Retreat 2006

Last week, I went on a staff retreat with The Rock. We stayed at The Lodge in Rancho Mirage, and it was incredible.

The major focus of this retreat was to relax and spend a lot of time with each other and with the Lord. We had two ministry sessions each day and spent some significant time waiting on the Lord and hearing what He has to say.

We also had some fun playing around. Believe it or not, we actually had a croquet tournament!! I hadn't playing croquet in my life and ended up at the bottom of the circuit, but I had fun nonetheless!!

The McFadden Family Album

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Here are some pictures of my mom's immediate side of the family.


Here are my mom's brothers and sisters. Starting from oldest to youngest, the front row is: Aunt Beverly, Aunt Barbara, Aunt Susie, Uncle Bill, and Aunt Karen. Back row: Aunt Marti, my mom, Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Julie.

The following pictures are the families from each of the ten McFadden siblings. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it to this gathering. I'm sure there are quite a few people not pictured.


Aunt Beverly and family


Aunt Barbara (Uncle Chuck) and family


Aunt Susie (Uncle Tom) and family


Uncle Bill (Aunt Chris) and family


Aunt Karen (Uncle Bill) and family


Aunt Marti and family


My mom (Maureen) and my family


Uncle Mike (Aunt Susan) and family


Aunt Mary (Uncle Joseph) and family


Aunt Julie and family

New Beginnings Follow Endings

We are about to come to the end of 2005. My family and I just returned home from Columbus, Ohio. We celebrated the life of Martha McFadden, my grandma.

"G-maw," as we all called her, lived to be 92 years of age. She is the matriarch of a very large family... 10 children, 41 grandchildren, and 49 great-grandchildren. With much honor and respect, we love our g-maw.

This was the first trip to Ohio I had made in almost thirteen years. I had not seen my extended "Ohio" family in way too long. This trip was truly memorable.

We departed to Ohio on Monday, December 26. I traveled with my mom, my sisters (Shaye, Nissa, and Marta), my brothers (William and Jeff), and Nissa's husband (Ryan). The eight of us, along with eleven other family members from California, all flew to Columbus on the same plane. We pretty much took over the flight!!!! We arrived late at night in Columbus and stayed the whole five days at my g-maw's home. There were actually 29 of us staying in that home, but don't worry... the house is huge. We managed to survive!!_____________________________________________________________

Here I am standing at the street corner just outside my G-Maw's home!