Maranatha

For Micha's spiritual retreat this year, we did a family vacation to Maranatha in Michigan for their Labor Day weekend.  Gracia Burnham and Ian Leitch were the speakers and both were fantastic!!  Most of what was talked about was trusting the Lord even during suffering and hard times.  Great stuff, and very welcoming to hear.  

In the girls' class there was another Selah!  Just a few months older than our Selah.  Really neat.  The girls made friends and also with another girl whose family was French.  Neat to see them make friends--they tend to stick together in new situations and not reach out as much.  The favorite child activity was getting to swim at the beach. :)  Mama's favorite activity was getting to take a few hikes!  

 The last day we pulled out this Mexican balloon.  Its a big plastic tube, but when you blow it up and throw it in the air, it hovers a bit and comes down in unique ways.  Lots of fun!

 Maranatha has this mini-chapel on the way to the beach that the kids like to play in.

 Seen on our way home...  This giant hand was suspended between the two trees.  I have no idea what it was made from... but how cool is that?

 At a rest area we saw these sunflowers!  The girls have never gotten up close and personal with such huge ones before.  We even plucked off a few seeds, but they weren't ripe yet.

And look what we found!!  Their animals seem to have a left a note!  "Welcome Home Selah and Tiki!  We missed you and ate all your food and bought you more.  We love you!"