new favorite

I have been addicted to this banana smoothie lately. Be sure to freeze your yogurt...that's key for a smooth smoothie (no ice...this leads to ice chunks). And then add enough milk so it's not too thick. I think most of my life I have made my smoothies too thick and they're just not that good that way. Lots of milk makes it drinkable and the shake ends up so delish, it's hard to believe there is no ice cream in this thing.

And when you're checking out the shake, be sure to browse the site. It's called Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes and it has some of the simplest, healthiest recipes out there. Enjoy!

pajamas and crowns

I had a blast in North Carolina this weekend at the Wild Women Retreat at LutherRidge Bible Camp. I was called shuga, sweet thang, baby, and served grits for breakfast. The hospitality was above and beyond and I felt at home right away. The small group I was in was fantastic and wonderful conversation was shared all weekend long.

I was sent on this retreat to scout it out...to see what is going on that so many women sign up for this event (600 women registered within the first hour registration opened!). They then spread these women out over four different retreat weekends. What I found is that the retreat is led by the master of all retreat leaders. Pastor Mary is a remarkable storyteller and her attention to detail was astounding. I took notes the entire weekend and knew I was learning from the best.

The greatest part of this retreat was that I went with a professional objective, and immediately, the retreat became very personal. I needed a recharge, needed the time away to reflect and dream and pray, and somehow I ended up at a retreat that did just that. God is so faithful like that.

The retreat focused on dreams and visions, centered on the book of Revelation. We talked a lot about the dreams we have at night, but also the kingdom dreams God places on our hearts. It was powerful and I was grateful to be there.

ephesians

wild women

I'm in Asheville, North Carolina this weekend, hanging out with a bunch of ladies at Luther Ridge Bible camp. This retreat, called the Wild Women Retreat, is super succesful, filling up four different weekends within hours of registration opening up. I am being sent by my camp to go and see what is going on and figure out how we can do something similar at Carol Joy.

There will be 200 other women there, mostly coming with their own church groups, so I am hopeful to find a friend. I just bought new pajama pants for the pajama party/pillow fight scheduled for Saturday night. This thing could get crazy!

sara and troy are back in rwanda

...and this time they brought Toby! This picture was taken last summer when we were all in Estes Park, but if you want to see actual pictures and videos of their travels in Rwanda this week be sure to frequent their twitter page. You do not have to have a twitter account to see their pictures and videos. Simply click on this link: www.twitter.com/grovesroad

Sara and Troy have partnered with Food for the Hungry and have committed to finding sponsors for over 3,000 kids in one village called Gisanga. They have been to this village the past three years and intend to make this an annual trip. I love this concept of long-distance, long-term, frequent-visit missions. My home church is partnered with a village in Tanzania and they have a similar investment, visiting often. These villages know they have a long-term ministry partner.

And, side note: if you are on Twitter, I just joined. Not completely sold on the idea, other than I do like reading the tweets of the people I am following. I, however, am less inclined to post my minute by minute happenings because I just can't take myself that seriously. But I'm going to try it out for a while.

So look for me: beccagroves29. I'm the one trying to think of something clever and pithy to say, and having a horrible time in doing so. And you may be wondering, why not just beccagroves? Because I disabled that account when I dropped out of facebook and now I can't get it back. Neither can any other beccagroves out there. Argh! So, in honor of my 29th year (which begins on March 18th!) and because I typically use 29 as my exaggeration number (as in, "I could easily eat 29 corndogs right now..." I picked a number to follow up my name.

Tweet Tweet.