Chilly Fall Fun

I've been quiet for a couple of weeks. No real reason, except that Joel was out of town and had the camera with him, so I couldn't upload pictures from our wonderfall (ha!) adventure in the forest 2 weeks ago.

We went to George Washington National Forest (2 hours from DC) to do some backpacking (despite the overnight low of 45 degrees!). We hiked in a couple of miles until we came to this beautiful camp site (at the end of the boardwalk in the picture). We decided to stop here and just enjoy the scenery for the evening. As you can see, it was very beautiful- the perfect fall setting. We set up camp and walked around the area, down to this amazing overlook.

Pretty spectacular, huh? :)

On the hike out of the forest on Sunday morning, Joel and I decided to stop and pray along this beautiful little stream. We found a nice big rock and had a wonderful time talked to our Creator in the midst of His creation. God truly is good!

That leads me to this past weekend... We went to a Fall Retreat with our church to Skycroft Retreat Center in Maryland. The setting was beautiful, but what was better was the time we had to spend in quiet time, Scripture reading and prayer. The theme of the retreat was "Stop and Listen," so instead of having the usual speaker for 2 days, we had mini-sessions covering a few Spirtual disciplines (Prayer, Scripture Reading, Metaphor Mindset, etc...) and then after each session had time to practice these things out in nature. It was again a little chilly outside but was so refreshing to spend so much concentrated time with God. I was very refreshed and challenged to really change how I approach my spiritual life. All I can say is that for the first time in my life, I read the Scriptures and I get excited for what God is doing! He is awesome!

I hope you all have a wonderful week and are also challenged in this amazing season to spend some time with the One who created it all. Happy Fall!