Refreshed

Includes pictures of the inside now. Click here to see them larger.

This day last week I stayed up till 1am looking at cottages, hotels, and B&B's in N. Ireland to get away for a few days. I could tell I was coming to the point of being completely exhausted and just fried in every different way. Having not found anything, I finally laid down in bed, not sure what I would do to get a break from Belfast.

Here I am a week later, looking out at the green lawn of Lakeside Manor, sitting at a desk in the "Stevenson Suite" (so named because it's where Billy & Mindi stayed last week) that's nestled into the bay windows, marveling at the gift of this weekend. It has been the weekend I was looking for - and the one that I had been willing to pay a significant amount of money for. Instead, I was given a gift that has cost me nothing and, yet, provided everything that I was hoping for.

Breakfast in bed this morning and then the rest of the morning spent reading. A morning tea and an afternoon tea yesterday. A chance to relax and watch a movie Friday night. All on a beautiful four acres outside of Belfast - away from the noise, the distractions, and the exhausting routine of buses, cars, and people.

I sit, looking out at the lake, amazed at the beauty of the sun breaking through the Irish clouds that brought the morning rain - but even more so, I am in awe of God's gracious hand toward me, knowing that there are so many others who need the gift I've been given this weekend.