Highlights from the ICCM retreat

--watching the stars over the mountains after living in the city for a month
--discovering a stash of magazines from the 1890s and 1900s, including articles on the Russian royal family and British MPs I remember studying in history
--Dan's croissants and pain au chocolat for breakfast
--my very patient audience going through the Musée du Désert
--lunch at La Rocaille under a gorgeous blue sky
--hiking up to the cave in record time, with a new youngest climber ever, Miss Furaha M., age 3!
--wading in the Gardon river after the hike
--a chocolate run at the Anduze Super-U
--stories from Craig and Leeanne about growing up in Zimbabwe
--praise songs in Chinese sung by Liu and Cynthia
--needing 5 laptops to play a single DVD
--watching Traitor and being able to identify where the Marseille scenes were filmed (a good counterterrorism film if you haven't seen it yet)
--a new hike up to Sainte Croix and the overlook
--signs of fall--leaves and chesnuts scattered all over the forest
--group pictures with the tradional 15 cameras
--a wonderful Sunday evening service and farewell party for Courtney
--surprise birthday party for Nicodemus.

All's well that ends well--I returned from the retreat probably more tired than when I left, but it was worth every minute. :) Pictures to come, probably on ICCM's FB account or the website (marseillechurch.info)