151 Families
279 Adults
329 Kids
Notice how the kids outnumber the adults (by a lot!)
One of the presentations today was by Damon Owens. His website is:
http://www.damonowens.com/
He talked about "God's Plan for a Joy Filled Marriage." He was a great speaker, very funny and dynamic. I always like it when a speaker walks a bit instead of staying behind a podium. So here are the highlights:
* Love is truth. We are not meant to be alone (think of Adam and Eve). Marriage is so important in this aspect. The bible starts with the union of Adam and Eve, and end with the new covenant of Christ and the Church. It's no coincidence Jesus's first miracle was...at a wedding.
* There are 4 kinds of relationships.
1. Our relationship with God
2. Our relationship with ourselves (self-identity)
3. Our relationship with other persons
4. Our relationship with the material world
* Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, God has worked to restore His love to us. We have the freedom to take it (or not).
* God is a passionate love! The Greek language actually has 3 words for love:
Eros--passion
Philio--friendship
Agape--freely, totally, faithfully, fruitful
* Marriage needs to be rooted in the agape type of love. When we have agape love, our marriage is more self-giving.
Okay, I know some of that was random, but it's just my notes, and I wanted to share.
I went to 2 mini-workshops in the afternoon, the first one was with Linda Kracht, who just finished a new book available through CCL, The Art of Breastfeeding. Many of the criteria for BF are the same, but some things are new and updated, so I want to be sure to read it on the drive home. The second workshop was with Fr. Randy Moreau (he's from Louisiana, so I know all you Cajuns would have appreciated his accent :-). He talked about Marriage Prep and NFP at the Parish Level. David and I sometimes get discouraged that our classes are so small, and yet our parish back in Spring is huge. I hope we can try and implement some of Fr. Randy's suggestions this fall.
The kids have been clamoring to play soccer, so after dinner, we drove up to the conference center's playing field. We divided up into teams (Peter and Stephanie's family against ours) and played until Gabriel got stung by a yellow jacket and we decided head back to the room so we could give him some Claritin. Poor baby-- he did scream for about 10 minutes, and his little thumb swelled pretty quickly. But he did calm down enough to get a picture. Here's a shot of the "losing team. "
We got the kids into bed, and Stephanie and went back up the mountain to the chapel for Reconciliation. The chapel is on a ridge, so you get a nice workout. My priest hailed from Canada, so I had to pay attention as his native tongue was French--but his English was excellent. I guess I was tired. I've stayed up too late since we started this trip--so I am going to bed right now!
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