Much Needed Refreshment

Remember how I mentioned our power going out last week thanks to the 20 of snow? By Friday morning and two nights with no heat, I was about ready to go stir-crazy. There are quite a few things that electricity is key to – hot water for a shower being one of them {who knew, right?}.

The Real Refreshment Retreat from Apologia came at a wonderful time for me – when I literally needed ‘refreshment’ and I also had the opportunity for some homeschool and spiritual encouragement as well.  Don’t worry, the power came back on for the family at home, so they all were fine!

The week leading up to Real Refreshment was tiring emotionally and physically, and truthfully, I just wanted to stay home and curl up. I am so thankful my hubby encouraged me to still attend and for the time that I was blessed to be a part of the retreat.

With Rachel {Finding Joy} and Stephaine {Bowmania} / photo via Rachel

The Friday and Saturday sessions were packed with talks from some amazing ladies in the homeschool world: Rachel Carman, Zan Tyler, Heidi St. John, Debra Bell, Elizabeth Smith, and Sherri Seligison. Each lady based their talk around the passage of Philippians 4:8.

In Philippians 4, the apostle Paul exhorts us to choose joy regardless of our circumstances, and then he provides a checklist for us to measure our thoughts by: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8)

The sessions for the weekend included:

• Philippians: Context, Context, Context – Rachael Carman
• Thinking On Our Relationships with Other Women – Debra Bell
• Finding the Rose in the Desert – Thinking on Loveliness – Zan Tyler

• How Should I Think about Excellence? Seeing the Exceptional in the Everyday, the Phenomenal in the Nominal – Sherri Seligson

• Thinking on Biblical Discernment in an Unbiblical Age – Heidi St. John

My Quote to Remember

Below is one of my favorite quotes from the weekend – well, I had a quite a few if you peek at my Instagram stream – but this one really hit home with me.

While this may have been something that only I needed to hear, I’m guessing there are a few other moms that might be encouraged by it as well.  Several of the ladies attending kept a Twitter and Instagram feed going with little snippets for those at home. You can find the Twitter stream by following the hashtag #Refreshmom or the pictures and quotes via Instagram.

And hello to all you other ladies that I spent time with this weekend as well!

Register for the Atlanta Retreat Today

With my roomie, Rachel

If you live near Atlanta and are free the weekend of March 22nd and 23rd, can I encourage you to attend the Real Refreshment Retreat? Take $35 off your ticket price using the info below {this makes your ticket only $80!!}.

Register as a previous attendee and put ‘Jolanthe’ in the special needs field for your $35 discount!!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment, email me, or contact Real Refreshment!

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