Our St George Retreat was incredible. “Fabulous,” “life-changing,” and “motivating and comforting at the same time,” were the words many attendees used on their evaluation form at the end of the Retreat.
Here are some photos and comments courtesy of one of our attendees, Shawni Pothier.
Those two days at the St George Retreat were filled to the brim with inspiration and goodness. Saren and April did SO much to make those days meaningful for all of us thirty-three Mothers in attendance.
Here we are doing a great get-to-know you activity. After that first hour, I felt really comfortable and connected with pretty much everyone there.
Here are the three trainers who did the majority of the Retreat (Allyson plus April and my dear sister, Saren). I love how they present with so much enthusiasm and a good dose of humor.
There were so many committed, strong women in attendance and everyone had great ideas to share.
We were all well-fed not only from the support and ideas from one-another (everyone contributed so much in comments and discussions), but also from the tasty food at the Red Mountain Spa. I especially loved the “table topics” where we sat at tables based on the topics we were interested in and got into some really great discussions.
April did an awesome job training us all on the “Mind Organization for Moms” program, and I’ve started implementing it more this week. I’m well on my way to being way more organized and way less stressed!
My mom, Saren, and I spent one morning of the Retreat addressing “Family Systems.” (We talked about having a family economy, family traditions, and a family legal system…everyone had their own great ideas to share.)
Oh man I love those two women.
And I can honestly say I love every woman who was there – learned something from pretty much everyone – we all have our trials and challenges – but we all have something to give. It’s great how you get a self-selected group of really motivated and interesting moms at an event like this.
Here we all are at the close of the Retreat. Just looking at this makes me want to do it all over again! I miss these ladies. But it’s been great how Saren and April have kept us connected with an email group and ongoing support.
One of my favorite quotes from the retreat was this new quote I hadn’t heard before that someone gave from my favorite Anna Quindlen: “The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”
Love that. Loved the whole session on “Being Enough” that Allyson did.
And I have to say that three of the moms who reported on their own Learning Circles gave such powerful testimonials about how this simple thing has literally changed their lives. (Learning Circles are kind of like book clubs but with a thought-provoking article about Motherhood as the discussion topic instead of a book.) It was great that one of our “party favors” as we left the event was a free start-up kit for starting our own Learning Circle in our own community – will be great to keep the idea-sharing and support flowing throughout the year.
After the close of the regular Retreat, Saren did an excellent job of orienting interested mothers to do their own Motherhood Retreats where they live…so many people were wanting to do this and it made me so excited to think of the ripple effect this will have to inspire mothers all over the place. (If you’re interested in learning how to do your own, click here.)
There’s no “instruction manual” for mothers. We just have to figure it out as we go. And sometimes that is tough. Sometimes it’s overwhelming. Sometimes it makes you cry. And there is something so comforting about having other mothers who are also “in the trenches” offer ideas and support.
Thank you, thank you, Saren and April – and all the great moms who were there and contributed so many of their own thoughts and ideas – for such a great, life-changing weekend.
To read more great comments and learn more about people’s experiences at the Retreat, visit Saren’s Blog or April’s Blog for their posts on the Retreat.