My daughter spent a week at the Monfort Retreat Center and returned home happy. Bit by bit we are hearing the things she learned. They spent a lot of time on Fatima, since 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the apparitions. Unlike Mepkin, these sisters are thoroughly orthodox and do not hesitate to teach the difficult things. There are many hard teachings in the Bible regarding heaven and hell, Holy Eucharist, marriage, etc. and these are all contradictory to the culture at large. It's not easy being Catholic. We are meant to live in this world but not be worldly and that's hard. I highly recommend this retreat for Catholic girls who want to strengthen their faith. For a week, they retreat from the world, spend time in prayer, enjoy the beautiful outdoors, learn a new craft, and make friends with other like-minded girls. A funny story: Dagny met a couple of girls whose parents are even stricter than us, which made her happy to be our daughter :) Someday we hope to make a retreat there as well. 
The garden grew while she was gone and we are taking note of what's doing well and what's not. Cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers are doing well. The melons and squash too, but I have a feeling the crabs are going to go after them. The leafy veggies like Swiss chard and beets are getting chomped on. I was able to harvest some but not much. We also have a very naughty squirrel or raccoon who keeps removing the plastic flowers of our hummingbird feeder and pretty much draining the whole thing every night. I bought another feeder with feeding holes and except for dumping out some of the sugar water, they've not been able to drink out of it. So fingers crossed they'll leave it alone for our pretty little hummers.
3 comments:
I think retreats from the noise of the world is a brilliant part of your faith. I'm so glad your daughter returned happy,and the garden gave her a beautiful welcome back.
What a lovely retreat! I'll keep my eye on it a few years from now. :)
And your garden is incredible! I'm always astonished by how much earlier everything ripens that much farther south. We won't have tomatoes and peppers here for another month at least--and I can't wait. Yours look delectable!
Mirka, I think we all need to retreat into silence once in a while. How else to hear the voice of God stirring within our hearts?
Faith, your girls will love this retreat and it's within a decent driving distance. The sisters are so wonderful. And it's funny you say how much earlier the fruits are ready for consumption. Our garden is actually LATE because we planted in May (March is more typical). The one advantage of the North is fewer nasty critters.
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