Classis Eastern Canada Fall Retreat has returned!! : )

 

After a two-year pause, we were once again able to hold our Classis Fall Retreat at Circle Square Ranch in Arden, Ontario, about 1.5 hours from Ottawa from Friday, October 14 - Sunday October 16.  Whoot!!!  

We spent the weekend with 80 people from 7 different churches, one being from Classis Quinte as well.  

We welcomed back THE FIDGETS, who have also been on hiatus for quite some time.

Below are the pics from the weekend.  Enjoy. 

We normally begin our Friday evening with worship, the FIDGETS, and then games, but this time around the FIDGETS got stuck in traffic and weren't scheduled to arrive at 9:30 p.m. We get started at 8 p.m.  

Sooooo a change of plan.  Games first!!  : ) 

It just so happened that Saturday was calling for lots of rain in the afternoon, so we needed to change the schedule for then too.  I suck at that, so these four ladies tackled the issue with gusto and got it done.  

THANKS!!!  : ) 

Back to Friday night. 

Games. 

The first one was a series of statements and you had to go to one side or the other if any apply to you. 

The next one is a classic of ours.  

A statement is read out.  If it applies to you you need to get up and find a new chair.  

BUT, chairs are taken out each round as you get up. 

You'll notice I took a Panoramic shot for this picture.  

But two people were in motion, so yeah.....they look a bit strange : ) . 

The group getting smaller.  

And smaller until only three were left. : ) 

Then we started with praise and worship led by a team of youth from Dixon's Corners CRC, and Calvin's very own Nisse.  I didn't even know she was coming : ) 

It turns out that the most loved song seemed to be a golden oldie "Days of Elijah". 

The actions

And a brief video showing how enthusiastic they were to do the actions  : ) 

A better view of the praise team. 

Pastor Joe was our speaker for the weekend. 

He talked about finding God's will in your life and the decisions we all try to make day to day.  

Joe also allowed time for group discussion.  

THE FIGDETS finally arrived and began their antics. 

The sketches are always new, even if repeated.  

After all is said and done, it's snack time.  

And then games and relax time till midnight.  

Everyone did well going to bed for the first night : ) 

Some in the group playing a game of which I have no idea : ) 

Card playing time as well.  

Saturday morning brings happy and smiley faces to the dining room. : ) 

Luke is wide awake I see 

CSR staff reminding us how to clean up after we eat. 

John's face....pretty much says it all  : ) 

The food is always good here. 

Then, instead of starting off with worship and THE FIDGETS, we did our group activities before the rain was to hit.  

Our group started with Archery Tag.  

Other groups went horseback riding.  

Here are some pics of the different things.  

There was also team-building stuff.  

Fitting everyone on a small space. 

They did it.  

Not sure what all this was about : ) 

We also did slingshot (ing).  

And the FIDGETS did their smaller group practices.  

And there was a high ropes as well. 

Not the ropes we are used to.  

In a different part of the forest.  

This is my group that spent the morning together.  

It sure was a high tree.  

Here's Cherie from our group doing the climb.  

Whoot!! 

Cherie's group for the morning. 

Our group getting the low down on harnessing up. 

I of course did NOT climb : ) 

Nope, not gonna happen! 

There's Luke doing the climb. 

Whoot! 

More team building.  

Megan chatting with Luke and Elijah.  

Oh, and yes, we did axe throwing too.  

Luke giving it a try. 

And Elijah

And Megan

It's not as easy as it looked.  

But I did get the axe in the wood on the first try. 

Lucky shot  : ) 

Our group did well in the slingshot component. 

Each group was vying for points for hitting buckets and cans, etc. 

The highest score when we started was 44.  

We thought that was a big score to try to beat.  

oh, back to horseback riding : )

 

Joe and Debbie catching up.  

The colours were still out in full force. 

Beautiful. 

Thanks John for the pic : ) 

Back to our group and slingshotting. 

We got pretty creative as a group in hitting the targets as you can see. 

Ending Score?  140 ish.  

haha.  whoot. 

More FIDGET time

Lunch time. 

It started to rain at 11:30 p.m.  not bad.  

chillin before our afternoon session starts.  

The FIDGETS did a familiar group game. 

Rock, paper Scissors. 

Here's a short video on that. 

And another skit. 

And then praise and worship and Joe spoke again.  

After that we did a photo scavenger hunt.  

Sorry, no pics of that : ) 

And look, the weather cleared up. 

Go figure.  

Grand, Scott, and Miranda relaxing.  

In our evening session we started with praise and worship again.  

And yes, Days of Elijah!!  : ) 

And then we spent the next 90 Minutes having fun and laughing thanks to the FIDGETS. 

Joe happens to be on the floor in this picture.  You don't want to know : )   

After another short night of sleep, morning beckoned. 

Here we are in the dining hall. 

Scott taught our kids Euchre. 

They were hooked : ) 

Before we started our final session we got a group shot.

Nice pic.  

Everyone going back in. 

We started with the FIDGETS again. 

I was involved in this skit.  

"Slide show" I think it's called.  

Crazy antics.  

I'm in there somewhere.  

The final skit they always do. 

Forget the name but John and Dave can't move unless someone moves them.  

Then praise and worship. 

Then Joe.  

And ending with....

you guessed it. 

DAYS OF ELIJAH! 

Here's a longer rendition of the chorus.

And before we knew it it was time to pack up and head for home. 

Our small but wonderful group that came this weekend. It was fun to spend the weekend with you all.  Hope you enjoyed it.  

Till next time!!  : )