Over the weekend I was noticeably absent from my normal routine of blogging and the reason was that we attended a Youth 2000 retreat in Bournemouth. Now, I have long since lost count of the amount of retreats I have been on with Y2K, as I grew up with them and began attending them at a young age with my family. I even met my husband through them so I know I owe them a lot!
Youth 2000 strives to bring young people into a personal encounter with Christ and does so by putting on regional retreats during the year whilst focusing on a large summer prayer festival which takes place every year at the Shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham.
My husband has been involved in helping organise and run these retreats for some years now and has been a part of the much loved music ministry since he was 16. Although, as a mummy now, my practical input is limited, I used to love supporting the music ministry where I could and just knowing I was part of something that was changing the hearts of young people really helped to keep me on the straight and narrow when I was a teenager.
It is not an easy task to raise Christian teenagers in today's society and one of the best things my parents ever did for my siblings and I was to send us on our first retreat where we immediately got the sense that we were not alone in our faith! That is half the battle as a reluctant teen! Knowing you are not alone, you are loved and you are supported in your strive for a Christian life.
It's just such a privilege that we can bring our children along to these retreats now, having received so much from them ourselves. I feel like we are starting these retreats all over again!
*Michael Desbruslais kindly leant me this beautiful photo that he took of Eddy swinging Noah around at the retreat. He is an extremely talented photographer and you can check out more of his work at this retreat (here)!
I hope you're all having a relaxing evening..
Love Bunty
xXx
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