Cedar Springs, Sumas WA

After spending a couple of days in N. Vancouver, the weather turned cloudy and so we headed on again. We crossed the border and headed to Bellingham, WA. We spent a couple of days there relaxing, shopping, though with the poor dollar, it was mostly window shopping we indulged in. We did find a great park and spent a good part of one morning walking the trails there. It was cooler and cloudy but great for walking. The second morning we were there, the rain had arrived and so we got our umbrellas out of the car and walked anyway, but our time to relax was over and we had to move on. Time to go into the business part of the trip.

Our MDS meeting was held at Cedar Springs Christian Retreat Centre in Sumas, WA. It was a gorgeous setting with acres of landscaped gardens and ponds and trails . This is the main chalet where we had the meetings and meals as well as where our rooms were.

The view from the dining room was of this pond, and it felt very peaceful and restful to see the swans gracefully swimming around there. The weather turned rainy and so that was a good thing, or we would have wanted to spend all our time outside enjoying the gardens and hiking the trails up Haystack Mountain.

We did get a bit of a break on Saturday noon to go out and stretch our legs and see some of the grounds close up and most of us took advantage of the opportunity to take a walk.

One of the trails went over a number of old railway trestles and it was a beautiful walk, with the leaves fallen and the forest close on both sides, and the creek running alongside. It was a good time of connecting with other people and renewing aquaintences and making new ones as well as getting some of the business of MDS done. The retreat ended on Sunday morning with a time of worship and sharing and praying for each other. It is great how we are all family in Him and have the privilege of sharing each others joys and burdens by praying for one another. We enjoyed the folks we met and hope we can continue the friendships that started there among the business of MDS.