Home from the Vision Forum 2009 Father Daughter Retreat!

***Note: This post has a vast quantity of pictures***



The first thing I want to say is I had such an inspiring weekend at the Father/Daughter retreat! If you have never been to one of these lovely events, I recommend that you sign up for next year's retreat as soon as possible.

My father and I had the privilege of hearing encouraging, convicting, dynamic and instructive messages from Mr. Doug Phillips, Mr. Scott Brown, Mr. Geoff Botkin, and Mr. Voddie Baucham. Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin also gave a wonderful talk on what their father taught them about boys, which was something I enjoyed listening to very much.

Now, for the pictures that some of my dear friends have been clamoring for. :)

An artistic shot that I somhow managed to take in the hotel room mirror...

The Lobby of the Mountain Creek Inn, where the conference was hosted and all the guests stayed. Our room was on the third floor of the back building, seperate from the rest of the hotel, and to get to it my father and I had to climb up no less than 72 stairs. (Yes, I counted them) :P Perhaps next year I will not plan on wearing shoes with high heels.

Unfortunately, due to the rain, the Father-Daughter Unity Games on the grand lawn were canceled, but my father and I took the opportunity of the extra free time to visit the Overlook Garden, which to our delight was nearly at peak bloom.

It was raining just a little bit, but with our warm jackets and umbrellas that my very wise mother suggested we bring with us, my father and I spent a very enjoyable hour and a half walking through the garden, taking pictures.

There's me!

I particularly like this shot of Daddy.

Me and my umbrella, by the gorgeous native azaleas. My favorites are the pink ones. :)

Well, we returned to the hotel with plenty of time to attend the picnic dinner, which was inside this year. :)

I met some dear blogger friends and a few new ones as well! Here I am with Hannah from Waiting-Rose, Breezy and Emily Rose, and Cassie! :)

We were served delicious coleslaw, potato salad, hamburgers, hotdogs, fried chicken, pulled pork, and all the fixins. :) I decided on the Fried Chicken.

Here's the main conference room, all spread with checkered tablecloths. This is where we heard the messages and teachings from the speakers. I took this shot from the front of the room, close to where our table was located. Some dear friends of ours saved us some excellent seats in the front row.

The next day we got up early, had a delicious breakfast at the plantation room restaurant, listened to some very good messages by Mr. Voddie Baucham and Mr. Scott Brown.

Then it was time for the Victorian High Tea! Here's our table:

Here are Daddy and I at the table... I'm taking this one with my left hand...

The food was delicious and much more plentiful than last year - something I was grateful for, as it meant Daddy and I didn't have to go get lunch somewhere afterwards! - When I got to the rainbow petit four I decided to take a picture. :D

Left to Right, a Raspberry tart, a lemon square, a strawberry/vanilla petit four, and a chocolate/rainbow petit four. As well as these we were also served several varieties of sandwiches, fruit, scones, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, and of course, jellies and cream to spread on our scones and biscuits. It was very good. :)

After the tea, I had such a wonderful time talking to the Botkin sisters and their mother in the hallway. My Dad also enjoyed speaking with some other fathers while I and several of my friends had some good conversations with the Botkin ladies. :)

Here are some of the delightful young ladies I was fellowshipping with... Breezy, Rebekah, and Emily Rose.

Then, as we were heading out the door to go spend our free time, we ran into Jasmine Baucham and she very graciously signed our copy of "What He Must Be", and even let me get my picture taken with her! :) It was awesome to finally meet you in person, Jasmine! :)

Daddy and I visited the Azalea Bowl, and unfortunately all the rain had muddied up the lake and the Azaleas weren't quite all blooming yet, but nonetheless, we found things to photograph. :)

Ferns ~

Cherry blossoms ~

And oh, was I thrilled with this Lady Banks Rose! It was beautiful....

...And tiny!

Here are some of the azaleas that were blooming.

Daddy purchased some stunning flies for his fly-rod down at the fishing center by the lake...
Then it was back to the Plantation Restaurant for a mouth-watering Italian Buffet. Mmm!

I was very impressed with the Dessert Buffet... especially the chocolate eclairs.
After a very encouraging and interesting talk by the Botkin sisters about how to behave around young men and a convicting, inspiring message from their father, Mr. Geoff Botkin, about how Hollywood is infiltrating our 'christian' society, we had some fun and games. :)

First 8 fathers serenaded their daughters a cappella, then there was a contest of how daughters could help their fathers 'get ready for work', by combing his hair, tying his tie, putting on his shoes, and the best part... 'shaving' him with shaving cream and a plastic knife.

Daddy and I got to bed late but stayed up talking about things like marriage, children, and... fishing. :)

And breakfast the next day only raised my opinion of the food they serve there at Callaway.

After church, A large group of young ladies and I had our picture taken in the patio... I'm the one in the back wearing blue. I'm actually right next to Mckenzie, (She's also in the back, on the left) a dear girl I met last year at the 2008 Father/Daughter retreat!

Sorry about the delay in posting, it took me a bit to adjust back into normal life! Thank you all for the encouraging and sweet comments you've left me! :)

Love and Blessings,

p.s.

In case some of you are wondering how well I'm doing on my diet, ;) I only gained 2 pounds over the weekend and I'm going to work that back off during the next couple of days. :) In my opinion, it was well worth it! :)