Summer Retreat 2012 - My experience

[NeoPatriarch]

Good News
The BF retreat was so good for my wife. This morning she told me she would really like to go to the Women's Retreat. I never saw that coming...

 

[julieb]

As always, I am honored to serve the Biblical Families family. I did not get to talk to many of you due to the large numbers and many responsiblities of this retreat but for me it was still a blessing to think that all these wonderful families came together to build community. A big thank you to all who helped Nita and I in the kitchen, with the children, and every other detail! We couldn't have done it with out you.

Also, I want to thank Steve, Ali and Deborah for all the months of hard work to make the beautiful wedding happen. I was honored to be in it. May the Lord bless you all!

Neopatriarch- I am so excited about your wife! I look forward to seeing her there.

 

[FollowingHim]

half joking or not, the issue of suitable wives is a serious one, and the scarcity of them a matter of concern. Not so much for us older guys lol, but when I see younger godly men standing up to provide headship and a loving family environment for wives and children, then I wonder what options are available. I'm sure this has been considered on other threads and I know Nathan likes the idea of assisting single mothers but there was only one single lady at the retreat and children way to young for marriage, what could we do to improve this?

Wait for the children to get a bit older? :shock:

Seriously, I don't think the issue is a lack of suitable wives. There are thousands of suitable wives out there. The issue is that they don't know they can look in our direction.

And they will continue to not know if polygyny remains a hidden thing that the odd wacko does, we've got to speak openly about our beliefs in the mainstream churches and secular culture (and suffer the inevitable flack) if we're going to achieve anything here. And we need to be open about our lifestyle (although I admit that's easy for me to say as I aren't living it yet). I try to speak openly at church, to other Christians I know, and even at work. It mightn't get me a wife, but it might show someone else they can actually marry the person God has placed on their heart.

I went to an agricultural university. We had a shortage of suitable women in the Christian Fellowship group. In my final talk to the group when I left I encouraged the men to get out and evangelise if they wanted to find wives! I think we need to be doing the same - and not for ourselves, for the Church as a whole.

 

[Seeking Great Pearl]

Also, I want to thank Steve, Ali and Deborah for all the months of hard work to make the beautiful wedding happen. I was honored to be in it. May the Lord bless you all!

Thank you, Julie! It was our honor to have you be in the wedding. Also, we want to extend our thanks to Nathan for being our photographer and to Noah for video taping the wedding. We look forward to seeing photos and the recording of the ceremony. We also want to thank Katie for passing out the potpourri.

We love the entire Bender Family, and you know that I, personally, consider you all to be my family as well.

Lovingly yours,
Deborah A. Turner
victorianmaiden@yahoo.com

 

[FollowingHim]

Deborah, I've added a few more photos to Doc's album on the Facebook page. If you can't download them with a decent resolution I can send you the originals. Unfortunately the camera I took isn't that great, so they are a bit fuzzy and have bad colour, but there are a couple of nice ones there - Steve and yourself smiling together up the front, Ali on the keyboard, and the three of you eating together are my favourites.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the cutest moment - when you were standing with your head on Steve's shoulder - but I've got that one saved in my internal memory. If you know of a way to plug my brain into the computer and download that you can have it too. :lol: