by the camp staff...YAHOO! I really didn't care what we ate...I was just so thrilled to not have to cook and wash dishes for a few days! :) We did more activities and ended the day with a beach bonfire and sang songs...pretty much the most amazing way to end the day! With a midnight curfew...we packed as much as you possibly could into our first day at Wi-Ni-Ma! It was a huge blessing to have our retreat at such a beautiful location. God has smiled on us once again!!