So, we had our Jr High and Sr High winter retreats a week ago; basically, how it worked was that the middle school students had Friday to Sunday, and then while they were headed home, the Sr High were on their way up for their ski trip that went from Sunday to Monday.

I’m still new, so when everyone told me the ski trip would be awesome, I took it with a grain of salt.  Turns out, it really is.  We go to Mount Shawnee in Pennsylvania and stay at the top of the mountain.  Literally.  There’s a Summit Lodge at the top of the mountain, next to the ski lifts (see the next photo down to see just how close the lifts are), which we had booked out for the night.  What is so fun about it is that the kids can literally ski until the lifts shut down, climb into the lodge … and then start going again in the morning as soon as the lifts start running!  It was fun being at the top of the hill, away from the crowds, relaxing with an amazing view.  Very, very cool.

Once the lifts shut down Sunday night, we had a few hours hanging out in the lodge before lights out.  Chris Z brought a cool talk, connecting some of his own snowboard stories to some Biblical truths, which was great.  Jim Bob, Tim and Darby brought some great accoustic worship moments as well.  We did (of course) have some injuries over the course of the weekend, though.  Poor Tim got busted up … the EMT’s on the mountain said he probably sprained it … but it turns out he actually fractured his arm during his tragic snowboarding accident, so now he’s sporting a killer green cast.  Awesome.  I told him he should bring the cast next year and slap the EMT with it …