Blessed

Last weekend, I headed up to the mountains of Poconos with a group of friends from Times Square Church to celebrate Mae's birthday. Mae organized the trip. It was a refreshing retreat away from the hustle and bustle of New York City, and into the peaceful realm of nature. The rental house that we stayed at was situated among the trees and beside a large lake.

We arrived at the rental house slightly after 10PM. The sky was illuminated by the silvery glow of the moon and a rich sprinkling of stars. As the chilly night breeze enveloped us, we sat around the bonfire that the guys had successfully created from the chunks of wood and branches on the ground. And for the first time in my life, I roasted marshmallows. It was so much fun! I kept thinking, "Oh, so this is what I've been missing." Glad I was finally able to put an end to that. 

One of my friends brought glow sticks! We had a miniature "rave" party around the fire.

SunYoung, Mae, Chloe, Adam, me, Joy, Sean, Helena and Kay

Sean and Kay brought out the guitar and we all started worshiping. There we were, in the middle of the woods, just singing praises to Him and thanking Him for His blessings. The best worship stems from the heart, out of earnest desire for His grace.

Jon's artwork was achieved by decreasing my camera's shutter speed.

When we returned to the house, we sang Mae "Happy Birthday" and brought out cake! But since it was way past midnight, no one was really in the mood for sugar so we packed the cake back into the refrigerator after the birthday song. Lol.

The next morning, we gathered around the balcony for breakfast and a nice time of fellowship. 

Adam, Jon and Kay

Despite the afternoon rain, we couldn't resist a good game of badminton.

Chloe's game face

Kay and Sean, the wonderful couple

Half of them were Koreans, so I actually got to learn a bit of Korean over the weekend :) My goal is to converse fluently in Korean at the end of the year. We'll see about that!

For lunch, my friends cooked up a feast! While Jon cooked curry in the kitchen, Joy and May roasted pork and shrimps on the grill.

And the rest of us busied ourselves with the preparations. My task was peeling potatoes and de-skinning shrimps. Lol.

While waiting for lunch to be ready, I snacked on some crackers and tortilla chips. I mean, they were right there and I was hungry. Haha. 

Finally, lunch was ready. We sat around the table in the balcony and enjoyed a delicious meal of rice and curry, roast pork, salad, hot dogs and spicy shrimps on sticks. My friends could really cook! 

The hearty lunch left us with swollen bellies. So we hopped on a boat and explored a bit of the lake.

Such a beautiful weekend with an awesome bunch of people. Celebrated Mae's birthday, took a boat ride on the lake, roasted marshmallows and captured a plethora of precious moments. Truly a blessing!