Rosemary Welcomes Lighthouse!

Retreat 5 is going great here in Rosemary! The community has welcomed us with open arms this week, and all eleven families and volunteers are having fun in the sun!

One restaurant, The Summer Kitchen, invited all of us across the street for a delicious dinner Monday night!

Also, The Hidden Lantern, a brand new bookstore here in Rosemary, invited the Minnows and Jellyfish to storytime yesterday and the Angelfish and Blowfish to a collage-making session today!

We can't thank everyone in Rosemary enough for all their donations and support!

There are FOUR pools this week, so Flip-Flop has been full of swimming, pool basketball, and loads of sunscreen!

We can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us these last couple of days!

Retreat 4 Wrap Up!

Retreat 4 at Seacrest was a great success! We had such an eventful talent show and dance party on Thursday and Friday that we were sad to see everyone go home! However, we were so blessed to spend a week with the beautiful families and incredible volunteers!

Here are some final pictures from the amazing week:

Bri and Nathan

"The Lighthouse Rap" at the Talent Show

Beautiful Bella at the pool!

Miss Joanna at the Luau!

The Best is Yet to Come!

A lot has been going on here in Seacrest this week! Wednesday was nice and hot--a perfect day for playing in the pool!! Did we mention that the pool here is incredible? Here is a picture of "Flip-Flop" out by the pool:

One special thing about this retreat is that some interns from the Daraja choir have been helping us! For those of you who do not know, the Daraja choir is a ministry that brings young children from Kenya to the United States to perform for churches all across America. The kids are able to stay with host families and learn more about our culture, grow in their relationships with the Lord, and build leadership skills to bring back to their own nation. At the moment, the children are waiting to be allowed to come over to the United States, so the interns are praying that they will be able to make the trip soon! Please pray for the Daraja choir--here is a picture of their amazing interns:

Wednesday night, after a delicious dinner, we had a great dance party!! Here are some retreat families at the dinner:

Now tonight is the famous talent show, so everyone is practicing for the big event! Here are a few previews:

Be sure to look at the blog tomorrow to see pictures of our Retreat 4 Talent Show!!

Retreat 4...Well on its way!!

Nine families are here with us in Seacrest this week as we begin Retreat 4, and we are already having such a great time! Today was our first day of "Flip-Flop," where we had water wars in our AWESOME pool, made friendship bracelets, and created beautiful sand art!

After a nice long "Conched Out," all of the retreat parents went out to dinner at a local restaurant called "La Cocina." The parents had grown-up time, and the kids and volunteers had fun eating ice cream sundaes and playing cornhole until dark, when movie time began! And who can forget the glow sticks that lit up the night?!

It has been a great week so far, and we can't wait to see what God has planned for the retreat families these next few days :)

We love pictures!!

THANKS to Carletta Watkins for each of these breathtaking pictures of our precious retreat families from retreat 3 in Seaside!!! http://animoto.com/play/3zXn7oSd221YR70IDbmCsA

Let's do that again!

Well, we said our "See ya laters" to the awesome families and volunteers at Retreat 3 on Saturday morning. Then we moved on down the road to Seacrest! Our Retreat 4 volunteers arrived yesterday, and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the volunteer families today!!! Who knows what can happen!!!!

Retreat 3 in Seaside has been full of surprises! It is always neat to be in Seaside because there is always a lot going on in the community.  Our favorite thing about Seaside is FROSTBITES! The owner of Frostbites has a son who survived childhood cancer, and knows the heartbreaking road that these families are walking down.  He kindly lets everyone with Lighthouse have as many FREE Frostbites as we want!!!!!! A Frostbite is shaved ice with many different flavors to choose from.


Flip flop groups enjoying FREE Frostbites!!!



A dance party was surprisingly started after the kids watched Despicable Me with their family partners while the retreat parents went out on a date!



The photobooth in Seaside allowed Lighthouse kids to take fun pictures!

The chapel in Seaside where we meet for meals during the week.

Singing "Baby" at the talent show.

The young girls were surprised with a Spa day during flip flop.

Just after the retreat moms were pampered by volunteer women.

Starting off Retreat 3

Retreat families arrived in Seaside, Florida today for a week of being served at the beach! Several of them have never been on a retreat before. They are in for a surprise!!

Our volunteers ready to meet their partnership families!

Meeting family partners for the first time!

Our wonderful kitchen leaders this week.

Wrapping up Retreat 2 and on to 3!!

This morning we said our "See you laters" to all the wonderful people at Retreat 2.  It was such a great week, and God was at work! We are praying for the families that are going back to the hospitals that the week at the beach gave them the strength and encouragement they need to continue the awful journey through childhood cancer.  We pray that they have found hope in the Lord, relationships have been restored, and laughter has healed the souls of all 7 families that were served this week.

Tomorrow, volunteers will arrive in Seaside, Florida for the start of Retreat 3!! Seven more families are scheduled to arrive on Monday.  Please pray for safety in all of the traveling back and forth of retreat families and volunteers.

I wish I could put some pictures up, but it says the feature is currently unavailable. I'll try again later!

A few pictures!

Enjoying the ice cream party!!

Summer staff just before our surprise dinner.

Gathering around to watch an outdoor movie while parents enjoy a date night.