Girls Retreat!

I had an awesome time this weekend at the jr. high and highschool Norwalk girls retreat up in Lake Gregory! I loved just hanging out with the girls and having fun and getting to know them a little better. It took us a little while to actually get up the mountain (mountain or hill?) due to traffic and some beautifally thick fog. I followed Corrie, who was having way too much fun making u-turns. That's ok, it only caused the people in my car to almost die once ;).
The first night the girls had tons of energy (understandable) so after setting up a bit we played Sardines... in the dark. Then about the second or third round a few of the girls and Corrie and I snuck out of the cabin and scared the other girls by pounding on the walls and scratching on the screens. Haha, good times. Then had a silly string fight (man, not such a good idea when you have to clean up afterwards!) We had some good times hanging out and talking. I was having problems staying awake, which meant I had cheez-its, pillows, and stinky socks thrown at my face. I guess I can't complain, I did the same thing when I was in jr high! Corrie and I could definitely hear them planning things they were going to try to do to us at night. So after we were asleep one of the girls tried to write something in lipstick on Corrie's face. But since she's a light sleeper we were all good :)
Saturday we went out and had lunch, then found a little place to do some hiking. Man, those girls were cracking me up! All they did was complain about how cold, and windy it was and how they were tired. Needless to say being outside didn't last too long! So back at the cabin we played multiple games. Spoons, twister, charades. Made smores, ate pizza.
We had some good devotional time based on the them of what it means to be a Christian girl. It was a little crazy to me what some of the teens didn't know. But I felt like there was a lot of good sharing, a lot of things explained for some of them, some progress made.
That night we played hide and go seek in the dark. Corrie and I decided to scare a few of the girls. So after being found downstairs we stood a few steps up on the stairway in complete silence. Remember it was completely dark, so the 3 girls looking for people couldn't see us at all. Right as they were coming up the stairs and standing about 2 inches in front of us they turned on the lights. The look on their faces and how far they jumped in the air was absolutely classic. We didn't even have to do anything but stand there :)
Our ride down today was relatively uneventful. We made it back safe and sound.
I really had a great time. I'm a little sad that now that I got to know the girls a little better and met some other girls I'm now back in San Diego and won't see them for awhile. But I will continue to pray for them, and am thankful that I had the opportunity to just hang out this weekend. I know from my own experiences in youth group that those times are important and really do make a difference.

More pictures to come later... but for now here's the gang :)