The Little Things

Last weekend, our family got the opportunity to sing for East District Mennonite Church at their church retreat.

I wasn’t really expecting much. After all, I barely knew anyone, and the people I did “know” were just faces I had seen at quiz meets or at summer camp–no one I really knew well.

But I have to say, it really was a good weekend. Not necessarily because of one big, climactic thing that made it all worth it, but rather, a collection of little things constantly making me smile.

It rained Sunday afternoon, which of course didn’t stop East District’s youth group from playing Spikeball or volleyball and offered the exciting opportunity of sliding down a hill in the slippery mud (I was boring and just watched them, and spent most of the rainy time in the pavilion babysitting Gabriel (see adorable picture above)).

Sara and Callie, on the other hand, got absolutely drenched and really didn’t seem to mind. The rain did give the weekend a cozy feel, so I appreciated that 🙂

The church had a talent show on Monday morning. We got to do a demonstration Bible quiz meet with some of the Shade Valley and Maranatha quizzers, which was definitely a lot of fun. At the end my dad gave his signature performance of The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, which was a highlight of my weekend ?

Below are a few more fun pics from the weekend–snapshots of the little things that made this trip special 🙂

Beyond that, I got to have several excellent quizzing conversations (which got me hyped up for the practice season to start again), renewed some old friendships (from the last time I went to East District’s church retreat at age 8) and got to play some sports (which stretched me out of my comfort zone … scary but a lot of fun).

Overall it was a great weekend, and thanks to those little things, I almost always had something to smile about 🙂