Last Monday began our Ladies Retreat. Ten ladies from Alabama came for a few days just to do a retreat for the SCORE wives! This is the 2nd time for some of them. What a blessing it was.
Last year was just SCORE ladies, but this year included 1 lady from Word of Life and 3 ladies from another ministry in San Pedro. Also, this year some of the Dominican wives came. So, we had conversations going in different languages, and lots of laughter!
This is Valerie from Word of Life. She was only able to come for Tuesday, but what a joy it was for me to reconnect with her. She said she thoroughly enjoyed her time and gleaned much from the teachings. She kept turning to me and saying, "This is good! This is very good!"Margaret and Sherry did the main teaching. Sherry spoke on "Being an Uncommon Woman in this Amazing Race." I have pages of notes...pages and pages! I couldn't write fast enough to get it all down. Three sessions full of 'good stuff'. I guess John MacArthur has a book out about uncommon women of the Bible. The books sounds quite interesting. Have any of you read it?
Sherry when she wasn't teaching. 
Margaret with Keila translating. Keila did all the translating for two full days which leads to this next photo at the end of Tuesday with her head on Diana's shoulder.
Margaret spoke on being a peacemaker. How to deal with conflict and confrontations. When is something an offense to be dealt with and when is it just a difference on how we deal with things.
This had a great discussion time, esp amongst the Dominican ladies. Guess it isn't discussed much in their churches.
Two of the ladies that came are beauticians so we were all treated to a new hairstyle. Mine looks better than this picture shows! This is Heather, my stylist!
We were all treated to pedicures! Four beautiful pedicurists with true servants' hearts!
Monday night they treated us to dinner at Mandalay. Much laughter and fellowship! There were 25 ladies together!
This is Tim Craeger's mom, who lives with them here in the DR. She is 86 years old and is a joy and inspiration to everyone! She doesn't go out with any teams, but when she is at the complex, you can be sure of a warm smile and a good bit of encouragment! Besides she gives the best hugs!
Wednesday at noon we prepared Waldorf Salad and fresh fruit slices to take to the Old Folks Home in Monte Criste and to give them a special luncheon later in the afternoon. The SCORE cooks had prepared rice pudding and Gladys made cupcakes.
This conference was a blessing in so many ways. They brought gifts specific for each lady. They had written earlier to ask what we would like. So I asked for books by Nancy Leigh Demoss. I now have "Becoming God's True Woman" and "A 30-Day Walk with God in the Psalms" along with a number of other goodies, including a book of prayers and one on God's promises.
These days were the highpoint of my week! I guess the LORD knew I needed them to get thru the lowpoint... (Thankfully no pictures of this!)
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While I was at the conference Bob had a med team. Before they even arrived they had invited us to go with them to Catalina Island. This is a beautiful island that is only open to visitors during the day. Government owned and nobody lives there. Cruise ships bring their guests here for a day at various times. It is absolutely gorgeous.
It involves a 35-40 minute boat ride, snorkling and a buffet lunch, along with relaxing under a palm tree with a good book!
I have never had a problem with any food there, but this week was the exception. They had grilled cube steak and chicken. The chicken was delicious as usual. Everyone was raving about the beef. My first bite left me wondering what they were raving about! I had to use two hands to pull it with my teeth to get a piece 'chewed' off. Everyone else was cutting theirs with a plastic fork. So, I turned my piece to the other side and was victorious with my fork.
However, after swallowing it, I went to take the next bite and discovered that my piece was raw inside. Bright red! RAW!!! so, I stopped and went for a 2nd piece of chicken, which turned out to be a very wise decision.
That evening I had a mild headache. I had a migraine earlier in the week, so thought it was residual from that. Saturday morning headache was worse, nausea set in. By afternoon I couldn't raise my head, keep anything in and the pain in my head was excrutiating. I laid on the bathroom floor moaning barely able to move. I've had migraines that didn't come close to comparing with this pain....
Bob realized this was quite serious and was able to bring back everything from our clinic pharmacy and hook me up with an IV. This was so he could give me the meds I needed and I could keep them down. He said later he could barely find a vein to put the needle in.
Well, the meds worked and headache and nausea/vomiting finally ended late in the evening, but oh! the side effects! Meds and I do not do well together to say the least.
Sunday morning I was surprised to find myself among the living still. I am very weak and shakey still. My body muscles are sore from the vomiting, even my neck muscles are sore!
But I am alive!
I thank the LORD that He has given man the wisdom to produce medicines. I truly thank Him for Bob who stayed with me continually, and knew just what to do to get me through this! God gave me the best!
So, how was your week? Did you have highpoints and lowpoints? Care to share?
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