A New Year at Heart Ridge

We welcomed the New Year with the sounds of party horns, shouts of joy, and sparklers at our New Years Family retreat.  Earlier in the evening, the parents collectively decided to "start" the New Year at 10:00pm, but as 10:00 rolled around, the parents were so engaged in their games and conversations that it was hard to pull them away to our bonfire for the countdown.  Of course a solid day of rain and a rainy evening would keep most people inside.  However, as 10:00 approached, the rain subsided and we were able to get a blazing fire going.  After 5 minutes or so (but seemed much longer) of horn blowing and shouts of "Happy New Year", we quieted everyone down and circled around the fire to say a Rosary in thanksgiving for our blessings the past year and to place the new year into Mary's hands.   As we finished our closing prayers for the rosary, the rains could hold back no longer.  And as the raindrops began to fall, we either rushed back inside to party some more or to our beds for a good night sleep.
A big Thank You to the Carpenter family for helping us to host this event.  
And as we are entering into this new year, we have some programs and events that are coming soon.

EXCITING EVENT COMING TO HEART RIDGE IN MARCH

We are so excited to offer this opportunity to all of you Lord of the Rings/Tolkien fans.  This is a chance to sit in on classes with master teacher, Joseph Pearce, and explore the hidden meanings in the the Lord of the Rings.  It's not only a literary analysis but an opportunity to go deeper into your own faith and beliefs.  The weekend will be a blend of classes, discussion, and opportunity for prayer, but also time of fellowship and fun with LotR games, good food, and entertainment.   You'll also have time for a hike or two in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. For more info.

Sign-ups for Summer Family Camp are Open

Word has gotten out and people are signing up already.  If you'd like to know what it would cost your family to attend one of our Summer Family Camps, you can fill out a form to see.  (Just don't hit the submit button until you're ready to confirm the decision.)  We're trying a new method to sign up for summer camp that allows some flexibility with lodging for your family. For more information and to check out the new form:

Will You Join Our Prayer Team?

The most important support that you can do for Heart Ridge is to pray for us and the events that are happening here.  We know that you can't attend every event and that you can't write us a check for a million dollars, but perhaps an even better way to support Heart Ridge is by sending a few prayers our way.  

Several of times a month, we host some life-changing events at Heart Ridge.  For example, we had 16 young men discerning vocations here last weekend.  This coming weekend we'll have 80 high school students here on a Kairos event.   We not only want to support these people here at Heart Ridge with clean beds and tasty food, but we also want to blanket them with prayer.  We want the Holy Spirit to be alive and active in this place.  

(And won't it be nice to know that when you do get to come to Heart Ridge, you'll be blanketed in prayer as well.) 

We also often need prayers for difficult decisions and needs for the retreat center.  

So to put this simply, we are starting a prayer team.   And it doesn't involve any kind of time commitment or certain prayers.  I'll just send an email out and you can say a pray and delete it; write it on your calendar; pray for it with your family at dinner; or print it and put it on your refrigerator for the next day.  Whatever works.  

We can try this now:  Please pray for the 80 students attending the Kairos retreat at Heart Ridge this weekend, January 15-17.  Pray that they would experience the love of God and grow in their relationship with Him and the other students.  

That was easy. 
Thank you so much!
Sign up below to be on the  HR (Heart Ridge) Prayer Team

---