Shrine Mont: 10/6 - 10/8

This past weekend was Shrine Mont, our church's annual retreat. Sarah and I signed up together and really enjoyed the weekend in the small town of Orkney Springs (close to Mt. Jackson), nestled in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah mountains.

The Virginia House, where we had our meetings and small group sessions. As Sarah said, it looks like it should be on the cover of a Southern Living magazine.

About 580 people from our church were there--including my dad (my mom couldn't come because she had to work)--so there were plenty of new friends to make. In spite of the rainy weather, it was a wonderful weekend of fellowshipping, relaxing, fire-side chatting, hiking, apple-eating, cider-drinking, and merriment-making. Most important, it was a weekend of reflecting on the truth that I am completely known and completely loved by the God who made me. What a freeing truth!

The Scott House, where Sarah and I stayed.

Sarah and I are roommates wherever we go. :)

A funny story: Hiking with Olivia

My friends, Jon and George, and I decided to go hiking on Saturday afternoon. We caught up with another friend, Aaron, and two of his children, Caleb (4) and Olivia (6). One the way down the mountain, Olivia was holding my hand. Now, this is an important detail: Olivia is a very small and petite little girl; her legs are about 1/4 the length of mine. Just keep that in mind.

So, we're walking and talking about leaves and moss and how God created everything...Then we come to a sloped embankment of wet leaves. Here's what happened in my head: "La-dee-la-dee-da...I'll just take one big step over this slope of wet leaves here...no problem...wait. I shouldn't do that. I have a small child attached to me."

But before I could tell my body to stop, it was too late; I'd already started to take the big step/leap over the leaves and inertia took its course. Poor Olivia's little legs couldn't keep up. My hand pulled hers, and she landed face first in the wet leaves.

I immediately picked her up and said, "Oh, Olivia, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" With a look of bewilderment, she replied, "Yeah. I'm okay. But I think I'm gonna go hold my Daddy's hand now."

Of course, I understood. I probably gave her some serious trust issues. As I walked all alone, I thought to myself, Man, I can't believe I just did that! I feel like such a jerk! How can I call myself a child-friendly former schoolteacher?

We continued down the mountain. Olivia held Aaron's hand, Caleb held Jon's hand, and I held no one's hand.
"You know, those are just the consequences," said little six-year-old voice.
"What do you mean?" I asked, amazed that a young kid would even know the word consequences.
"Well, you have to walk by yourself; you can't hold anyone's hand. That's the consequence for what you did."
Wow. How profound. I tried not to laugh too hard, but just nodded in agreement and then said to Aaron, "Well, looks like someone's parents are doing a great job explaining discipline to their children!"

Some time later, I was still walking alone and I decided it was time to try and reconcile with Olivia.
"Olivia, do you think that maybe I could hold your hand again?"
"Nope. Those are the consequences!"
"Well, but remember how I said I was sorry? Do you think you could forgive me?"
She paused for a little while, smiled, then extended her hand and said, "Okay. You can hold my hand now!" And we finished the hike together. What a happy ending. :)

~The End~

Saturday night there was a squaredancing party. We totally busted a move! I saw my dad dance in ways I've never seen him dance before! It was awesome.

Jon providing the snacks for our night of playing Guesstures.


Another story: My First Flat Tire

As were we packing up to leave on Sunday afternoon, we noticed my car had a flat tire. Thankfully, there were a couple generous and capable men around who jumped at the opportunity to help us out. Which is a great thing, because I hate dealing with car stuff. By the way, did you know that you're supposed to regularly check your spare tire to make sure it's pumped up? I didn't know that...and my spare tire was also flat. But somehow the guys found an electric air pump and fixed it.



An hour or so later, Sarah, Michelle, and I pulled out of Orkney Springs with the spare tire on my Cabrio and the damaged tire crammed in the trunk along with all our bags. It was an absolutely gorgeous autumn day, and we enjoyed the drive through the winding mountain roads with the top down and music playing.

Michelle enjoys the backseat of the convertible.

About half an hour later, we stopped at the only auto place in Mt. Jackson and the guy there found the leak. It was in the side so he couldn't patch it. The following is a transcript of the dialogue that occured between us and the two older gentlemen at the auto place (keep in mind the location: a very small town in rural Virginia).

Us: "Do you know of a place where we can buy a new tire?"
Guy #1 (chewing slowly): "Hmm...Les-see...Isn't thar a place over thar in Winchester?"
Guy #2: "Yeah...I reckon so. Not sure if it'll be open now, though. Sunday afternoon an' all." (he squints up at the sunny sky)
Us: "Well, we're heading toward DC, so we're not going to drive through Winchester...
Guy #2: "The one in Winchester should be open, I do believe so...Try the one in Winchester."
Us: "Right. But we're heading to DC, so we won't drive through Winchester. How about in Woodstock, do you think there's anything there?"
Them: "Nope. Prolly won't find much there."
Us: "Okay...Umm..."
Silence.
Us: "Well, can you think of any place we could call to find out where a tire place is?"
Guy #2: "I don't have any phone numbers for Woodstock."
Us: "Do you have a phone book?"
Guy #2: "Nope."
Silence.
Us: "All right. Well, thanks so much for your help."

We left that one-horse-town and got on highway 81. I had to drive 50mph with my flashers on and the zooming traffic didn't really appreciate that (we got a lot of mean looks and angry gesticulations). Thanks to Michelle and her AAA service, we finally found a Goodyear place in Gainsville where within 40 minutes, I had a new tire, and we back on the road. Granted, the trip took an extra two hours, but we were so thankful to make it home safely and without much stress. Thanks be to God!


Those are candy cigarettes in our mouths...a little "blast from the past" while we waited for the new tire. As Sarah said, "Oh yeah, candy cigs. Because we're too cool for the real thing."

~The End~

Disclaimer: All photos in this blog post are property of Sarah Pullen and used with her permission. My camera spent the weekend in Arlington on our kitchen table.