fall retreat...

This weekend we took a group of our wonderful RUF students up to the mountains for a fall retreat with all the other RUF's across Virginia. (UVA, Virginia Tech, William & Mary, Washington & Lee, VCU, Lynchburg RUF, & the University of Maryland tagged along as well)

There were between 150-200 students in all, and the topic of the weekend was sanctification, or walking with God. In addition to hearing a guest speaker who came to preach for us,

there was also time for small groups, where our students could talk about the message they just heard & how it relates to their lives, etc. It's always a good time for the students to get away from the hectic school week & get to know one another better, too.

And, of course, there was plenty of time to have fun, relax, hike, and enjoy the gorgeous mountains that are only 45 minutes from our house! Do ya see the "L.U.?" (that stands for Liberty University, folks...)

And what could be better to do on top of a mountain than to eat some applesauce?? :)

How about giving hugs?

And more hugs...

Yes, you see, I'm becoming quite the affectionate one these days.

Daddy's not too sure about it when it's with boys, though. (ha!)

And since our fam got to sleep together in a hotel-style room, we thought it was so cute & funny to see just how our toddler prefers to sleep... (well, except for the 2:30-4:30am shift when she was awake & wouldn't go back down to sleep, that is...)

And while all the students were in the large group, I got to do REALLY fun stuff. Like throw dirt. With friends.

Ahhh... what a great weekend.