We had our annual All Church Retreat this last weekend, and for the last few years we've been enjoying just spending the weekend at the meetinghouse (though we sleep at home in our own beds...) rather than going away for the weekend. This way, lots of people can participate for the time they have available, and it's way cheaper so everyone can come. We have a lot of fun together Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday morning, playing lots of for-fun games and get-to-know-you games, eating together, hearing from a speaker sometimes, playing together and listening to one another's hearts. On Sundays, we have a short "hymn sing" where we dust off the hymnals that get scant use the rest of the year, though they're still in our pew racks. Then we hear the stories of a couple of Friends in our midst. This year we heard from Nathanael Ankeny and Sandi Chamberlin Thornton around the theme "Encouragement in the Long Obedience," taken from our year-long theme "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction."