Women of Faith Columbus 2012

After uploading my pictures, I realized the majority of them were taken while we were eating or before…hmmm…

 

Last weekend, I made the drive to Columbus to attend Women of Faith with some really awesome ladies.  We volunteered at the event to get free tickets and I have to say that it was worth it.  We didn’t get the seats we originally thought we were, but it was still great and well worth it!

And of course, there was cheesecake involved.

 

Kelly and Nancy were taking pictures of their yummy cheesecake!  I’m sure our waiter thought we were nuts!

 

 

Even little Ava (Erin’s sweetie) wanted a bite.  She was still snug in her mommy’s tummy at the last Women of Faith.

 

 

She really liked our waiter as well!

 

I’m so thankful to be with these awesome ladies again!  Erin, Holly and Kelly are all beautiful women with big hearts and we all were brought together by loss. 

 

 

 

Mark Lowry was absolutely hilarious and really just made me laugh.  I may be dating myself a little here, but I remember seeing him on a show called CCM (Contemporary Christian Music TV) on the family channel in the 90s.  It was full of Christian music videos and his were always SO funny!  But what I really loved about him is that he would make us laugh, then hit on a serious, profound point then before we knew it we were laughing again.  One of the things he said that really left an impression on me was, “People with an experience are never at the mercy of people with an argument.”  Amen, brother!

 

He also sang his song that he and Sandi Patty did together years and years ago and I was laughing until I cried because I remember that music video.  And the best part was that Sandi Patty was there and they had a camera on her during the event and we got to watch her reaction as he acted his and her parts to the song with the help of a mic stand and a blond wig.

 

We got to hear Mandisa sing and she was great.  She is so beautiful, inside and out!

 

 

 

Mike Lewis “The Jesus Painter”  tells a beautiful story on canvas and at the end, it is the face of Jesus.  It was very moving.

 

 

 

Amy Grant sang some oldies and some very emotional new songs.  It was great to see her!

 

 

 

It was a great weekend and I’m so glad I made the trip!

Ten Years!

I had the opportunity to meet with a few of closest friends from college last week and it was so much fun catching up and looking through photos.  We had fondue, we laughed and talked about what we have been up to the past ten years since we met. 

Would you believe this silly group of girls made it where we are today?  An elementary teacher, two nurses, a chemist and myself (the Adoption Social Worker/Crisis Pregnancy Center Director/Homeschooling Mama).  I was the first to get married and have babies, but my old roomie is joining me as a mama in November (yay!!! SO happy for her!)

 

 

When I was looking back at the college age me, I couldn’t help but smile.

 

(Yes, I was in color guard…)

 

How could have God been preparing me then, for who I am now?  My life at 18 was band practice, theatre work study, working an off campus job, hanging out with friends, homework and fun. 

 

 

How was God using my experience in college?  Well, I know one way for sure…

 

He brought these ladies and I together.  Some of my biggest supporters, encouragers and friends….

 

They have sent cards, facebooked me, held adoption fundraisers, marched together, and shared our story with strangers.  It may have been several years since we have hugged each other, but we are only a phone call away. 

 

Isn’t it amazing to be able to glance back ten years and see what God was doing?  I can hardly imagine what I will look back on ten years from now!

Empowered to Connect

On Friday, Ben and I drove just outside of Nashville, to Brentwood, TN to the Empowered to Connect Conference that was sponsored by Show Hope.  

There was SO SO SO much information given at this conference that I will have to pass much of it along in (many) separate posts, but here are just some of the highlights of the weekend!

*Dr. Karyn Purvis.  This woman is amazing.  Her research and presentations are a perfect balance of science, faith and action.  If you are an adoptive family, I highly recommend purchasing her book, The Connected Child.  Ben was so impressed, he wanted to purchase the video resource library.

* Getting to spend some time with our friends (in real life) Jason and LeeAnne.  They are adopting from China and we got to spend time together at the conference and at a few meals.  It's really encouraging to know another local family on this journey!

* We packed lunches for Friday and ate on the way to Financial Peace Plaza.  Dave Ramsey's home office is also in Brentwood and even though we knew he was out of town promoting his new book, we had to go by the office and check out the bookstore and studios and say hi to Martha, the guest services manager.  Martha was so kind to us and shared stories about Dave and gave us cookies and tea.

Where Dave would have been sitting if he was in the studio.

* We had Coldstone Creamery for dessert on Friday night.  This was a treat, because we usually don't splurge on eating dessert out and Ben has been lactose intolerant all of his adult life until about 3 months ago.

*We met Bri and Eric from Sweet Carolina Grace!  It was so great to actually meet another adoption blogger and talk about adoption, our bio boys and blogging.  

It was truely amazing to be around so many like-minded people and to see all the adoption t-shirts and lots of babies!  Most of the conference talked about children from hard places and for foster/adoptive parents, but Ben and I intend to use some of the techniques and parenting ideas with Ethan.  We want to be connected parents and we want long-lasting, meaningful relationships with our kids and really enjoyed the way Dr. Purvis  linked the biology of the brain and behavior.  It made so much sense!

I hope to post much more about the conference and pass along all the little nuggets shared by Dr. Purvis and the adoptive parents that shared their stories, but now, its definitely time to get some rest!

Rows for Remembrance

Shaina is a sweet mama I have had the pleasure of meeting long ago before we both experienced loss.  She has just started a new outreach for loss moms and I wanted to share it with you.  It's called Rows for Remembrance.  This is what Shaina says about her new ministry...

I want to minister to families who have had a miscarriage, or suffered the death of a baby while pregnant. Sadly, I know several women who fit this niche, and I know there are thousands more out there. I want to give them a blanket, an "unfinished blanket", to represent their babies sweet lives.

Each blanket will have rows that represent the weeks of their little ones lives. Our blankets will start out with a specified amount of rows (20) and then will have an additional row for every week that you carried your baby. If you had a miscarriage at eight weeks, like me, then your blanket will be 28 rows long. If you had a baby born sleeping at 34 weeks, then your blanket will be 54 weeks. Each row signifies those memories you have of your sweet babe.

Shaina has asked for help too.  If you can knit or crochet, she is asking for some help.  So go over and visit her blog and leave her some kind comments while you are there!

Advent Basket

We went to my moms house today and she had a few things for us from family and friends.  One of them was a major surprise and an annonymous gift.

An Advent basket.

 

Inside this basket was a note:

And 25 gifts, one for each day from now until Christmas Day...

Each gift is numbered and a scripture is attached. 

Today's verse was 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.  He appointed us, set his seal of ownership on us and put his spirits in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.

Todays gift was:

We are really blessed to have so many wonderful, beautiful people sharing our life with us.

Prayer Requests

First thing this morning, I got a call telling me of a mother who lost her daughter yesterday at 35 weeks.  This is not their first time down this road.  It is their third time.  Three daughters in Heaven before her.  My heart is breaking all over again for her.  And her family.  Please pray for these precious people.

Also be praying for a friend of mine.  She is in her early thirties.  She has a 6 year old son.  She was told she has cancer.  Thyroid cancer.  It was discovered during an "elective" surgery to remove part of her thyroid after some "concerning" tissue.  She had surgery yesterday to remove the rest of her thyroid.  They found it was attached to her trachea, but other than that, the surgery went well.  She will do a radiation treatment in thirty days.  I covet your prayers.

Another prayer is requested for a friend with a broken heart.  Thats all I want to say right now.  (You never know who is reading that you know IRL).

Thank you for all your prayers.

Hugs.

Let me bring JOY

One year ago today, we told our families of our pregnancy.  Ethan proudly walked around in his "Big Brother" t-shirt and we were so happy (and now I feel niave to have been so happy and not the least bit cautious).

We got word today that two more of our friends are pregnant.  That makes three couples that are due this year around the same time Shyla was due last year.  Everyone is making their announcements.

Lord,
Thank you for each new day of life.  Thank you for friendships near and far.  Please protect and guide my friends and their darling little ones.  Please let them keep their niavity and their joy.  God please let me be the friend I need to be and give me the words to say.  I know that you and only you are healing this brokenheart.  You are giving me a new understanding of how precious life is and I ask that you let me not be a person my friends fear because of my experiences.  Let them feel how much I love them and want to be there with them and help me bring JOY unreserved and excitement to all of these pregnancies.  Whether it be their first child or their fourth.  God, you are my healer and my protector and so much more.  In your holy name.  Amen.

If you are one of my blessed friends carrying a little miracle, I do wish you the best and I hope you know how truely happy I am for you.  I'm still working on how to express this correctly, be patient with me.  I'm getting there.