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Annual Retreat 2016

On Friday, September 16th, we met at the home of Debbie Rollins for our annual retreat. We mingled while viewing the Boston skyline and a spectacular sunset with a bonus Harvest moonrise. There was delicious food and good company.

After our delicious dinner, we were treated to classes. Amy divided us into 2 groups, and we were taught about Executive Functions by Heather Adams. Her presentation is summarized here:

Executive Functions are the skills we use to manage ourselves and our activities so that we can accomplish goals. Examples of executive function skills include: Time Management, Organizing Materials, Organizing Thoughts, Attention/Focus, Planning and Prioritizing, Limiting Impulsivity, Problem Solving, and Regulating Emotions. We can support our executive functioning by getting enough sleep, exercising, managing stress and anxiety, and by not multitasking. The best way to improve executive function skills is with repeated practice with our everyday jobs, tasks, and responsibilities. Start out by choosing one skill to improve and set a specific goal within a specific time period. Plan your approach including materials you will need, when, where, and who may help you. Anticipate problems which will arise and think of ways to solve those issues. At the end of the time period, review the process, what worked and what didn't work, and how you can change to improve more next time. Persistence and repetition is key to successfully learning new executive function skills, but we can improve at any age with practice.

It was so inspiring to hear that it is possible to improve these vital functions with practice. Special thanks to Heather for her stellar preparation and delivery of this important message.

The other class we took was on indexing. Amy Collins walked us through the process. Here are some basic guidelines. Here is a link to Family Search.org. We all left with a desire to help with this important work and knowledge of how to do it. Many thanks to Amy for putting together an important and informative lesson for us.

After our classes, we were treated to a wonderful talk by Sister Hiers, mom of our own Jen Hiers. Her topic was anchoring ourselves in the gospel in a changing and turbulent world. We were reminded that when we stay faithful and true we can have confidence that things will eventually work out. The temple is a place where we can feel peace and the love of our Heavenly Father as we go through stress and trials. We are so grateful to Sister Hiers for her heartfelt message to us.

The next thing on our agenda was dessert! Ice cream, fruit and brownies were on the menu. We then played a game to get to know each other and found out some very interesting things.

And last but not least was the fire pit with s'mores. So fun!

We had a wonderful time talking, getting to know new people and gaining some knowledge along the way. 

We are grateful to Michelle Ainge for bringing most of the food, to Darsi for bringing a salad, and Tanya for making the cole slaw. Thanks to Kim, Adrene and Julia for bringing dessert. Kim Memmott was in charge of our fun game, and Gabrielle provided the cute notepads that were our parting gift. 

A thousand thanks to Debbie Rollins for hosting our retreat and to Amy Collins for carefully planning and expertly executing this fun event. Every detail was thoughtfully covered and it all worked beautifully. Until next year. . .