The traveling circus of the Feldhahn family left for its latest trip - this time to Michigan for an event, and then 2 days of R&R with friends.
The event was for Orchard Grove Community Church, at a beautiful retreat center called the Inn at St. John’s, in Plymouth, MI. It used to be a monastery and was converted to a hotel and conference center. Absolutely spectacular. The event was fun - the first church retreat event they had apparently ever had. And they turned it into a multi-purpose conference to ‘Equip’ (the name of the retreat) the families of the church to be healthy at home and to reach out in service to the world. They had dozens of breakout sessions and multiple speakers at multiple general sessions. Everything from answering the tough questions about the Bible to our sessions on understanding men and women.
This was the first event I’ve done in a long time where I did the whole thing with a sexy bedroom voice caused by laryngitis. Jeff got a few good laughs by telling the guys he wished he could freeze my voice that way! Thank God my voice was audible at all, though. For the whole week in advance my staff was telling me to just stop trying to talk entirely, because it was so painful to listen to me try to make myself heard!
It’s a really insecure feeling to be a public speaker and to be getting on an airplane the day before, and be completely unable to talk, and praying that your voice comes back in time. Makes me realize how much I take for granted about my general health.
Jeff with his Mom and Dad
It was wonderful to be able to bring the kids, knowing that we would be near where Jeff grew up, and his parents would be able to play with them while we were onstage. Jeff’s parents are such a blessing. In their 80’s and still going strong.
The Feldhahn Farm
Jeff’s Dad built this house with his own hands in 1952
Thankfully, the event went well and then we said good bye to his folks and drove 6 hours north for a much-looked-forward-to 2 day vacation with some of Jeff’s best friends from high school, who have a vacation cabin in the Upper Peninsula, a mile away from a very frozen Lake Superior. We spent 2 days snowmobiling around the back woods of the UP in zero-degree weather, but under the most beautiful sunny blue skies. It was absolutely spectacular. Jeff grew up snowmobiling, but being a Washington DC girl, I had never done it before. It was AMAZING. The most fun we have had in years. We became instant “Yoopers” (those who live in the U.P.) and vowed to come back every year. Our little warm-blooded Atlanta kids were so warmly bundled up that they were hardly cold at all and spent almost every waking minute digging in the massive snow drifts that pile up whenever a driveway or road is cleared.
I was talking with my daughter in the morning of our 2nd day there, and just saying ‘Do you believe what amazing things we get to do, sweetheart?’ We so deeply want her to realize just how unusual our lives are, and how much grace God has given us to experience so many things so many people never do. Its so much work, and its hard sometimes…. But God gives us rich days of fun and relaxation when we need it, and this trip to the U.P. was definitely a gift.