Retreat? Which definition?

I picked a ministry project for my class. I chose to plan and execute my confirmation retreat. Easy enough I thought... yeah. I enlisted the help of my friend the 8th grade catechist. She was excited about the undertaking too. We merely had to come up with things to keep 14 yr olds busy. I figured the changing up what we were doing every 15 - 20 minutes would be good so they wouldn't tire of the activity. We had plenty of various things to do. Oh pishaw! I seem to somewhere along the years have forgotten that it does not matter what you plan... nothing goes as planned! And the pubescent teenager is an animal requiring a special set of skills!

My friend was injured and had to bow out. The children refused to do the activities planned. They swiped the bottle of chocolate syrup we had for sundaes and were hitting it straight up throughout the night. As if they were not bouncing before that... now I had to peel them off the walls and ceiling. The other adults with me had gone to bed early. It was me and THEM! OMGosh... what did I get myself into this time!?! The one adult that was up with me was trying to capture them... she is 4'9" and not very athletic. The bouncing children and the little lady were more than even I could bear. It was 2am by this time... so I did what any seasoned mom would do - I put them to bed. This meant that I had to stay in the hallway to keep the girls and the boys separated. Lots of coffee... deprived of sleep... the next morning was not much better. I felt beat up. The children went home and told their parents it was a great time! One of the best they ever had! I wanted them to have fun. I wanted to give them a pleasant memory. But they were very naughty. They slowed me down a little... but they did not break me. I will try again! I will just make a new revised plan for next year.

This month has been one to finish up many things began. Catechism classes are done for the school year. I graduated with my diploma of pastoral ministry. We had the last girl scout meeting.

The kids are out of school at the end of May... let the summer fun begin!